His Peasant Wife: Yao Ling

Before Tao Gu Gu could answer her, but Yao Ling wanted to keep the conversation on the important matter at hand.

"Tao Gu Gu, before we reach to that part, we are curious about Han Xiang's popular smell..." Yao Ling asked. Then, explaining to Xiao Fang, "It's better if we know everything about Han Xiang first, before pursing the real daughter... Once we discover the real daughter, we will be too focused on her and forget about who is in front of us --- Han Xiang."

What Yao Ling said made sense, the group murmured their agreement. They were slightly disappointed because they were getting on the good part. It was like a yummy food was offered and when they wanted to eat it, it was taken back once again. Oh well... It should be fine. After all, judging from what Tao Gu Gu said, the real daughter was living well.

Yao Ling reminded everyone of their initial mission to ruin the marriage between Han Xiang and the Qin Emperor. The more they knew about Han Xiang, the better and Yao Ying and Lin Jian quickly understood Yao Ling's intentions. Despite Lin Jian's initial disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, he understood their priority. He could only go with the flow.

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 by everyone including mere palace servants. So, I gave her the trick to make a unique smell. With this smell, at least, she would become useful to the Emperor and back then, I hoped that her days 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 and relieved by Tao Gu Gu's actions. She wasn't that heartless after all... She was still trying to think of ways to protect and make Han Xiang live a better life. After all, Tao Gu Gu must have felt guilty 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 personality.

Tao Gu Gu continued, "Even though I don't know her background, I especially had the midwife prepare an orphan girl, just to ensure less complications in the future. This way, I could also comfort myself that I tried to give this baby a better life. At the very least, she didn't starve on the streets and had a place to stay. 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 the best weapon to survive --- a unique smell that could preserve her life."

In Tao Gu Gu's mind, she had already paid her debt with providing shelter, food, and the unique smell to save Han Xiang's life and she wasn't treated as bad as before.

The quartets' minds 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 Xiao Fang deal with her. But they really wanted to know who the mastermind behind Han Xiang was.

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 twisted. When Tao Gu Gu was there, she might have been able to do something. However, Tao Gu Gu didn't stay long back then, so there was no way of knowing.

"Tao Gu Gu ah~ what kind of trick did you use 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 was the one who gave me the secret recipes --- 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 recipes 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 babies. Otherwise, everything wouldn't have gone so smoothly back then. Besides the secret recipes, 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's palace, she didn't know when she would snap and become a danger to her own baby. She knew it was a selfish request, but she wanted herself and the baby to be safe. After all, the baby was indeed her flesh and blood..." Tao Gu Gu recited the letter to everyone.

They pondered over the matter and could only sigh, knowing that there were actually a lot more than meet the eyes. The whole situation was complicated, and no easy judgments could be made. They were simply a third-party and didn't experience what Ce Fei, Tao Gu Gu, and the babies 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 potion 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 potion for the real daughter is 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 potion that helps Han Xiang to get through her life," Tao Gu Gu answered.

"How?" Lin Jian asked once again.

---Edited by: L0v3lamb---