At her words, the man shot her a furtive look. Hesitation flickered across his face, but he did not deny her assertion right away.
Noting his reaction, Ling Lihua asked, “Can you tell me what happened back then? Why did Zheng Yanran suddenly come back with a child and lie that it was the Grand Duke’s daughter?”
The man gave her a conflicted glance, but after a while, he sighed and replied, “Ah well, since Yanran’s already dead, I have nothing to hide anymore. That’s right—I came here today just to see my daughter. I planned to take her back if possible, but I didn’t expect that Yanran would already be dead…”
“So, does that mean that you and Zheng Yanran are Lu Yunshuang’s real parents?” Ling Lihua looked at him in surprise.
The man lowered his head in shame. After thinking twice, he decided to recount the story of that fateful year.
After being driven away by Lu Hetian, Madam Zheng left the imperial capital, only to run into bandits on the way. At the most critical moment, she met this man and was rescued by him.
His name was Zeng Lunan.
After rescuing Madam Zheng, he took pity on the lonely and helpless woman and wanted to escort her on her journey. After spending some time together, they fell in love and even got married. Not long after, Madam Zheng gave birth to his daughter, Lu Yunshuang. However, she was born a month early, making her a premature baby.
After listening to his story, both Ling Lihua and the Dowager Duchess fell silent.
They finally understood the whole story.
That explained why Lu Yunshuang was older than Weiwei despite Madam Zheng conceiving her only after marrying Zeng Lunan.
It was because Lu Yunshuang was a premature baby, and the time of her birth matched up with the time Madam Zheng seduced Lu Hetian.
“Back then, Yanran told me that she was an orphan living under someone else’s roof, but the master of the house took a fancy to her and wanted to force her into becoming his concubine. She couldn’t stand the humiliation, so she escaped…” Zeng Lunan smiled ruefully.
Ling Lihua came back to her senses and sneered. “She lied to you. Nobody forced her, the Grand Duke drove her away because she tried to seduce him.”
It seemed that Zeng Lunan had been deceived by Madam Zheng, too.
With no one to turn to, she decided to use her fragile appearance and a fabricated sob story to win Zeng Lunan’s sympathy and make him her refuge.
The thought made Ling Lihua smile bitterly.
This was indeed the kind of trick Madam Zheng would use.
When she was young, she had also taken Madam Zheng in out of pity, but it turned out that she had invited a vampire into her household.
Although Zeng Lunan could now prove that Lu Yunshuang was his daughter and not Lu Hetian’s, it was still not enough to quell her fury.
Hearing her sarcastic words, Zeng Lunan sighed but did not refute them.
It was because he eventually found out the truth too.
Perhaps Zheng Yanran had lied to him to win his sympathy. After all, it was only human nature for a lone woman to seek protection.
Instead of blaming her, he felt great remorse because he had helplessly watched as they were taken away…
Having regained her composure, the Dowager Duchess asked the most crucial question, “According to your story, Mr. Zeng, the two of you should have been living a blissful life together. But why did Madam Zheng leave you, return to the Grand Duke Mansion with Shuang’er, and even lie that she was the Grand Duke’s child?”
Zeng Lunan was overcome with shame. “It all started after Yanran had given birth.. That day…”