Seeing the few sentences sent by the new member after joining the group, not to mention Lin Xi, even the other group members started cringing on Lin Xi's behalf. This was just too awkward. Those lines from Lin Xi were practically a direct slap in the face.
Lin Xi felt like crying but had no tears. She could only pretend she didn't exist and started reading the group announcement.
[Group Announcement: After this update, the Transmigrator Chat Group will add the following functions:
1. New members will receive an invitation to this group. Transmigrators can only join after agreeing.
2. From today, the item delivery function between group members and the intermediary will increase from one delivery per session to three. One of these three deliveries is permitted to be a living creature.
3. From today, a 'Moments' button will be added for group members. Members can upload photos in Moments to showcase their respective lives. PS: Photos in Moments can be seen by people other than the transmigrators. This update is now complete. Thank you for reading.]
Being able to deliver three items to each other was a huge improvement over the previous single opportunity. Being able to upgrade to this level already had Lin Duxi feeling quite satisfied.
Ah Huahua was screaming loudly in her cave. Her Cao'er could finally be by her side more often! She could have Lin Xi deliver Cao'er to her at night and then deliver Cao'er back the next day when she went out to work.
The others clicked on the small, palette-like circle behind each group member's name. Xu Huanhuan immediately used her jade tablet to take a photo of herself and her son, Nian, and uploaded it to her Moments.
She then tagged Lin Xi in the group: [Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: Little Xi, Little Xi, look at the photo in my Moments.]
After sending this message, she immediately tagged the new member, Xu Huixin: [@Period Drama Stepmother Xu Huixin, sorry sis, I just really wanted my parents to see me as I am now. I didn't mean to interrupt you on purpose.]
Xu Huixin expressed her understanding: [Period Drama Stepmother Xu Huixin: It's fine, it's fine, I understand. I was just venting because I'm so annoyed.]
Lin Xi clicked into Xu Huanhuan's Moments, saved the photo she had just taken, and sent it to her mother, Liu Jinxia, on WeChat.
Liu Jinxia's reply came quickly: "Xiao Lin, who are these two? They look so lovely, just pleasing to the eye at first glance. Especially that child, he looks so much like our Huanhuan did when she was little."
After sending that, another message quickly popped up: "We received the things you sent us last time. We ate them that very night, they were delicious. Thank you, Xiao Lin, thank you for still thinking of us."
Liu Jinxia's words were utterly sincere. Her daughter had many friends, but after the initial period of grief for Huanhuan, they had all returned to their own lives. Liu Jinxia understood; after all, the world keeps turning no matter who's gone. That they came to see her daughter at all was already a sign of deep friendship. But in her quiet moments, she couldn't help feeling a bit sad.
It felt as if the whole world had forgotten Huanhuan, and only their family still remembered her. And then, Lin Xi came along. After seeing Xu Huanhuan, she went home and mailed them items, chatting with them from time to time. Liu Jinxia and her husband had been smiling a lot more these past few days.
"Xiao Lin, your Uncle Xu and I sent quite a few things to you. Keep an eye out for the delivery," Liu Jinxia said, her gaze lingering on the photo, growing fonder the more she looked.
"Xiao Lin, the girl in the photo is so pretty. Looking at her, I feel an inexplicable sense of closeness."
After replying to her, Lin Xi sent a screenshot of their chat to Xu Huanhuan. Looking at the chat content, Xu Huanhuan suddenly felt her mood lift. She just knew that no matter what she looked like now, her mother would like her at first sight.
That was enough for now. But she was confident that as long as she stood before her mother, her mother would recognize her.
Ye Bingbing and Qin Suyuan privately messaged Lin Xi. Following their requests, Lin Xi sent the photos to their parents.
When Ye Bingbing's mother saw the photo Lin Xi sent, she smiled. Smiling, she then began to cry. Her daughter, wearing a green military uniform, looked so heroic and dashing, truly beautiful. Wiping her tears, she promptly forwarded the photo to her husband and son.
