The Legitimate Daughter in the Coffin - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

On the day Huo Yanzhi and Luo Yingxue were taken away by the Imperial Clan Court, a crowd of onlookers swarmed the gates of the Huo Mansion.

Only yesterday, they had been whispering that I was a fake legitimate daughter who had usurped another’s place. Today, the narrative had shifted; they claimed the Huo Family was black-hearted, going so far as to lock their own flesh and blood away in a manor to learn how to impersonate someone else.

Such is the nature of people-their words always drift in whichever direction the wind blows.

I paid those voices no more mind.

The first thing I did was prepare a new coffin for Huo Shuyue, update the family registry, and commission a memorial tablet for her.

I invited her spirit tablet into the Gu Family Old Ancestral Hall, placing it right beside my mother’s.

Nanny Zhou stood to the side, weeping so hard she couldn’t straighten her back. She asked me, “Miss, on the tablet… what should be written?”

I took up the brush and set down four characters.

Huo Shuyue of the Huo Clan.

I did not write “concubine-born,” nor did I write “foster.”

Because she should never have been defined by those words to begin with.

The second thing I did was take inventory of the Gu Family’s old assets.

When the Imperial Clan Court seized the Huo Family’s accounting office, they returned everything: the dowry list Lady Gu had left for me, the deeds to the shops, and the keys to the ledgers that my mother hadn’t had the chance to hand over to me back then.

Only then did I realize that Lady Gu had left me more than just a miles-long bridal procession.

She had left me enough substance to ensure I never had to depend on the Huo Family or live at the mercy of others.

I was cross-referencing the ledgers under the lamp when Shen Xingjian arrived.

He stood outside the door, not entering directly as he used to. He simply asked, “May I come in?”

I looked up at him, suddenly feeling a bit like laughing.

Before, he was my fiancé and never needed to ask before entering my courtyard. Now, though the engagement was still technically hanging in the balance, this single question made me feel that he finally viewed me as a person truly in charge of her own life.

“Come in.”

He walked to the desk and placed a new marriage contract by my hand.

“The Imperial Clan Court has re-established your official records,” he said in a low voice. “The eldest legitimate daughter of the Huo Family, born of Lady Gu, Huo Lingning.”

My fingertips paused.

I should have been happy to see this piece of paper.

Yet, for some reason, the first thing I thought of was Huo Shuyue’s desolate room. I remembered her practicing my name page after page, and how she was still writing letters to me right before she died.

As if sensing my thoughts, Shen Xingjian remained silent for a moment before saying, “The decision regarding the marriage lies with you.”

I raised my eyes. “And if I choose not to marry?”

“Then you shall not marry,” he said calmly. “I will handle the Gu Family assets and the aftermath of the Huo Family case for you. If you wish to leave the capital, I can arrange your departure.”

I watched him for a long time before suddenly asking, “When you first started helping me investigate, was it for me, or for the Huo Family’s accounts?”

He didn’t flinch, answering quite frankly, “At the beginning, it was for the accounts. Later, it wasn’t.”

I smiled slightly.

This answer felt more genuine than any flowery words could have.

The night deepened outside the window. I tucked the new marriage contract into a box but didn’t nod in agreement immediately.

“We will talk after Shuyue is buried,” I said softly.

He gave a quiet hum of affirmation, not pressing me further.

As he was leaving, he suddenly turned back.

“Huo Lingning.”

“Yes?”

“You were never anyone’s substitute,” he said.

After the door closed, I sat beneath the lamp, dazed for a long time.

I suddenly thought that if Huo Shuyue were still alive, she would have probably wanted to hear those words, too.