“Silly Girl, come here quickly.” Zhang Dazhu stared with gleaming eyes at the girl washing clothes in the corner. She looked about twelve or thirteen years old, dressed in tattered clothes with messy hair, yet she was exceptionally pretty for her young age.
Zhang Dazhu had long had his eye on her, but he lacked the courage to act on his wicked thoughts.
This time, however, was different. Orders had come from above.
The girl called Silly Girl opened her innocent, wide eyes and stared fixedly at the roast chicken on the table, swallowing her saliva.
“Come here, quick. I’ll give you the roast chicken.” Zhang Dazhu beckoned to her.
Silly Girl walked over without any suspicion.
As soon as she stepped over the threshold and reached out to touch the roast chicken, Zhang Dazhu’s expression suddenly changed. He slammed the door shut and shouted toward Wang Guihua, who was hiding behind it, “Do it now!”
Wang Guihua had been hiding there all along. She raised a club and struck Silly Girl hard on the back of the head, knocking her unconscious. Looking at the unconscious girl, she spat, “If we hadn’t set up this ambush early, it wouldn’t have been so easy to catch this little fool.”
The fool had immense strength—it would take two people to subdue her.
Zhang Dazhu eagerly carried the unconscious Silly Girl toward the kang bed. Seeing this, Wang Guihua gritted her teeth angrily and couldn’t resist giving Zhang Dazhu a hard shove. “Heartless man.”
“Look at you, I’m just following our master’s orders. Don’t take it to heart. This little wretch is only good for a bit of fun.”
“Hmph, when this little wretch returns to the Duke of Jing’s Mansion and realizes she’s lost her purity, what face will she have to marry the Prince of Zhennan’s Son? By then, our master’s rewards will be plentiful.”
“Yes… yes.”
The man brushed her off impatiently, eagerly moving toward the bed while undoing his belt with his other hand. Seeing this, Wang Guihua’s eyes turned venomous, and she turned away and left.
A pair of large hands groped over her body. On the bed, the girl’s fingertips twitched slightly, and her brows furrowed as countless fragments of memories surged like a fierce tide.
She was no Silly Girl.
She was the legitimate daughter of the main branch of the Duke of Jing’s Mansion, named Song Yue!
Since she could remember, she had lived in a separate courtyard, with endless chores every day—cutting grass, feeding pigs, washing clothes, day after day.
The reason she acted foolishly was because she had been forced to drink a drug that induced dementia since she was three years old.
Hiss!
A chill spread across her shoulder.
Zhang Dazhu leaned over, about to climb on top of her, and said smugly, “What noble daughter of a duke’s mansion? Aren’t you still being humiliated under me?”
Song Yue opened her eyes and coldly stared at Zhang Dazhu, her gaze as calm as if she were looking at a corpse.
Perhaps her gaze was too sharp, because Zhang Dazhu instinctively looked up and met a pair of dark, fierce eyes.
It startled him so much that he reflexively raised his hand to slap her. “You little wretch, you scared me half to death.”
But the slap never landed. Instead, the girl grabbed his wrist.
Zhang Dazhu’s expression changed, gradually showing pain. Before he could cry out, Song Yue swiftly flipped over and grabbed his neck.
“No, don’t…” Zhang Dazhu’s face was filled with terror.
Song Yue tightened her grip.
A crisp cracking sound echoed.
She had actually crushed his neck with her bare hands.
Zhang Dazhu slumped onto the bed like a dead dog.
Song Yue wiped her hands disdainfully, glanced around, and her gaze fell on the roast chicken on the table. She walked over, bent down to sit, picked up the roast chicken, and sniffed it.
No poison. It was safe to eat!
As she ate the roast chicken, she pondered her current situation.
It was now the second year of Beichu.
Ten years ago, the Emperor Taizong of Beichu, having been defeated in war, secretly sent her mother to Nanjiang for a political marriage as part of the peace terms, while publicly announcing that her mother, Princess Jiahua, had died of illness.
Because of this, Jinganhoufu transformed into the Duke of Jing’s Mansion.
The Duke of Jing’s Mansion sent her to a separate estate to fend for herself, completely neglecting her for a full decade.
Until two years ago, when Emperor Taizong passed away, passing the throne to the third prince and changing the country’s name to Beiqi.
But this Emperor of Beiqi had a short fate, reigning for only half a year before being usurped by his younger brother, the fifth prince, who changed the country’s name back to Beichu!
This year marks the second year of the Emperor of Beichu’s reign.
The reason the Duke of Jing’s Mansion remembered her, their daughter, was entirely because the Emperor of Beichu mentioned in court a few days ago: “The legitimate daughter of my cousin Jiahua must be about thirteen years old now, right?”
Just that one sentence prompted the Duke of Jing’s Mansion to begin preparations to send someone to bring her back to the capital.
The reason Zhang Dazhu and Wang Guihua dared to act against her was that they had received orders from a certain master to ruin her chastity.
This way, she would be unable to marry the Prince of Zhennan’s Son.