Then she went to the kitchen, called for Sister Xu, and together they made wontons. After wrapping them, she brought out a vacuum sealer, vacuum-sealed the finished wontons, and put them in the freezer. Once done, she went to the mall for a big shopping trip, buying all of Ye Bingbing's favorite foods.
She had wanted to do this for a long time, but Lin Xi hadn't given her any hint before, so she hadn't sent anything over. Now that this photo had arrived, she thought perhaps she could also send these things to her daughter through Lin Xi.
When she returned home, her husband and son were also back. Both were extremely excited upon seeing the photo. Her husband personally took the things she bought and the prepared wontons to a friend who ran a frozen food business, entrusting him to use his cold chain logistics to ship the batch to Lin Xi. They didn't know how to contact Bingbing directly; they only hoped she could deliver these items to Bingbing and, from time to time, let them see photos of Bingbing. That would be enough for them.
When Qin Shichun received the photo from Lin Xi, he carefully tapped to save it. He was busy at the moment and couldn't even spare more than a glance for his daughter, lost and found again.
Across from him, Fu Ladi was throwing a tantrum, rolling on the floor: "Qin Shichun, you can't do this! I've lived in this house for over twenty years. This is my house. I'm not leaving."
Fu Ladi never expected Qin Shichun, who had been devotedly tending their daughter's grave on the mountain, to suddenly return home. Even less did she expect Qin Shichun to catch her and Wang Zhenjun in the house. Fu Ladi wasn't brainless; she was certain the news of her bringing Wang Zhenjun back had been spread by those old neighbors next door.
Fu Ladi gritted her teeth in hatred. If she found out who tattled, she'd tear their mouth apart! Why couldn't they just let people be happy!
Qin Shichun's gaze fell on Wang Zhenjun in his shorts, then indifferently shifted away. "Fu Ladi, when we divorced, we had an agreement. I gave you half of the household savings. You have the right to live in this house, but as soon as you remarry or have a steady boyfriend, you must move out."
Long before the divorce, Qin Shichun had anticipated today. Fu Ladi was heartless. Their daughter was gone, but in her heart, that loss probably wasn't as important as a scraped knee on one of her nephews or nieces.
Qin Shichun had not divorced earlier for one reason: he believed that no matter what, Fu Ladi was still the mother. How heartless could she truly be? By the time he saw the full extent of Fu Ladi's cruelty, it was already too late. At that time, Qin Suyuan was in her rebellious teenage years, a phase where her thinking was quite different from others.
Adding to that, a friend of his was going through a divorce back then. His friend's son couldn't cope and jumped from a building. Although the child didn't die, he was left permanently disabled. That boy was around the same age as his daughter.
This incident genuinely terrified Qin Shichun. To prevent such a tragedy from happening to his daughter, he endured and did not divorce.
His original plan was to divorce once his daughter started university. Who could have predicted Fu Ladi would cause such a scene? What was even more despicable was Fu Ladi's niece, who called his daughter and hurled many insults at her. His daughter, afraid of causing trouble for him, rushed home. That was the trigger that led to his daughter's death!
Before, Qin Shichun was too consumed by grief to have the time or energy to deal with them. But now it was different. His daughter was alive, which meant he now had the time to settle accounts with these people, one by one.
"This contract was notarized. There are records on file, so I'm not afraid you'll deny it. Fu Ladi, I gave you two hundred thousand yuan. That's not a small sum. You can either buy a place or rent a decent apartment with it." Qin Shichun said this specifically for Wang Zhenjun's ears.
Qin Shichun never went into battle unprepared. He had already thoroughly investigated Wang Zhenjun the day before. This man and Fu Ladi were birds of a feather.
They were a perfect match, a lid for every pot. A brainless woman like Fu Ladi, following such a man, was just waiting to lose both her money and herself, ending up with nothing.
Qin Shichun felt no sympathy for her. As people directly or indirectly responsible for his daughter's death, they all deserved to suffer. Even though his daughter was alive now, it didn't change a thing. If not for them, his daughter would still be living well.
She wouldn't have needed to come back to life in someone else's body.
