Lihua felt a wave of burning anger rising in her chest, thinking of such a disgusting scheme.

Want a child just to increase his influence in the Underworld? Horrible! How could any parent use his child like that?

"That's really vicious of Jiang Zemin!" Her nostrils flared in disgust.

Old Madam's gaze dimmed. "Indeed. He wanted to use my children just as pawns to gain more power. He didn't care about any fatherly attachment towards them. He couldn't think about anything else but to snatch the Mafia King's position from Jiang Shan. It was a prestigious title to hold, after all. Everything and everybody would be under your command."

She pursed her lips. "What...what did you do then?"

"Of course I didn't want a child from him. Not that he could give one either because Weisheng told how he might have problems…" she clenched her fists, "Ever since I realized how it felt to be in love, even Jiang Zemin's sight disgusted me. I was afraid that he would force himself on me. Even though I knew the truth, Jiang Zemin didn't know that he couldn't give me a child. He wouldn't believe it either because Weizhe was his son, according to everyone."

Lihua sighed.

Indeed it was a tricky situation to get out of…

Old Madam faintly smiled. "But I think God really pitied me by giving me a husband who wasn't really...bright if I may say."

She choked.

"Ever since my father-in-law handed over the position to Jiang Shan, Jiang Zemin got so agitated that he would drink every day. He would come home heavily drunk and make a huge ruckus, fighting with his father and brother all the time. Instead of actually working hard to improve himself, he complained, got into petty fights and made schemes to bring his brother down. But his drinking habit came into our favor. He was the type to forget everything the next morning. Weisheng said that we can fool him just like last time and make it look like he slept with me under the influence of alcohol. He would think that we did it but he just didn't remember."

Lihua nodded in agreement.

That was a good plan indeed.

"That's how Weiyuan and then, later on, Xiurang were born. Once again, he was thinking that they were his children but Weisheng is the biological father."

Lihua finally heaved a sigh of relief. "That was a close call. Everything ended just as you wanted."

"It did. But there was another problem in front of us. Weizhe and Weiyuan were beginning to resemble Weisheng. It wasn't a problem with Xiurang because she looked like me. I was afraid that somebody might catch on to it. But Weisheng was already prepared for it. He had already foreshadowed that this might happen, so he was already beginning to change his appearance bit by bit.

It wasn't like he looked completely different than before. But he said that he had a close friend who was a small barber at that time. He knew his fair share of makeup. He helped him make small changes to his face so that the resemblance wouldn't really be so evident. It was easy because nobody paid much attention to the servants. The men wouldn't even properly look at them."

Lihua had an urge to clap hard.

I can now see the source of all intelligence in this family. It's all in the genes!

"Also, if somebody did question it, I could say that Weizhe and Weiyuan might have gotten it from my ancestors. My ancestors were already gone so nobody could really question it. That was just a contingency plan because like I said, the Jiang family men would never even think that their wife would ever cheat because they would never have the courage to do it."

Lihua slowly nodded.

The Old Madam smiled. "You must be thinking how cruel I am, right? I was a married woman. Cheating is cheating, after all, I am no different than Li Tingzhe."

She widened her eyes. "Of course you are different! Don't compare yourself to that cheater bastard. He was utterly selfish when he cheated on Aunt Xiurang. Your circumstances were completely different. Your time was different. I understand that it was hard to fight back all alone in that patriarchal society. Aunt Xiurang was a good wife, but Jiang Zemin was clearly not a good husband! Those who hit women should get even a worse place than hell after death! Of course, I am against cheating and if you are unhappy in your relationship, you should confront your partner and walk out of it instead of cheating behind their back."

Lihua shook her head. "But like I said, you didn't have much choice at that time. That time was different from today. Today, we have acknowledged women's rights and freedom. I think Jiang Zemin would have killed you if you had even dared to utter divorce."

"Indeed. Even if a marriage broke apart, only the husband had the right to end it. Not the wife."

Lihua grimaced.

She hesitated as she asked, "After that…Dad and Uncle's training started, isn't it?"

Old Madam shook her head. "That was a little later. Before that…My father-in-law passed away from a heart attack. Weizhe was five, Weiyuan was three and Xiurang was just turning a year old. After his death, Jiang Zemin felt victorious because the main hurdle was gone.

My father-in-law had a great hold over the Underworld and Jiang Zemin thought that his path was clear. Overturning Jiang Shan would be easy. But it wasn't. He tried to throw his weight around as the elder brother. But Jiang Shan didn't fall for his schemes. He even declared that his son would be the Mafia King in the future and Jiang Zemin would have no choice but to follow him for the rest of his life."

"Jiang Zemin wouldn't have kept quiet," she grimly said.

"He didn't. In fact...he did even more than that. He killed Jiang Shan and his family."