She loses if she divorces, the reborn mistress only divorces her husband

The mystery is solved.

Li Jingwan couldn't help but hold Lin's hand tightly.

Sure enough, it was just as she guessed.

Even if Old Madam Qin favored Qin Changzhou, she would not let Qin Changzhou kill Qin Chongxiao in the northwest. After all, Qin Chongxiao was also her grandson.

Moreover, Qin Chongxiao has been named the heir and can inherit the title. If he dies without a legitimate eldest son, the title will be taken back by the clan office.

The fact that Old Madam Qin was willing to take such a big risk showed that she had to get rid of Qin Chongxiao.

So she always guessed that Qin Chongxiao was not Madam Qin's biological grandson.

She didn't want the title to fall to someone who was not related to her by blood.

But she didn't know what exactly happened.

"Madam, what happened?" Li Jingwan asked, "Why do you say that my eldest brother is not your biological child?"

Tears dripped down, Lin gritted her teeth, "It's all for the title."

"That year, when I was pregnant, Mao Lin died of illness."

Qin Maolin, also known as the previous Marquis of Wu'an, Lin's husband.

"The court stipulates that the title can only be inherited by the eldest son with blood relationship. If I give birth to a daughter, the title of Marquis Wu'an will be taken back."

"The old lady didn't want to lose her title, so she had made preparations before I gave birth. When I gave birth to a daughter, she brought a baby boy and directly exchanged my daughter for her."

Every word sounded like thunder in Li Jingwan's ears, making her open her eyes wide in shock.

Old Madam Qin is so bold and presumptuous that she is willing to deceive the emperor in order to keep her title!

Lin cried bitterly.

"My daughter, the daughter I gave birth to with so much difficulty, was taken away after I only took one look at her. I never saw her again."

Li Jingwan stroked her back but couldn't say any words of comfort.

Although she is not a mother, she also knows the pain of separation from one's own flesh and blood.

After a while, Lin calmed down a little before continuing, "I wanted to go find my daughter, but the old lady threatened me that if I dared to tell anyone else about this, she would divorce me and kick me out of the mansion."

"Moreover, she said that she had reported to the clan house that I had given birth to a boy, and that my title of marquis had been secured. If I told the truth, it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor, and my family would also be implicated."

Lin's body trembled, as if he once again felt the difficult decision he had to make when he was forced into it.

"I have no choice but to hide it."

"From now on, Chongxiao is my son. Although he is not my own flesh and blood, I still love him very much and will do my best to raise him up."

"Chongxiao is very smart and filial to me, but I always think of my daughter. I begged the old lady to tell me where my daughter is, but she said she didn't know and didn't allow me to mention it again."

Li Jingwan wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief, "Madam, was my eldest brother murdered because he knew about this?"

"I don't know." Lin shook her head. "I haven't told Chongxiao that this matter involves deceiving the emperor. If it is exposed, the consequences will be disastrous. But I think he should have guessed it..."

"It's all my fault..." Lin blamed herself, "If it wasn't for that year..."

She was so upset that she couldn't continue speaking. She paused for a long time before looking at Li Jingwan.

"Jingwan, do you remember that when you were fifteen, you were supposed to be engaged to Chongxiao?"

"Yes." Li Jingwan nodded, "My mother said that my grandfather and Wu Anbo had an agreement that the eldest grandson and the eldest granddaughter would marry each other."

"It was originally a beautiful thing, but it was ruined by the old lady and Qin Changzhou." Lin was filled with hatred when she thought of this matter. "If it weren't for them, Chongxiao wouldn't have died."

"The Wu'an Marquis's Mansion was originally in decline, and it would be of great benefit to marry into the Zhenyuan General's Mansion. The old lady also saw this point and did not want Chongxiao to marry you, so she framed Chongxiao and spread the news that the maid in his courtyard was pregnant."

"That maid was indeed pregnant, and she kept saying that it was Chongxiao's child. Then she died inexplicably, leaving Chongxiao with no way to explain himself and carrying this stigma."

"I wanted to take him to the General's Mansion to explain, but he said he didn't want to tarnish your reputation, so he proposed to cancel the engagement and went to the northwest without telling me. I didn't know until the night before departure."

"He was leaving, and the old lady was very happy. She specially prepared a banquet for him. I was sad and drank too much, so Chongxiao took me back to the courtyard in the end."

"I just remember that I talked to him for a long time, but I can't remember what we said. Maybe I let it slip at that time."

Lin's eyes were filled with tears. "It was me who harmed him... If I hadn't said it, Chongxiao wouldn't have investigated..."

"Brother, go check his background?" Li Jingwan seized on this point.

"Yeah." Lin nodded self-reproachfully.

"Three months before Chongxiao's accident, I remember that day you went back to your parents' home. I accompanied the old lady back home after burning incense, and I met a man at the main gate."

"It's a pity that he didn't keep his mouth shut. He said he had something to ask you and even said that Chongxiao sent him here."

"The old lady let him into Fuhe Hall but didn't let me in. I was cautious at the time and asked my maid Zhu'er to go to Fuhe Hall and eavesdrop on it under the pretext of something."

"Zhu'er said that the man was drunk and said a lot of things. She only heard one or two sentences. He said something about midwife, baby boy, baby girl, etc. When I heard it, I knew it was about the baby swapping incident."

"Before you returned home the next day, the old lady asked me if I had told Qin Chongxiao about what happened that year. I said I had not mentioned it. She warned me not to tell you about what happened yesterday and said that the man had left."

"The old lady said that when Chongxiao comes back, he can inherit the title, and asked me not to cause trouble. So I kept it a secret and didn't tell you."

Li Jingwan suddenly remembered that Aunt Tong once said that Old Madam Qin asked her to monitor her, and one of the points was to pay attention to whether she had any contact with people outside the mansion.

Is she worried that someone sent by Qin Chongxiao will look for her?

But why would Qin Chongxiao ask someone to pass the message to her instead of looking for Lin?

Lin choked up and said, "But, three months later, Chongxiao died..."

Li Jingwan still had a question, "Madam, you just said that my brother was killed by them. How did you know that?"

Lin sneered.

"The pair of children Qin Changzhou brought back, he said they were born to Chongxiao's concubine, I don't believe it. Chongxiao would not do such a thing, he never mentioned that he had children in the letters he wrote to me."

"As soon as Qin Guangyao came back, the old lady went to the clan house to ask for him to be named the crown prince, but she never let me talk to him alone. Moreover, I found that Qin Changzhou sometimes took Qin Guangyao and Qin Lingyun out of the house alone."

"One day, I asked Zhu'er to follow them and see where they went. As a result, Zhu'er never came back, and I was locked up and started to be drugged."

"That day, I knew that Qin Guangyao was not Chongxiao's son, and Chongxiao did not die in an accident. He was clearly killed by them, and then someone was found to pretend to be his son and obtain the title."

Tears unconsciously covered Li Jingwan's face, "Madam, you guessed right."

"My eldest brother and my younger brother were both killed by them."