Even if Fu Ladi was his daughter's mother, he would never forgive her. She didn't deserve to remarry, she didn't deserve to have children. She should sink or swim with her brother's family. As for that two hundred thousand yuan, since Qin Shichun could give it out, he had the means to take it back!
Qin Shichun only hated that when he was looking for a wife back then, he only judged the person and didn't thoroughly investigate her family. If he had known that Fu Ladi's "helping her brother" would be this absurd, he would never have married her.
"Fu Ladi, think carefully. If you don't leave, I won't mind going to your village and telling everyone about your actions over all these years." Fu Ladi's family was from a village near Lingfeng City. Fu Ladi had a very good reputation in the village; whenever she returned, people were happy to chat with her.
This reputation was built on her consistent, unwavering support for her brother all these years since her marriage. But if the villagers found out she was already remarried yet still clinging to her ex-husband's home, what would they think of her?
A person lives for their reputation. Fu Ladi said, "I'll go. Qin Shichun, you win."
Fu Ladi felt that her feelings for Qin Shichun had finally vanished at this moment.
With her ex-husband waving the property deed declaring the house was his, even someone as shameless as Wang Zhenjun couldn't possibly stay. This man had quit a secure government job to become a grave keeper for the sake of a mere girl. Who knew if he might one day pull a knife and stab him? Wang Zhenjun couldn't understand why anyone would genuinely dote on a girl, but that didn't stop him from seeing Qin Shichun as a lunatic.
Besides, Fu Ladi still had that two hundred thousand!
He was from a county under Lingfeng City and had always wanted to buy an apartment in the city for his nephew. But he was just a laborer; after working for years, he hadn't saved much. After all, his wages went towards his brother's children's schooling and seeing his "three-hundred-yuan girlfriend" two or three times a month.
With Fu Ladi having money, it was different. If he could sweet-talk her into putting down a hundred thousand for a down payment, and then use another hundred thousand for his nephew's bride price, who would say he wasn't a good uncle? Wouldn't his nephew treat him like his own father?
Just thinking about how the neighbors back home would praise him made Wang Zhenjun's happiness bubble up uncontrollably.
In the following time, Qin Shichun watched as Fu Ladi packed her things. Fu Ladi had also been working outside all these years, but she never contributed a single cent of her salary to the household.
Qin Shichun couldn't afford to feel the slightest bit soft-hearted towards her. Being soft on her would be being cruel to his daughter's tragic death.
Only after Fu Ladi left did Qin Shichun send a message to Lin Xi. He told her everything he had done today, hoping she would relay it to his daughter.
Lin Xi did as he wished and forwarded it. When Qin Suyuan received the message, she laughed.
Lin Xi no longer felt awkward. She was the type to readily admit her mistakes. Although the person she had criticized wasn't Xu Huixin, those remarks had somewhat unfairly generalized a whole group.
Moreover, the group upgrade function required positive reviews from the helped members. Whenever possible, Lin Xi preferred not to make enemies within the group.
Seeing Lin Xi's apology, Xu Huixin simply said it was okay: [Xu Huixin, the Step-Mother from the Era Novel: It's fine. What you said is actually what I think too. Honestly, I don't know why I was so brain-dead back then, insisting on marrying such a man.]
Xu Huixin's words revealed a lot.
[Primitive World Ahuahua: What's wrong? Didn't you just transmigrate over?]
In the parallel world of 1973, Xu Huixin touched the gauze on her head and said: [Xu Huixin, the Step-Mother from the Era Novel: No, I've been here for eight years already. The original host died from a fever after falling into the water. She was thirteen at the time.]
[During these eight years, I studied hard. After graduating high school, I tested into the city's textile mill. After starting work, I met Shen Shuyu, a transport worker at our factory. He was a widower with three children. Two sons and a daughter, the eldest son is already eight this year. His former wife died giving birth to his child.]
[After meeting this man, my thoughts were no longer under my control. I liked him, loved him like a madwoman. I defied my parents' objections and insisted on marrying him. Even though his whole family looked down on me, I was determined to marry him.]
