After Nursing Him Back to Health, I Returned to Face-Slap the Cousin Who Had Usurped My Place

The Empress Dowager suddenly fell gravely ill while praying to Buddha, and the Emperor issued an order to select a noble young woman from one of the great families to go to Mount Wutai and care for her.

My cousin was chosen. My mother wept uncontrollably and begged me to go in her place: “Your cousin lost both her parents when she was young, and she’s frail. If she goes to care for the Empress Dowager, she may never come back.”

“You’ve practiced martial arts with your father since childhood, and you’re strong. Why don’t you go in your sister’s place?”

Unable to bear my mother’s endless tears, I agreed to go to Mount Wutai in my cousin’s stead. I was gone for three years.

At last, the Empress Dowager recovered and returned to the capital. I hurried home, only to discover that the Marchioness of Jing’an was holding a betrothal ceremony for her legitimate eldest daughter.

But I was still at Mount Wutai. Why was Mother marrying off a daughter? Who exactly was she sending off?