Compared to Yao Ruolan, Zhao Shen felt that Ji Yunshu—the legitimate daughter of the Ji family who had been pampered by her entire family since childhood—was more like the person favored by heaven she spoke of.
Ji Yunshu knew what he was thinking just by looking at his expression and felt a bit sentimental. “One shouldn’t just look at someone’s birth. Didn’t Mencius say? ‘When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it must first frustrate their spirit and will, exhaust their muscles and bones, expose their body to hunger, subject them to extreme poverty, and disrupt their undertakings. In this way, it stimulates their mind, tempers their character, and increases their abilities.'”
Zhao Shen’s expression grew even stranger upon hearing her words. “What great responsibility would Heaven place on her?”
It wasn’t that he looked down on Yao Ruolan, but he truly couldn’t imagine what kind of great responsibility Heaven would need to bestow upon a woman who had nothing to her name.
Ji Yunshu understood Zhao Shen’s perspective. After all, in the book, when he died, Yao Ruolan was still just a woman following Zhao Heng without any official status or title.
But a tragic novel female protagonist was still a female protagonist. Although she would live a miserable life, there was a reason she could make the male protagonist and even the male supporting characters fall for her.
The Yao Ruolan in the original text was able to persevere until the end, eventually being officially married to Zhao Heng after he achieved success and fame, and it wasn’t entirely because of love.
Later, when natural and man-made disasters struck and the common people were displaced, she did many things to benefit the populace. She also helped Zhao Heng recruit many capable subordinates, serving as his indispensable, solid support and virtuous wife.
Thus, Ji Yunshu said without any guilt, “To save all living beings.”
Zhao Shen: “…”
Are you joking?
Two days later, when Ji Yunshu went to pay her respects to Madam Yao, Madam Yao told her that the birthday of Grand Princess Taining was approaching. The Princess’s manor had sent an invitation, and Ji Yunshu was to accompany her there.
When Ji Yunshu received this news, she became even more certain that the plot was still progressing—in fact, some parts were even happening ahead of schedule.
This was because Grand Princess Taining’s daughter, Wei Yuanmin, Commandery Princess Huimin, was another female supporting character from the original novel. After Ji Yunshu’s death, Wei Yuanmin had taken over her role in the plot, opposing the female protagonist and eventually meeting a tragic end.
However, unlike Ji Yunshu, who had married into the family knowing nothing and was forced to become cannon fodder, Wei Yuanmin had been rescued by Zhao Heng during a dangerous incident in her childhood and had been deeply in love with him ever since.
In the original text, not only was she the main force who repeatedly attempted to harm Yao Ruolan in the later stages, but she had also constantly made things difficult for Ji Yunshu, both openly and in secret, during the early stages.
She was a character with a twisted psyche who couldn’t stand any woman being near Zhao Heng.
If Yao Ruolan hadn’t possessed the female protagonist halo, she would have been killed by her several times over.
With these thoughts in mind, Ji Yunshu sighed as she reclined on a lounge chair in the courtyard.
Zhao Shen was reading in the shade of a tree nearby. Hearing her sigh, he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”
After spending more than half a month together, he had found that Ji Yunshu was a very contradictory person.
At first, he thought her desire to practice martial arts was just a whim. After all, the hardships of training were more than many grown men could bear, let alone a young girl who had been pampered since childhood.
To his surprise, she had persisted every single day until now without fail.
Moreover, she had taken his advice, setting aside the Ji family techniques she already had some foundation in to start from scratch with the cultivation method he gave her, which was better suited for women.
Lately, her light-body skill was already starting to look quite decent.
Yet, if one were to say she was extremely self-disciplined and hardworking, she usually refused to stand if she could sit, and most of the time, she preferred to lie down.
She even complained that the lounge chair was too hard and only felt satisfied after having someone make a thick cushion to spread over it.
She was incredibly idle.
When she had nothing to do, she could lie there for half a day.