He reluctantly married me, but after the wedding, he said that to avoid his son misunderstanding, he wouldn't share a room with me. When his parents, siblings, and children made things difficult for me, he would pretend not to see it. However, if I showed even the slightest disrespect towards his parents or lack of kindness towards his siblings and children, his blindness would miraculously cure itself, and he would start accusing me of having a malicious heart.
Such a family, and I actually endured it for three years. Last month, he had an accident while driving. Although he was rescued, his legs were left impaired. He couldn't accept the fact that he had become crippled. He took his anger out on me day and night. Last night, he pushed me off the bed. My head hit the corner of a cabinet, and blood flowed everywhere, but he acted as if he saw nothing.
His parents, siblings, and children heard my cries but didn't even come out to take a look. I made it to the hospital by myself and collapsed upon arrival. In my dreams, I finally understood the source of my madness over the past few years.
Turns out, I'm the stepmother in a stepmother novel. I'm supposed to be smart and beautiful before marriage, then after marriage, wear my heart out for the family without earning any respect from my in-laws. I'm supposed to stand by my husband unwaveringly after his legs are broken. I must painstakingly raise my stepchildren, educating them to become successful. To provide them with a good environment, I even have to turn this impoverished family into wealthy merchants.
Then, after the eldest son grows up, I should gracefully retire and become a loving old couple with the man. Oh, and during all this, I not only have to busy myself with business but also guard against the various mistresses, number three, number four, number five around my man.
Thinking of her life as a beast of burden in the Shen family for the past three years, Xu Huixin's face twisted with emotion.
When the people in the group chat saw her paragraphs of description, they all tagged Xiang Qianlan in unison.
[1960s Boxer Xiang Qianlan: Hey, I thought I was the only one who transmigrated into such an unlucky female lead, turns out you are too.]
Xiang Qianlan deeply empathized with the life Xu Huixin described and then said: [I think you might be even worse off than me, at least I didn't personally experience those things. They were all the original host's experiences. Let me tell you, sister, facing this kind of family and this kind of man, you just clench your fists and go at them. These people are all despicable and bully the weak. As long as you're tougher than them, it'll be fine.]
After saying this, Xiang Qianlan's expression twisted for a moment: [Just hope your so-called husband isn't a pervert.]
Xu Huixin found Xiang Qianlan's words a bit puzzling, but soon, her group friends filled her in. Xu Huixin now looked at Xiang Qianlan with different eyes; they were truly birds of a feather.
After everyone finished speaking, Lin Xi said: [Earth Girl Lin Xi: Your stories are quite similar, aside from one being set in the countryside and the other in the city, and one having the man's biological children while the other has the elder sister's children. The main theme is others abusing the female lead a thousand times, yet she treats them like her first love.]
However, thinking of the tear-jerker dramas her grandma and others faithfully watched every day, she really felt some literary works existed for a reason. Because there's an audience.
But after thinking it over, Lin Xi realized she had indeed read many novels with female leads like Xu Huixin during her more frivolous youth.
So she stopped criticizing her grandma.
Lin Xi got up and went to her room, sending Xu Huixin the nearly used-up bottle of gene repair fluid, which contained about two drops, along with instructions on how to use it.
Xu Huixin had injured her head. From the moment she woke up until now, she frequently felt nauseous, vomited, and saw stars. Xu Huixin wasn't ignorant; she knew she had a concussion.
After forcing herself to talk in the group for so long, she had already dry-heaved several times.
She unscrewed the bottle cap, used the built-in dropper to take one drop into her mouth. She wasn't afraid of being tricked by the chat group. What did she have worth tricking? Could it be someone wanted her body? Well, that would be more than welcome!
It seemed to have no taste, but a wave of warmth spread to her limbs and bones, and the painful wound felt much better.
The doctor came for rounds, and Xu Huixin closed her eyes pretending to sleep. After the doctor left, she sent a message to the group: [Period Novel Stepmom Xu Huixin: @1960s Boxer Xiang Qianlan, thank you, sister. After I recover, I'll deal with them.]