In her previous life, after her chastity was ruined and she returned to the Duke of Jing’s Mansion, she was ridiculed by everyone. At that time, her mind was still immature, and she did not understand; she only knew that everyone scolded her and occasionally struck her palms.
She was punished with kneeling and denied food.
In winter, she was even submerged in a lake.
If she cried out even once, she would be beaten.
Only on the first day of each month, when she entered the palace to pay respects, could she dress beautifully and enjoy an extremely lavish meal.
This cycle repeated endlessly.
Yet even though her reputation was tarnished, she was still carried into Zhennanwangfu in a grand eight-person sedan chair as the legitimate wife.
Because her backing was the Emperor of Beichu.
Her mother was the Emperor of Beichu’s beloved.
And her mother died in the month before the Emperor of Beichu was about to launch a campaign against Nanjiang.
The Emperor of Beichu poured all his guilt over her mother onto her, coercing and pressuring Zhennanwangfu until they had no choice but to compromise.
He also sought countless renowned physicians to treat her illness.
Finally, after a year, she fully regained her senses.
Unfortunately, not long after, the Emperor of Beichu was severely injured by an assassin and died without recovery.
Her good days came to an end.
The Prince of Zhennan’s Grand Lady brought over a dozen highly skilled martial artists, subdued her, forcibly fed her poison, and then sealed her alive in a coffin.
Inside the airtight coffin, pitch-black and unable to see her own fingers, she gasped for breath, her internal organs feeling as if they were being sliced apart slowly.
She never wanted to experience such a death again in this lifetime.
“Zhang Dazhu!”
Wang Guihua banged on the door, pulling Song Yue back from her thoughts.
Bang!
Wang Guihua impatiently pushed the door open. She knew all too well that her husband was no good man and had long had his eyes on Song Yue.
Seeing her husband engage in illicit affairs with another woman right under her nose, Wang Guihua, as the small overseer of the estate, could not bear such humiliation.
When she pushed the door open and saw Song Yue sitting by the table, with a pile of chicken bones on it, she froze.
Then, noticing Zhang Dazhu lying unconscious on the bed, Wang Guihua’s eyelids twitched. She hurried over to the bed to check.
With a touch, she realized he had stopped breathing.
Wang Guihua let out a sharp cry: “You little wretch, you killed my man! You’re asking for death!”
Song Yue slammed the table and stood up, grabbing a wooden stool nearby and smashing it toward Wang Guihua’s vital spot.
Bright red blood streamed down Wang Guihua’s cheek. She was stunned, lifting her head to meet Song Yue’s clear, piercing eyes.
“You…”
“I am Song Yue, the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Jing’s Mansion. How dare you call me a little wench!” Song Yue strode forward, reached out, and firmly grasped Wang Guihua’s chin, her eyes glinting with a chilling coldness.
Wang Guihua had watched Song Yue grow up and had never seen this side of her before. She was utterly terrified: “A ghost, a ghost!”
It must be a ghost possessing her!
Wang Guihua screamed incoherently in fear.
Slap!
A sharp slap landed on Wang Guihua’s face.
The screaming stopped abruptly.
Wang Guihua trembled as she looked at Song Yue: “M-Miss, it was all Nanny Fang who forced me to do this. I had no choice.”
Song Yue released her grip and took a few steps back: “Brutally beating the legitimate daughter of the Duke’s mansion and attempting to violate her—either crime alone is punishable by death!”
Wang Guihua had never witnessed such a scene before. The young girl before her seemed like a demon risen from hell to claim her life, frightening her nearly out of her wits.
She knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Song Yue: “M-Miss, spare my life.”
Song Yue glanced down at Wang Guihua with disdain. Though the woman was detestable, now was not the time for her to die.
She bent down and sat, looking at Wang Guihua indifferently: “After all, you’ve taken care of me for ten years. Even if there’s no merit, there’s effort. Without you, I might have died long ago. You are my savior, yet Nanny Fang forced you to commit such a vile act against me. If this matter reaches the Duke of Jing’s Mansion, your entire family won’t escape death.”
Reminded by Song Yue, Wang Guihua thought it over and realized it was true, cursing Nanny Fang repeatedly in her heart.
“Yesterday, when Nanny Fang went to find Zhang Dazhu, I was washing clothes by the wall. Nanny Fang promised Zhang Dazhu that once the deed was done and the blame was shifted onto you, and you were silenced, Zhang Dazhu could take up a position at the Duke of Jing’s Mansion.”
Wang Guihua refused to believe it: “That’s impossible.”
“How is it impossible? Zhang Dazhu and Nanny Fang are fellow villagers,” Song Yue reminded her.
In her past life, Wang Guihua had been killed by Zhang Dazhu and Nanny Fang working together, with all the blame shifted onto her. Zhang Dazhu, relying on Song Yue’s foolishness and inability to complain, stayed comfortably at the Duke of Jing’s Mansion and eventually settled down with Nanny Fang.
“That gold Ruyi hairpin on Nanny Fang’s head was given to her by Zhang Dazhu,” Song Yue said.
Upon hearing this, Wang Guihua jumped up, cursing angrily: “That old wretch! She was secretly plotting to harm me!”