Volume 3, Chapter 203 – Who Is She Performing For?

The young girl paced back and forth, wandering aimlessly in the courtyard.

Chi Jingwen used a spell to conceal his presence. Watching this girl who couldn’t even dress herself properly, his brows furrowed tightly.

Ever since his biological daughter went missing, Chi Jingwen had been secretly sending people to search for her traces. For more than ten years, he had never stopped.

Over these ten-plus years, he had encountered many girls suspected of being his daughter. However, after carefully comparing these girls’ ages and circumstances, he returned disappointed.

If the age and time of disappearance didn’t match, Chi Jingwen didn’t even need to bring these girls back for bloodline verification.

From hope to disappointment, Chi Jingwen couldn’t remember how many times he had experienced this over the past decade or so.

Eventually, when he heard similar news again, he had become nearly numb.

Until not long ago, Chi Jingwen suddenly obtained a special file.

The girl in the file, whether in age or time of adoption, could match Chi Jingwen’s daughter.

Moreover, the file clearly stated that the girl also possessed a jade hairpin rarely shown to outsiders. And that jade hairpin’s style was basically identical to Chi Jingwen’s wife’s family heirloom jade hairpin.

Her name was Song Shiyuan, a young lady of the Nanhe Song Clan.

Precisely because she was a young lady from a prominent family, few outsiders knew she was an orphan adopted by the Song clan.

All along, Chi Jingwen had been searching for girls of the right age around Beihe Commandery, never considering that his daughter might no longer be in Beihe Commandery, or even that she had been adopted by a powerful and ancient prominent family.

So when he obtained the file on the girl named Song Shiyuan, Chi Jingwen almost immediately determined that the girl was his daughter. He was just short of going to the Nanhe Song Clan to have that girl undergo bloodline verification.

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However, at this very moment, Chi Jingwen suddenly received a transmission from the Chi family’s shadow agents. In Beihe Commandery city, another girl suspected to be Chi Jingwen’s daughter had appeared. She also carried the Chi family heirloom jade hairpin.

When he first received this transmission, Chi Jingwen thought the Chi family’s shadow agents must have made a mistake.

How could such a coincidence exist in this world? Two girls of the right age, both possessing the family heirloom jade hairpin, appearing at the same time.

Girls of the right age weren’t rare. But there was only one family heirloom jade hairpin.

Especially after learning that the girl had been brought to an estate outside the city and pampered by his adopted daughter, Chi Jingwen’s suspicions reached their peak.

There was indeed only one family heirloom jade hairpin, but many people had seen that heirloom jade hairpin in the past.

What Chi Jingwen worried about was that someone was trying to achieve an unspeakable purpose by forging the family heirloom jade hairpin.

Chi Jingwen hadn’t told anyone in the Chi family about Song Shiyuan.

His return this time was also to probe this girl called Yu Lizhi.

However, when Chi Jingwen received that jade hairpin from Chi Xiyan’s hands, he was shocked to discover that the family heirloom jade hairpin was actually genuine.

Everything was exactly as he remembered it.

If Yu Lizhi was his daughter, then what was the situation with Song Shiyuan?

One of these two girls was definitely fake.

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However, the timing of these two girls’ appearances was too coincidental.

Moreover, Chi Jingwen had compared the adoption experiences of both girls. Either one could perfectly match the timing of his daughter’s disappearance.

Chi Jingwen found no flaws in either.

However, as a merchant, Chi Jingwen’s instinct made him inherently feel that something was fraudulent.

Especially this Yu Lizhi. The investigation results about her were too detailed. Her experiences from childhood to adulthood, every time period could be investigated with extremely detailed results, and had sufficiently authentic traces.

It was precisely this thoroughness that made Chi Jingwen feel something was wrong.

If one of these two girls was fake, then Chi Jingwen felt Yu Lizhi was more suspicious.

If Yu Lizhi was an imposter, then who was the mastermind behind her, and what was their purpose?

Thus, Chi Jingwen decided to first agree to Chi Xiyan’s request and bring Yu Lizhi back to the Chi family before testing her.

If Yu Lizhi truly was his daughter, then naturally, everyone would be happy.

If not, then before figuring out what the other party really wanted to do, keeping them within his controllable range was the safest choice.

Chi Jingwen was certain that if the other party truly had designs on the Chi family, keeping her within the Chi family would eventually reveal her true colors.

…

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After Chi Xiyan brought that girl back to the Chi family, Chi Jingwen planned to first take a look at this girl.

Although he had long since obtained this girl’s file from the Chi family’s shadow agents, when Chi Jingwen saw Yu Lizhi, he realized she seemed somewhat different from what he had imagined.

First, this girl was indeed very beautiful.

Even having just bathed, without any adornment, it was still difficult to conceal her natural beauty. She didn’t look at all like the farm girl from the intelligence reports.

Unfortunately, beautiful as she was, she bore not the slightest resemblance to Chi Jingwen’s wife.

Could she really be his daughter?

Chi Jingwen couldn’t be certain.

However, in his heart, the possibility of Yu Lizhi being his daughter had decreased considerably.

Ha …

If she really was sent by someone to impersonate his daughter, then finding such a beautiful girl, the mastermind behind her had really invested heavily.

Immediately after, Chi Jingwen witnessed some things he couldn’t understand.

This girl seemed unable to dress herself. Not only that, but she had gotten lost in the courtyard?

Could such a foolish girl really be an undercover agent sent by someone else?

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Chi Jingwen’s first reaction was that this girl was acting. She must have discovered someone was watching her, so she deliberately put on this foolish appearance.

But thinking more carefully, it didn’t seem right.

This girl had no cultivation. How could she have discovered someone was watching her?

Chi Jingwen’s cultivation was at the Sixth Realm peak. Unless this girl’s cultivation was higher than his, it would be impossible for her to discover his presence.

In this courtyard, aside from Chi Jingwen, there were no other powerful experts.

If she was acting, wouldn’t she be performing for thin air?

So… she wasn’t acting? Was she really foolish?

Chi Jingwen furrowed his brows. He couldn’t be certain yet.

After watching that girl circle the courtyard several more times, Chi Jingwen removed the aura-concealing spell on his body and revealed his form.

“Young lady.” Chi Jingwen’s face carried an amiable smile. “What are you doing?”

The girl seemed startled by Chi Jingwen’s sudden appearance.

She clasped both hands to her chest, looking at Chi Jingwen with restraint and wariness in her eyes. “Uncle, have you been here all along? I didn’t seem to see you just now.”

“Young lady, I’ve been here all along.” Chi Jingwen said. “You look unfamiliar. Which branch’s young lady are you?”