Xu Huixin was never a cowardly person. She wouldn't just let go of the humiliating days she spent in the Shen family over the past three years.
For the past three years, she had been terribly constrained by this so-called plot. She had been with Shen Shuyu without any proper status.
What a colossal fool she had been!
The group became lively because of this incident, with everyone chiming in.
However, Lin Xi's gaze fell on the person who had entered the group with Xu Huixin but hadn't spoken at all.
[Earth Girl Lin Xi: @Reborn Transmigrator Gu Nuanyang, what are you up to, miss?]
In the ancient world, Gu Nuanyang, reborn in this lifetime, had gotten hold of a chopping knife and was grinding it back and forth, up and down on a whetstone by the well.
She saw the message in the group, but she didn't want to reply. Her mind was filled with everything she had endured in her previous life.
Before transmigrating, she was a seventeen-year-old still in high school. After transmigrating, she became an inconspicuous granddaughter in the Gu family of Gu Binggeng, in the Suzhou Prefecture of an unknown dynasty.
Back then, Gu Nuanyang was overjoyed. The grandparents who favored the eldest, doted on the third, and ignored the second son. The parents who were like pushovers, unable to refuse, doing the most work inside and outside the home, yet looked down upon by everyone in the family.
The beautiful but weak-willed eldest sister, the greedy and mischievous younger sister. Along with the shrewish and mean eldest aunt, and the sharp-tongued third aunt who stirred up trouble in front of the grandparents.
Weren't these all the standard tropes of a farming novel female lead? Moreover, she even had a fingertip spring!
Her fingertip spring couldn't quite raise the dead, but it wasn't far from it. She used the spring water to nurse herself and her parents and sisters back to health.
She urged her parents to separate from the biased grandparents. After that, she made tofu, grew medicinal herbs, sold dried persimmons, made pastries, pulling the whole family from being a wealthy household in the village to becoming wealthy in the town and then the county.
And when she was fourteen, she carried a man down from the mountain and healed his injuries with her spring water.
And that man, true to the tropes of a farming novel, turned out to be the ninth son of the current emperor. Due to harem strife and court conflicts, he was attacked during a hunting expedition. His men fought desperately to get him out, and after two days and nights of frantic travel, he collapsed near Gu Nuanyang's family estate.
After being saved by Gu Nuanyang, he lived incognito in the small village, waiting until his beloved emperor father and imperial consort mother had cleared up the troubles for him. Only then did he smoothly return to the capital.
Before his return, he revealed his identity to Gu Nuanyang. During the more than a year they spent together, Zhao Juanqing was not only handsome, gentle, and refined but also exceptionally learned and talented. He had long since captured Gu Nuanyang's heart. However, due to a maiden's modesty, she did not immediately respond to Zhao Juanqing's affection. But Zhao Juanqing was utterly devoted to her.
After returning to the capital, whenever he had time, he would ride post-haste to her side, never missing a visit regardless of bitter cold or scorching heat. Gu Nuanyang was finally moved by his sincerity.
She brought her entire family and followed him back to the capital. They held a grand wedding, and their love story spread throughout the nation. They were hailed as a match made in heaven.
In the second year of her marriage to Zhao Juanqing, Zhao Juanqing ascended the throne, and she naturally became his empress.
Not long after, she became pregnant. Zhao Juanqing was overjoyed, swearing to the heavens that they would be devoted only to each other for life. Just when she thought she, like the heroines in farming novels, would have a deeply loving husband, several adorable children, and a family who treated her exceptionally well...
She discovered Zhao Juanqing and her eldest sister, Gu Rou'er, engaging in a tryst within the rock garden. How laughable. Her husband and her dearest sister had gotten together.
Before she could even confront them, she saw her younger sister, Gu Ling'er, approaching from afar, already beginning to undress. Soon, the sounds of three people laughing and frolicking came from within the rock garden.
At that moment, rage burned through her entire chest. She stood outside the rock garden, waiting for the trio to finish their sport and emerge.