She acted more like a disabled person than he did.
How could he know that Ji Yunshu had been a corporate slave in the modern world? With her 996 schedule, working overtime and staying up late had been routine. Forget having a life—even survival had been a struggle.
Suddenly arriving here, aside from the potentially bad ending in her future, she truly had everything provided for her at all times.
She had already decided that if she couldn’t change that ending despite her efforts, she would at least cherish her time alive and leave herself no regrets.
She recounted the matter of Madam Yao wanting her to attend Grand Princess Taining’s birthday banquet. “Your previous guess was right. Madam Yao has likely set her sights on Commandery Princess Huimin.”
The plot was truly powerful. With her gone, it had seamlessly pushed forward another character to serve the same narrative purpose so quickly.
Zhao Shen frowned. “The only legitimate daughter of the Grand Princess and the Duke of Wei… Madam Yao’s ambition is certainly not small.”
This was not good news for them.
“Is this the first day you’ve known she was ambitious?” Ji Yunshu said. “Although Zhao Heng was the one who did wrong before, the reason your father agreed to let me marry you was partly out of his own selfish interests. Zhao Heng is his son too; to compensate him, he will agree to this.”
Although Marquis Zhao had loathed Madam Yao all these years because she had schemed against him back then, in his heart, his son was still his own.
Even if Zhao Heng couldn’t compare to Zhao Shen, the Marquis wouldn’t be entirely indifferent toward him.
Since he had decided to give the title to Zhao Shen, then it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Zhao Heng to marry a high-ranking wife who could support him.
Zhao Shen fell silent.
Ji Yunshu knew his feelings toward Marquis Zhao were very complex. His father was the indirect cause of his mother’s death, yet he had also been schemed against. However, after the fact, he had married the woman who schemed against him, allowing her to replace his mother’s position.
Just thinking about it was disgusting.
It was no wonder that no matter how much Marquis Zhao doted on Zhao Shen, the two could never get along.
Ji Yunshu smiled and said, “It seems whether this marriage can happen depends on Yao Ruolan. Has Zhao Heng found her yet?”
Although Zhao Shen didn’t understand why Ji Yunshu placed so much importance on Yao Ruolan, he understood from her attitude that the woman might indeed be a key factor.
He nodded. “He found her, but Yao Ruolan refuses to return.”
Ji Yunshu naturally knew that Yao Ruolan wouldn’t come back easily. “Where did she go?”
Yao Ruolan’s only remaining relative in this world was Madam Yao. After leaving the Marquis’s residence, she had nowhere to go.
“She didn’t take anything when she left, so she went to a silk manor that was hiring female workers. Apparently, her embroidery skills are quite good.”
Zhao Shen admired her ability to lower her status and find a way to support herself.
Ji Yunshu, however, thought of the male supporting character who would later provide Yao Ruolan with massive financial support: Cen Yi, the illegitimate son of the wealthy Cen family in the capital.
“Is the silk manor part of the Cen family’s properties?”
Zhao Shen was somewhat surprised, but he didn’t ask how she knew. Instead, he simply nodded.
Ji Yunshu had a general idea of what was happening. As soon as the relationship between the male and female protagonists ran into trouble, the supporting characters began to make their appearances.
She didn’t plan on personally sabotaging Zhao Heng’s marriage. Not only was the chance of success slim, but it was also meaningless.
After all, even if Zhao Heng didn’t marry, it wouldn’t change the fact that he was the male protagonist.
It was better to just go along with the plot.
As for the Cen family… thinking of Cen Yi’s background, Ji Yunshu couldn’t help but frown.
Just then, Zhao Shen’s personal attendant, Jingzhe, returned from outside and whispered a few words into Zhao Shen’s ear.
Zhao Shen’s expression remained neutral after hearing the news, only saying coldly, “My second brother has likely had things too easy these past few years, which is why he lacks such restraint.”
Ji Yunshu asked curiously, “What has Zhao Heng done now?”