Quick Transmigration: The Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character's Revenge

Chapter 295 The Cannon Fodder Who Suffered the Massacre of His Family (2)

Qi Ning shook off Jiang Weilan's hand.

"I just entered the manor with the opera troupe today and saw you from a distance. At first I wasn't quite sure, but seeing your reaction, I knew I hadn't mistaken you for someone else."

"I never expected that you would be the pampered eldest daughter of the Jiang family. Didn't you say that you were just the daughter of an ordinary merchant family?"

That's right. After Jiang Weilan was rescued by the Qi family, she didn't dare to reveal her true identity. She only said that she was the daughter of an ordinary merchant who had been separated from her family by accident.

"Ning'er, let me explain, at that time I..."

Jiang Weilan recounted the ins and outs of what happened ten years ago in detail.

Qi Ning remained unmoved after hearing this, still appearing distant and wary.

"If that's the case, then why didn't you go back to the Qi family to see me and my parents after you were rescued, even if it was just to collect our bodies?"

“I wanted to go back then, but my father wouldn’t allow it. The situation at that time didn’t allow me to go back; we had to return to Beijing as soon as possible.”

"Even so, what happened after you returned to the capital and became high-ranking officials and daughters of wealthy families? Why didn't you go back to visit them?"

"I...I didn't go, but I sent a servant from the manor to check."

Jiang Weilan was, after all, a young lady, and the eldest daughter of the Minister's mansion; it was impossible for her to travel far away so easily.

The capital city is too far from Yangzhou.

"The servant came back and told me that the Qi family's courtyard had collapsed, and there were no remains in the courtyard. Perhaps... perhaps your remains were taken away by wild animals in the mountains. He could only burn three incense sticks outside the courtyard."

Upon hearing this explanation, Qi Ning sneered: "You certainly have all sorts of excuses, but if you had sent someone back to check on me immediately, I wouldn't be in this predicament now!"

Jiang Weilan did mention to her father that she wanted to send people back to bury the Qi family, but at the time they were being hunted down and there were not many guards left. They also had to escort them and the account books back to the capital, so they couldn't spare any manpower. Therefore, her father did not agree.

Jiang Jingzhou said that since the people were already dead, going back to see them would not bring them back to life. It would be better to return to the capital and settle things down before sending people back to bury their remains.

Who would have thought that Qi Ning was still alive?

Jiang Weilan knew that no matter how she explained, it would be useless. She asked Qi Ning, "Ning'er, tell me, what exactly happened after I was arrested? Weren't you already...? Also, how come you're performing in an opera troupe now? What's going on?"

"What else could it be? I was just lucky to survive. I dug a hole with my bare hands and buried my parents. From then on, I was orphaned and destitute, and could only make a living by begging. Later, I was sold into an opera troupe."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Weilan's eyes reddened, and she said remorsefully, "It's all my fault."

She pulled Qi Ning's hand again, and with this pull, Qi Ning's sleeve rose halfway up, revealing her wrist.

Jiang Weilan caught a glimpse of the mottled scars on her arm out of the corner of her eye.

"They hit you?" Jiang Weilan asked, her eyes wide.

Qi Ning turned her head and snorted: "Isn't it normal for people like us to get beaten up? How can we compare to a pampered young lady like you?"

Jiang Weilan ignored Qi Ning's sarcastic remarks and said through tears, "Ning'er, don't be afraid, I will avenge you."

As she spoke, she hugged Qi Ning again: "Don't go back to the opera troupe anymore. Stay in the mansion and live here. From now on, you will be my sister, and I will never let you suffer any more grievances."

Jiang Weilan did not disturb the guests. After the birthday banquet, she instructed someone to deal with the opera troupe leader and brought Qi Ning to Jiang Jingzhou and Liang Fang. She told them what had happened and said that she wanted to take Qi Ning as her sworn sister.

Jiang Jingzhou and Liang Fang exchanged a glance after hearing Jiang Weilan's words.

Liang Fang smiled faintly and said, "So, this is the girl who saved our Lan'er back then."

Jiang Jingzhou slowly picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and did not immediately express his opinion.

In their view, the Qi Ning family had saved Jiang Weilan's life, but this debt of gratitude was not particularly heavy.

To put it bluntly, the Qi family saved Jiang Weilan's life, yet they were also harmed because of it.

The reason it's not considered serious is because the lives of the Qi family members were worthless; they were just an ordinary family. Moreover, it wasn't the Jiang family who killed them, but the Salt Commissioner's men. In the end, it was just that the Qi family members were unlucky.