Upon seeing her, the faces of all three changed. Then, her always gentle and virtuous sister knelt before her. With a blink, tears streamed down.
"Second Sister, I didn't mean to. I just love Brother Juanqing too much. I don't seek status, I only wish to stay by his side. I swear I won't steal him from you. I just want to see him occasionally." Within a few sentences, her sister cried so hard she nearly fainted.
She stood rooted to the spot, her spine rigid, silent. In that moment, she understood many things.
Why, back then, had her sister's suitors, one after another, met with misfortune even though she was already eighteen? Why was her sister never anxious about remaining unmarried? It wasn't until they entered the capital that she married one of Zhao Juanqing's guards. Not long after the marriage, the guard died, leaving behind not a single child.
Because she had liked this eldest sister since transmigrating, whether in the prince's mansion outside the palace or within the palace walls, she had always enjoyed inviting her sister to visit.
Both Zhao Juanqing, the prince at the time, and Zhao Juanqing, the emperor later, had supported this. In her former naivety, she thought it was because Zhao Juanqing loved her, and by extension, loved her family.
She was truly the greatest fool under heaven.
Before her tangled thoughts could settle, the last member of the tryst trio began to spout nonsense.
Her clever, lively, and mischievous younger sister said, "Second Sister, don't be so overbearing. Eldest Sister and His Majesty were already deeply in love back in the village. You're the one who forced your way between them. If not for you, Eldest Sister would have been Empress long ago. What does it have to do with you? If you know what's good for you, you should voluntarily step down and yield the Empress position to Eldest Sister."
Gu Nuanyang felt this was utterly absurd. It was as if she no longer recognized her sisters.
And her husband? He tenderly helped her kneeling sister up: "Rou'er, why kneel to her? I am the Son of Heaven. I can be with whomever I wish. Go home and pack your things. In a while, I will welcome you into the palace with the rites of an Imperial Noble Consort."
"Brother-in-law, Brother-in-law, what about me? You've forgotten me? You weren't like this just now~" Her younger sister cooed, shaking her husband's sleeve, her ample bosom brushing against his arm.
Zhao Juanqing tapped her nose: "How could I forget you? But for sisters to marry the same man is somewhat shocking to the world. Moreover, the Imperial Noble Consort and the Empress would already be sisters. I've found you a new family. When the time comes, you can enter the palace through the selection process."
They flirted right in front of her. Afterward, she was confined within the palace. Not long after, she gave birth to her son. Before she could even get a good look at him, he was taken to her sister's palace.
The official story was that she had died in difficult childbirth, so her child was entrusted to her sister. This also served to silence the murmurs of the world.
After she gave birth, the man she had loved since her youth came to her palace. He asked her what method she had used to save him back then. What method had cured her mother's infertility?
And what method made the food she prepared exceptionally delicious and nourishing? Most terrifyingly, what method could even increase crop yields?
Gu Nuanyang recalled the past, sharpening her knife with even greater force, her eyes growing colder.
"My Empress, you don't think you're the only clever person in the world, and everyone else is a fool, do you? When I fell down the cliff and landed near your home, I was still conscious. I know how severe my injuries were."
"I had at least five broken ribs. My arms and legs were completely shattered. So how is it that after you saved me, all those internal injuries were healed, leaving only some superficial wounds that looked terrifying but were actually harmless?"
"My Empress. What is that water that drips from your finger in the dead of night? Where is it hidden? How can I, your emperor, obtain it? That water can raise the dead, regenerate flesh and bone, and nourish all living things. Can it also grant immortality?"
"I've read strange tales. They all say such abilities are passed to the next generation. Why hasn't our son inherited it?"
"My Empress, what kind of monster are you, really? Where did your business talents come from? Those recipes for dishes and pastries that even great aristocratic families don't know—where did they come from? How is it you don't understand the Four Books and Five Classics, yet you know so much about statecraft?"
"My Empress, I've observed you for a very, very long time. You have no master guiding you. How do you know so much?"
