His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

Yao Ling didn’t forget their initial mission to ruin the marriage between Han Xiang and the Qin Emperor. The more they knew about Han Xiang, the better. In a way, she was reminding Yao Ying and Lin Jian about their mission. Yao Ying and Lin Jian quickly understood Yao Ling’s meaning. Despite Lin Jian’s initial displeasure, he understood their priority. He could only nod in agreement.

Tao Gu Gu laughed. "The unique smell on Han Xiang’s body is actually not real. When I was still working in the palace, I pitied the fact that she was bullied even by mere palace servants. So, I gave her the trick to make a unique smell like that. With this smell, at least, she would become useful to the Emperor and back then, I hoped that her day would become better because of it. We could see that the Emperor is a calculative person and he wouldn’t want to lose his good pawn."

Yao Ling was quite surprised by Tao Gu Gu’s slyness. She wasn’t that heartless after all... She was still trying to think of a way to make Han Xiang live a better life. In a way, this made her feel relief. After all, Tao Gu Gu must have been uncomfortable for making the fake baby to bear the burden of the real daughter. At this point, she felt pity toward Han Xiang even though she didn’t really like her personalities.

Tao Gu Gu answered, "She’s actually an orphan. Even though I don’t know her background, I especially wanted the midwife to prepare an orphan, just to make it less complicated in the future. This way, I could also comfort myself that I actually gave this baby a better life. At the very least, she had a place to stay and a new family. The moment she stepped into the palace and became the princess, whatever happened there... it was her own choice. She was the one who chose how to live her life and I already gave her a cheat --- having a unique smell that could preserve her life."

In Tao Gu Gu’s mind, she had already paid her debt with the unique smell and indeed, it saved Han Xiang’s life and she wasn’t treated as bad as before.

The quartet’s mind had been opened by what Tao Gu Gu said. Everything that happened up to this point was Han Xiang’s own choice. Marrying the Qin King, yes, it wasn’t her choice. But trying to frame Xiao Fang and her family? That was her own choice! They currently didn’t have any relationship with the princess, so it was easier to help Han Xiang deal with her. But, they really wanted to know who was the mastermind behind Han Xiang.

They weren’t that oblivious and thought that it was purely Han Xiang’s plan. If that was really true, what triggered her change? They believed that someone kept feeding things to Han Xiang and it made her become twisted. When Tao Gu Gu was there, she might be able to do something. However, Tao Gu Gu didn’t stay long around Han Xiang back then, so there was no way she would find out about this.

"Tao Gu Gu ah~ what kind of trick that you used for the unique smell?" Yao Ling asked curiously. She indeed heard from her mother that there was this kind of unique secret medicine, but she had thought that it was only a myth. Thus, she didn’t really pay attention to this before. However, what Tao Gu Gu said sparked her interest.

Tao Gu Gu sighed. "The Ce Fei wasn’t actually that heartless to the baby. She was the one who gave me the secret --- one should be given to Han Xiang and the other should be given to her real daughter. That was the first and last gift for her real daughter."

Yao Ling asked in surprise, "Didn’t you say that the Ce Fei didn’t know about your plan?!"

"This servant actually thought so too, but it seemed like she wasn’t that oblivious. She gave me the secret recipe through my sister-in-law right before she left with the medicine valley entourage and it surprised me as well. Knowing this, I understood that she actually agreed with my decision to exchange the baby. Otherwise, everything wouldn’t have gone so smoothly back then. Besides the secret recipe, she left me a message as well..." Tao Gu Gu said.

"What... what did she write?" Lin Jian asked curiously.

"A thank you letter for me. Not only that, the reason she decided not to bring the baby along wasn’t only because of her depression, but because she would become a fugitive when she ran away. She didn’t know what kind of life she would have and she didn’t want her baby to suffer. If she stayed in the prince manor, she didn’t know when she would snap and probably become a danger to her own baby. In a way, she was a bit selfish but she also wanted her baby to be safe. After all, the baby was indeed her flesh and blood..." Tao Gu Gu recited the letter to the quartet.

They pondered over the matter and could only sigh, knowing that there were actually a lot of things that more than meet the eyes. It seemed like they couldn’t judge clearly about everything because they were simply wasn’t there and they didn’t experience what they had gone through.

"What do you mean that the secret recipes were actually for the two babies?" Yao Ying asked. This part was really intriguing.

"One recipe was left for Han Xiang to create the unique smell for her --- however, it’s only temporary and she needs to drink the medicine once a month or else, the smell would be gone forever. On the other hand, the other recipe for the real daughter to erase her unique smell," Tao Gu Gu explained.

"The... the smell is real for the real baby?" The quartet asked in surprise. They already thought that it was only because of the trick, not something real.

Tao Gu Gu nodded. "Yes, for the real baby, she was born with it. The Ce Fei also had the same smell, but she erased it because she didn’t want to attract too much attention," Tao Gu Gu answered. "That was why the Ce Fei left me with the recipe to cover up the baby’s smell. It wasn’t easy but I had a way to make it work because I knew where the real daughter was."

"Is there a way to make the unique smell appear again?" Lin Jian asked. He wanted this to become a way to prove that the real daughter was indeed the real one.

"The Ce Fei once said that yes, it was possible. However, she didn’t want it to appear again on her body. After all, it was a hidden heritage from her mother’s side and because they wanted to live peacefully, they decided to hide the smell. Ironically, this is the same smell that helps Han Xiang to get through her life," Tao Gu Gu answered.

"How?" Lin Jian asked once again.