Even if they wanted to repay this kindness, the way they thought they could do it was to redeem Qi Ning from the opera troupe, give her her freedom, and provide her with a generous reward so that she could live a life free from financial worries for the rest of her life.

If Jiang Weilan wants to maintain contact with her, they can treat her as a distant relative.

However, Jiang Weilan proposed that they adopt Qi Ning as their goddaughter, which put them in a bit of a dilemma.

Qi Ning was, after all, an actress. At today's birthday banquet, all the high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the capital saw her and learned of her identity as an actress.

Jiang Jingzhou, a high-ranking official of the second rank, takes in a lowly actress as his goddaughter. What will outsiders think?

Seeing that her parents had not yet agreed, Jiang Weilan pressed on, "Father, Mother, what have you thought about taking Ning'er as your goddaughter?"

Jiang Jingzhou looked at his eldest daughter's anxious expression and saw that she was determined to keep Qi Ning.

He, as Jiang Weilan's father, knew her personality very well. She was always kind and soft-hearted, and once she made up her mind, she would not easily change it.

Jiang Jingzhou tapped his fingers on the teacup, pondered for a moment, and ultimately did not disappoint Jiang Weilan.

He glanced at Qi Ning sitting next to Jiang Weilan before saying, "Of course, but..."

"But what?" Jiang Weilan asked somewhat anxiously.

"Although the Salt Commissioner's faction was eliminated back then, there may still be remnants. They might not dare to target us, but they could retaliate against Miss Qi."

Jiang Jingzhou put down his teacup: "In my opinion, we should not reveal the real reason why we took Miss Qi as our goddaughter. Just say that you and Miss Qi took a liking to each other, and that you felt sorry for her when you saw her being bullied by the opera troupe leader, so you took her in."

Jiang Weilan looked at Jiang Jingzhou and remained silent for a while before hesitantly agreeing, "Okay, as long as Ning'er can stay, any reason is fine."

She gave Qi Ning a look, signaling her not to worry about it and that staying was the most important thing.

Qi Ning didn't say anything. She glanced at Jiang Jingzhou without making a sound, and she knew very well what he was planning.

After acknowledging Qi Ning, Jiang Weilan assigned her personal maid, Bizhu, to Qi Ning.

“Bizhu, from now on you will go and serve Ning’er. I still have some things to say to my parents. You take Ning’er back first, clean up the empty courtyard next to my courtyard for Ning’er to live in, and take good care of her.”

"Yes, ma'am."

After giving the instructions, Bizhu led Qi Ning away.

Jiang Weilan then asked Jiang Jingzhou, "Father, I don't understand why you concealed the real reason why we took in Ning'er?"

Jiang Weilan knew very well that Jiang Jingzhou was no longer the minor Yangzhou prefect he was ten years ago. With his power and status as the Minister of Revenue, he would not care about the remnants of the Salt Commissioner's faction.

Jiang Jingzhou sighed softly: "Naturally, it's for the sake of our Jiang family's reputation."

"For the Jiang family's reputation?"

Jiang Weilan still didn't quite understand.

"If we take Ning'er in, even if the real reason gets out, outsiders will probably praise the Jiang family for being grateful. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Silly daughter, you're thinking too simply."

Jiang Jingzhou explained, "If we had taken in Miss Qi immediately after the Qi family members died, it would have been a good deed of repaying kindness. But we only took her in now, and she has been wandering and suffering for more than ten years. That won't sound good if word gets out."

"Now that I'm in this position, I'm under the watchful eyes of countless people. I can't afford to have even the slightest bad news that could affect the Jiang family."

After listening, Jiang Weilan nodded and said, "Daughter understands."

Soon, the news spread throughout the Jiang family mansion that the master and mistress had just taken in a goddaughter, who was an actress from that opera troupe.

That actress was lucky; the young lady felt a connection with her and kept her as her adopted sister.

The servants in the mansion were all talking about how lucky that actress was. She had actually won the favor of the young lady and turned her life around overnight, from an actress to a young lady. It was like a windfall.

Jiang Weiqing, however, felt something was amiss after hearing the news.

Why would Jiang Jingzhou take in an actress as his goddaughter?

Could it be because Jiang Weilan wanted to keep that actor?

Jiang Weiqing didn't think her father was a kind person. Even if Jiang Weilan had this idea, he wouldn't easily agree. There must be another reason.

Why would Jiang Weilan inexplicably take a liking to an actress, to the point of wanting to keep her as her sworn sister? This doesn't seem like something Jiang Weilan would do.