At that time, Zhao Juanqing looked utterly deranged. Because of his words, Gu Nuanyang's face turned deathly pale. She thought everything she had done was seamless, she thought she had hidden herself perfectly.
Turns out she had left so many clues, yet not a single person had ever pointed them out to her. She was like a clown performing for an audience.
Because she couldn't answer, Zhao Juanqing flew into a humiliated rage. They subjected her to private punishment. Except for the fingertip that produced the spiritual spring, all her other fingers were chopped off.
Just as she was being tortured to the brink of death, her "steamed bun" mother arrived.
Before her transmigration, Gu Nuanyang was an orphan. The orphanage she lived in was not a good one; they were never well-fed or warmly clothed. If it weren't for a journalist keeping a constant watch on their orphanage,
children like them probably wouldn't even have had the chance to go to school. After transmigrating to ancient times, although Second Gu and Lady Guli were each more cowardly than the other, she truly regarded them as her parents.
Especially when she first woke up, she heard her mother—who was usually so timid she didn't dare speak loudly—kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and begging her grandmother for money to save her.
For Gu Nuanyang, who had grown up without parents, this was an absolute heartbreaker.
Because of this, she decided to shield her "steamed bun" mother under her wing. From then on, whether it was her biased, son-preferring grandmother, her sharp-tongued eldest aunt, or her quick-witted third aunt, none of them were to hurt her "steamed bun" mother ever again.
When her mother was oppressed, Gu Nuanyang stood in front, charging into battle for her. When her mother was upset about not having borne a son, Gu Nuanyang became a comforting little quilted jacket, soothing and persuading her.
Later, because her mother's fixation was so strong, Gu Nuanyang even used the single daily drop of spiritual spring from her fingertip on her mother continuously for half a month.
Two months later, her mother finally became pregnant. Nine months after that, she gave birth to a son. From then on, her "steamed bun" mother was no longer a pushover. She straightened her spine and, for the sake of her son, grew confident in her speech and actions.
After entering the capital, her husband became the Duke of Imperial Favor, and she became a First Rank Lady. Even her walk and demeanor became refined and elegant.
Gu Nuanyang sprinkled some water on the whetstone and continued sharpening.
"Nuannuan, His Majesty has said that as long as you tell him what he wants to know, your elder sister can become the Empress, and your son can become the Crown Prince." Her "steamed bun" mother sat elegantly before her.
"Nuannuan, don't be so stubborn. A woman should be gentle and obedient like your elder sister, or at the very least, clever and adorable like your younger sister. Look at you, what's the point of being so strong-willed? In the end, you can't even keep a man."
"Fortunately, we still have your elder sister and younger sister even without you. Otherwise, such a fine son-in-law as His Majesty would belong to another family. Don't be stubborn. For the sake of your child, for the glory of our Gu family, just confess, alright?"
"We women live our whole lives for our children and our men, don't we? A woman like you, keeping secrets from your son and your man, is not a good woman. If word got out, you'd be condemned by everyone!" Her "steamed bun" mother looked at her with disapproval.
Perhaps seeing that she had no reaction after all that talk, her mother squatted down in front of her.
In those eyes that were always full of maternal love, a trace of ruthlessness now showed. "Do you really intend to take this secret to your grave? I tell you, I won't allow it."
"Nuannuan, you've always been so obedient to your mother. Why won't you listen this time?" The corner of her mouth curled into a strange smile.
"Nuannuan, as long as you tell His Majesty your secret, you'll still be my good daughter, alright? See how good I am to you? I don't even mind that you, a wandering ghost, have taken over my daughter's body. I've been so good to you, I even let you name my daughter and my son. Why are you still being so unreasonable?"
With those words, Gu Nuanyang remembered. Before she transmigrated, the Gu sisters had no proper names. Her elder sister wasn't called Gu Rou'er, and her younger sister wasn't called Gu Ling'er.
At that time, Gu Nuanyang struggled to open her nearly shut eyes, looking at the "steamed bun" mother she had protected her entire life.
