In her previous life, after Swallow Holding Branch died, she did not know why she did not go to the Yellow Springs for reincarnation. Instead, she became a lonely ghost, wandering around the Jingyuan Marquis Manor for ten years.
Perhaps because she died in the Jingyuan Marquis Manor, the four high walls of the Marquis trapped Swallow Holding Branch from leaving, but she could go to any corner of the manor.
Since no one could see a lonely ghost, many things and secrets naturally could not be hidden from her. It was only after death that Swallow Holding Branch truly witnessed what it meant to be nobility.
In the family temple in Jinling, her grandaunt had taught her many things: reading and writing to understand matters and etiquette, needlework and knotting, and the art of incense-making to cultivate her temperament and serve as a means of livelihood.
Swallow Holding Branch had also dabbled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and learned to identify common herbs to treat minor ailments.
The Five Animal Frolics strengthened her body, cooking allowed her to be self-sufficient, and etiquette and rules ensured she never fell short in social interactions.
Her grandaunt was a well-bred lady from her grandfather’s generation. During the most illustrious period of the Jingyuan Marquis Manor, the education she received could rival that of men.
When her grandaunt taught Swallow Holding Branch these skills, she truly felt that living in the family temple was no less than anyone else.
Other girls from ordinary families could not even learn such things!
Swallow Holding Branch had once been smug about her versatility, but after witnessing the depth of the Marquis Manor, she realized the vast difference between herself and others.
What her grandaunt taught her was important—it was the foundation for her to stand on her own and survive.
But girls from great families did not need to consider standing on their own or survival; their families had already prepared everything for them.
What they needed to learn was how to live comfortably. The foremost was the ability to remain calm in crises, to be shrewd and capable, and to become a qualified mistress of the household.
How to manage the household, how to use a woman’s means to assist her husband’s career.
Another was how to survive within the inner courtyard enclosed by four walls.
The struggles between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the ruthless scheming between the main wife and concubines.
Girls had to learn how to manage the household finances, how to navigate relationships with mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, and how to virtuously arrange concubines to serve their husbands while also guarding against concubines gaining favor and overstepping their bounds.
How to respond, how to resolve conflicts, and how to retaliate—these were things Swallow Holding Branch had never learned or witnessed in the Jinling family temple.
In the study of the male master in the front courtyard of the Jingyuan Marquis Manor, from the conversations between her uncle and his confidants and colleagues, Swallow Holding Branch witnessed the undercurrents and intrigues of the imperial court.
In the residence of the heir in the front courtyard, she saw how the Marquis Manor cultivated its successor. The six arts of a gentleman were not necessarily mastered to perfection, but at least they had to be knowledgeable.
In the side rooms, Swallow Holding Branch witnessed how the main wife suppressed and ruined the illegitimate sons and daughters.
There were also clever ones who cautiously survived in the Marquis Manor, witnessing the demons and grudges of this grand mansion.
After witnessing all this in the Marquis Manor, Swallow Holding Branch realized her own shallowness. What she had learned was how to stand on her own, but how could she be a match for the Second Branch, who spent their days scheming for personal gain? Her loss was not unjust.
Her death was an inevitable outcome. First, the Second Branch would never give the First Branch a chance to rise again. From the fragmented words of the manor’s servants and the Second Branch family, Swallow Holding Branch pieced together the truth of why the Second Branch despised the First Branch.
Because the First Branch and the Second Branch were not born of the same mother. Without sharing the same womb, how could they love each other?
From the vague remarks of the second branch, Swallow Holding Branch deduced that they had likely used some underhanded methods to obtain the title of the eldest branch back then.
As the saying goes, a guilty conscience needs no accuser. Whether it was fear that Swallow Holding Branch might uncover something and seek revenge, or simply plain dislike, the second branch would never allow her the chance to rise to prominence.
This also explained why Swallow Holding Branch had been exiled to the countryside.
As long as she stayed away from the capital, her life would remain safe. Yet, Swallow Holding Branch was unwilling to accept her fate and insisted on making her way in the world.
Secondly, she stood in someone else’s way.
When Swallow Holding Branch was about to enter the palace, the legitimate eldest daughter of the second branch of Jingyuan Marquisate had already entered ahead of her. Somehow, that girl ended up as a servant attending to the masters.
Meanwhile, thanks to a recommendation from a eunuch who had served three dynasties, combined with her stunning beauty that outshone many others, Swallow Holding Branch managed to enter as a low-ranking imperial concubine.
Though her future remained uncertain, compared to the legitimate eldest daughter of the second branch, her prospects were far brighter.
With such a stark contrast, the Jingyuan Marquisate naturally did not want her to enter the palace and steal their daughter’s limelight—though it was unclear what kind of limelight a mere palace maid could have.
Thus, Swallow Holding Branch was doomed to die!
From the moment she set foot in the capital, there was no turning back. Whether she struggled or not, it was all in vain.
Regret was useless now—she was already dead. What more could be done?
For ten years, Swallow Holding Branch drifted through the Jingyuan Marquisate, witnessing far too many things. She knew the secrets everyone was aware of, and she also knew the secrets no one else did.
If she could expose them, it would be enough for the imperial court to raze the Marquisate several times over. But sadly, though she knew everything, she had no way to speak of it.
Swallow Holding Branch had thought she would drift aimlessly through the Marquisate like stagnant water until her soul dissipated completely.
Yet, on an ordinary afternoon, she overheard a secret that shattered her heart and shook her soul to its core.
A mistreated and bullied illegitimate daughter in the Marquisate’s rear courtyard, unable to endure the endless torment, intended to seek revenge.
But before the girl could act, her own birth mother stopped her. The girl could not understand why her mother would stand in her way.
She was the one being bullied—why wouldn’t her mother help her, instead of protecting others?
The girl’s mother was no ordinary concubine. She had been the primary wife’s personal maid, later elevated to concubine by the wife, and only then began living as half a mistress.
In her haste to stop her daughter, she blurted out that her daughter’s actions were like an egg striking a stone.
To make her daughter face reality, the concubine revealed some long-buried secrets—how the eldest branch of the Jingyuan Marquisate had fallen, and how Swallow Holding Branch had died of “failure to acclimatize.”
The concubine’s intention was to warn her daughter not to act recklessly, for anyone who stood in the way of the second branch’s interests would meet the same fate.
But how could they have imagined that Swallow Holding Branch, the very person involved, was standing right beside them, listening?
Hearing these words, Swallow Holding Branch was utterly stunned. She would never have imagined that her father and mother’s deaths had been orchestrated by the second branch.
Her mother, Madam Bai, had not died in childbirth. At full term, she had been given a bowl of medicine labeled as a labor-inducing brew, but in reality, it was a miscarriage-preventing drug. The conflicting effects of the medicine slowly dragged her to her death.
Her father had not been driven by lust. He had been framed, stripped of everything, and died bearing a tarnished reputation.
And I myself ended up meeting a miserable death—this is the entire truth of how the second branch persecuted the eldest branch.
Note to readers: Dear readers, don’t forget to leave your valuable comments after finishing the chapter. If you enjoyed it, feel free to support with a tip, and you’re welcome to add it to your bookshelf for collection. Love you all!