Therefore, Jiang Weiqing instructed her personal maid to go and find out the information.

Jiang Weiqing had already bribed an old woman in the main courtyard where Jiang Jingzhou and Liang Fang lived. Before long, her personal maid told her the news she had heard from the old woman.

“Miss, I asked Granny Wu. Granny Wu was sweeping outside when she heard the conversation between Master and Miss. That Miss Qi is the daughter of the family that saved Miss in Yangzhou ten years ago, but whose entire family was massacred. That's why Master and Madam took her in.”

Jiang Weiqing narrowed her eyes slightly: "If that's the case, then why hide the real reason for taking her in?"

"That's because the master said..."

The maid relayed everything she had heard to Jiang Weiqing.

After listening, Jiang Weiqing smiled knowingly.

"So that's how it is. What savior, what gratitude? In my opinion, he's more like an enemy who wiped out your entire family."

On the other side, Qi Ning was taken by Bi Zhu to an empty courtyard.

While arranging for the servants to clean the courtyard, Bizhu said to Qi Ning, "Miss Qi, this courtyard has been uninhabited for a long time, and it will take some time to clean. Why don't you take a bath and change your clothes first, then have some food and rest well. The young lady should come to see you later."

Qi Ning did not refuse. She entered the bath room that Bi Zhu had arranged and dismissed the maids who were serving her, then soaked in the bathtub alone.

"system?"

"Host, I'm here!"

"Where's the mission?"

The system quickly replied: "Host, the missions in this world are also very simple: one revenge mission and one strategy mission."

"Are there any requirements for the revenge mission?" Qi Ning asked.

"Yes," the system replied with eight words, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

An eye for an eye, a blood debt for a blood debt?

"So, the original owner wanted the entire Jiang family to be destroyed, suffering the same annihilation as the original owner's family?"

"Yes, that's what it means."

Qi Ning smiled and said, "Very good, I like such straightforward and direct revenge requests."

"What about the target?" she asked again.

"The target of our strategy is the fifth prince of the current dynasty, Gao Yan."

This Gao Yan is the younger brother of the original male protagonist, Gao Yun.

His Majesty is in his forties and is a romantic and amorous man. He has many concubines in the harem and even more outside the palace.

For example, Gao Yun's biological mother was a woman whom the emperor had favored during his southern tour.

Later, Gao Yun's biological mother passed away, and Gao Yun was brought back to the capital by the emperor. After a blood test to confirm his kinship, he became the fourth prince.

The emperor had many women he favored, so naturally he had quite a few princes and princesses.

However, the eldest prince was sickly and bedridden for many years, the second prince died in battle, and the third prince was imprisoned two years ago for treason.

Apart from the fourth prince Gao Yun and the fifth prince Gao Yan, the other princes are still minors.

In the original storyline, Gao Yun's strongest rival in the struggle for the throne was Gao Yan.

Compared to Gao Yun's shrewdness and social skills, Gao Yan is more straightforward and aloof, and so far he is not interested in women. Because he is a year younger than Gao Yun, the emperor has not yet bestowed a marriage upon him.

Qi Ning responded and poured water on her arm.

The system noticed the scars on Qi Ning's arms and back and asked with some concern, "Host, aren't you going to treat these scars?"

Actually, the original owner was beaten a lot when he first joined the opera troupe. He was even caught and severely beaten for trying to escape, and almost lost half his life.

Later, the original owner learned her lesson and was beaten less often.

Therefore, most of the scars on her body are old scars that have faded over time, with a few fresh, red, and swollen scars mixed in.

The alternation of old and new scars makes it look somewhat mottled and frightening.

Fortunately, the troupe leader only hit people on the body, never on the face, so the original owner's face looked beautiful and flawless.

Qi Ning shook his head: "Let's not deal with it for now; it might be useful later."

Later that evening, Jiang Weilan indeed came to see Qi Ning.

She sent Qi Ning all sorts of gold and silver jewelry and silk fabrics, and a long line of maids and servants came to deliver the gifts.

"Ning'er, I just picked these things out of the storeroom and brought them here especially for you. Do you like them?"

Qi Ning glanced at it casually, hummed in agreement, and then said to Bi Zhu, "Take it."

Bizhu was stunned for a moment after hearing Qi Ning's words.

She glanced at Jiang Weilan subconsciously.

Only after Jiang Weilan nodded in acknowledgment did she reply, "Yes, Miss."

Bizhu secretly pursed her lips; she had thought that Qi Ning would at least decline.

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