There wasn't a trace of the cowardice from her youth left in her. That face, always so kindly, was now completely cold.
"Are you wondering how I knew about your origins? You are truly so foolish! What normal woman could spout such rebellious nonsense about women living for themselves, about living well even without a son?"
"Since ancient times, it has been men as the heavens, women as the earth, and the earth follows the heavens' rotation. And my second daughter was illiterate, rarely even leaving the house. Where would she have learned so many recipes? Even the village chief's family guarded their stewing methods tightly, afraid others would learn. Who would be foolish enough to share and teach others?"
"Don't tell me it was taught by a white-bearded old man in your dreams. You were just a peasant girl with nothing. What immortal, with nothing better to do, would come to your dreams to teach you? Why didn't he come teach me?"
"And you were too bold, actually daring to drag a man of unknown origin into our home. Do you know how many bandits have used that trick to slaughter entire villages?"
"But your boldness also had its benefits. If you hadn't dragged that man to our home, how would our family have gotten such a fine son-in-law? The True Dragon, the Son of Heaven himself. How many noble daughters from great families longed to marry him but couldn't!"
"You probably didn't know, did you? Your elder sister has been serving His Majesty since she was sixteen. She was His Majesty's first woman! If not for consideration of you, I would have been the Crown Prince's grandmother long ago! Do you remember when your elder sister fell gravely ill at sixteen?"
"I'll tell you, your elder sister wasn't ill at all. It was an abortion. His Majesty has such a cruel heart. And you, you were truly an eyesore."
Gu Nuanyang didn't want to recall any more. She stood up, kicked the whetstone aside, and gripping the firewood knife, walked towards Gu Family Village.
She hated Zhao Juanqing, but she hated the Gu family even more! How much had she given for them! How could they! How dared they treat her like that!
Gu Nuanyang gritted her teeth until they creaked.
She drew closer and closer to the Gu family home. The house was built in the last two years after she had money, modeled after a courtyard house. It was the most impressive in the entire county! On the day it was completed, even the county magistrate came to see it. At this moment, she was sixteen, her elder sister was seventeen, having just had an abortion and was recuperating indoors.
Her parents told her she had suffered a serious illness and needed a period of rest and recuperation, otherwise it might harm her very foundation. Back then, Gu Nuanyang, her heart and eyes were completely filled with this family, and she had never once doubted the people within it. Thinking back on it now, starting from when she was fifteen, her older sister always had to bathe before bed, not just a simple wash, but she would also use scented creams to make herself smell fragrant.
She used to adore this gentle older sister so much. Even after the house was expanded and everyone had their own room, she always insisted on sleeping with her. But then one day, her sister suddenly refused, saying she wanted some space of her own. At the time, she didn't think much of it, figuring her sister was getting older and deserved to have her own little secrets. Probably by that time, her sister was already sleeping with Zhao Juanqing, wasn't she?
What else was there? Oh, her younger sister Gu Ling'er also seemed to particularly enjoy hovering around Zhao Juanqing~
She climbed the steps one by one. Her eyes were fixed tightly on that iron door, and the firewood knife in her hand was gripped tighter and tighter...
On the Earth plane, Lin Xi didn't receive a reply from Gu Nuanyang. Thinking she was like other group members who had joined before, busy and without time to reply, Lin Xi didn't dwell on it.
After chatting in the group for a while, she combed her hair, applied a face mask, and got ready for bed.
The moment her head touched the pillow, her phone began to vibrate.
Remembering the incident with Qin Suyuan in the middle of the night last time, Lin Xi immediately grabbed her phone and sat up.
[System Prompt: Group member Gu Nuanyang is preparing to shake the foundation of the plane world. Please choose whether to persuade her to turn back: Yes/No.]
[System Prompt: Group member Gu Nuanyang is preparing to shake the foundation of the plane world. Please choose whether to persuade her to turn back: Yes/No.]
[System Prompt: Group member Gu Nuanyang is preparing to shake the foundation of the plane world. Please choose whether to persuade her to turn back: Yes/No.]
