Song Zhimian stared blankly at the azure bed curtains above her, which were embroidered with patterns of insects and birds. She had been lying there for two whole days.
Two days ago, after finishing overtime and returning home, Song Zhimian discovered that the elevator in her apartment building was broken.
Unable to wait, she had no choice but to take the stairs.
Fortunately, she didn’t live on a high floor—only the sixth—so the climb wasn’t particularly exhausting.
However, just as she reached the fourth floor in her high heels, her foot slipped… and when she next opened her eyes, she was here.
“Eldest Sister, Father has chosen a wonderful husband for you. Although he is past forty and has already tortured four wives to death, he is a trusted confidant of the Prince. See how much Father dotes on you! Prepare for your marriage well!”
This was the first thing Song Zhimian heard upon waking.
As she watched her half-sister, Song Zhiqing, lead her maids out of the room with an air of arrogant triumph, Song Zhimian’s head throbbed even harder.
Her mind was a mess, cluttered with a jumble of information. It took a long time for her to sort through it and finally grasp her current situation.
First, she had indeed transmigrated.
The name of the body she now occupied was also Song Zhimian.
While the original host’s beauty wasn’t quite enough to topple empires, she could certainly be described as devastatingly beautiful—a peerless lady of her generation…
As for the dynasty she was in… it certainly didn’t exist in any history Song Zhimian had ever studied.
The Dayu Dynasty—a completely unfamiliar era to her.
It was undoubtedly a feudal society, yet it seemed slightly different from the traditional ones.
Here, women were not confined to the inner chambers. They could engage in trade, work as physicians in clinics, serve as teachers in academies, and some were even seen within the imperial court.
However, their numbers were few…
Second, the original Song Zhimian was a truly pitiable soul.
Despite being the legitimate eldest daughter of the Dayu Dynasty’s Zhongyong Hou Mansion, she lived a life worse than that of a high-ranking maid.
Her biological mother had died young, and her father, the Zhongyong Hou, had quickly promoted a former concubine to the position of legal wife.
From then on, Song Zhimian became the neglected “little cabbage” of the Marquis’s residence.
Third, life hadn’t been so difficult for Song Zhimian at first. The Third Madam of the mansion was her maternal aunt, a cousin of her biological mother.
But three years ago, the Third Madam had followed her husband to Beidi, leaving Song Zhimian without her final pillar of support.
In short, the current Song Zhimian was faced with a cold-blooded father, a sweet-talking but black-hearted stepmother, a vicious and overbearing younger sister, and an elder brother serving in the army who saw only profit and never thought much of her…
Oh, and the impending marriage to a widower roughly the same age as her father, who was rumored to be extremely tyrannical…
The current Song Zhimian felt a wave of despair; this was truly a disastrous start!
Seeing that Song Zhimian remained silent, staring at the bed curtains, the little maid cowering in the corner panicked and hurriedly knelt down.
“Eldest Young Lady, you mustn’t be like this! Madam and the Third Madam always wanted you to live well! No matter how hard life gets, you must…”
“How am I supposed to live? You tell me, how is this life meant to be lived?” Song Zhimian finally spoke.
The little maid was both startled and overjoyed to hear her voice.
She was glad that her mistress was no longer like a wooden block, merely staring and weeping.
But she was startled because, in truth, she also didn’t know how her mistress was supposed to survive this.
“Young Lady, I don’t know how to get through this either, but… as long as you are still here, there is always a chance, isn’t there? You wouldn’t want Madam and the Third Madam to…” the little maid tried to persuade her.
Song Zhimian waved her hand, signaling the maid to stop talking and leave; she wanted some peace.
Song Zhimian knew this girl, Cuiguo, had a good heart, but she was simply too small and weak. When Song Zhiqing had come to cause trouble earlier, Cuiguo had tried to shield her mistress.
But she was too frail; the moment she extended her arms, she was seized by Song Zhiqing’s two maids and forced to kneel in the corner…
Cuiguo could only carefully tuck in Song Zhimian’s blankets. She observed her mistress once more, and seeing that she was no longer silently weeping, she lowered her head and cautiously retreated.
Song Zhimian closed her eyes and continued to process the memories in her mind.
However, the more she knew, the heavier her heart became.
In truth, the original host had literally been fumed to death by rage. There was a lot of information to process, and she needed to organize it thoroughly.
The family of the Third Madam—the family of Song Kaishan’s third brother, Song Kaiyuan.
Their deaths were not as simple as they seemed. The news from Beidi was that Song Kaiyuan and his son were ambushed by enemy troops while escorting grain supplies. To protect the supplies, father and son fought to the death.
Furthermore, Song Kaiyuan’s entire family, who lived in a border city in Beidi, was wiped out in an act of enemy retaliation.
Because Song Kaiyuan’s entire line was dead, the imperial rewards could only be bestowed upon the Zhongyong Hou Mansion.
Due to the heroic death of his brother’s family, Song Kaishan was promoted from a Second-Class Marquis to a First-Class Military Marquis and awarded a thousand taels of gold. His successor wife also became a First-Class Marchioness.
To outsiders, the Emperor’s grace seemed appropriate; with Song Kaiyuan’s family gone, it was only natural for the honors to pass to his elder brother, Song Kaishan.
There seemed to be no dispute over Song Kaishan receiving the rewards.
But the reality…
The original Song Zhimian had overheard a conversation between her father, Song Kaishan, and a general who had returned from Beidi.
Song Kaiyuan hadn’t actually been killed in an enemy ambush…
The ones who truly killed Song Kaiyuan and his son were that young general and the people behind him.
“It’s better that Song Kaiyuan is dead; only then do we have no worries! He knew too much, and even you, his own brother, couldn’t win him over. We had no choice but to kill him. Besides, Song Kaiyuan brought it on himself. He couldn’t read the situation or the trends of the time; his death is his own fault. Your brother… by opposing the Prince, he should have had his reputation ruined. I could have easily set fire to those supplies and pinned the blame for the loss on him. With the war looming, he wouldn’t have had enough heads to lose for such a failure. However, the situation in Beidi was urgent, and the Prince was unwilling to take that risk. Furthermore, if Song Kaiyuan’s family were branded criminals, it would surely have affected you. The Prince values you; you hold the Xunfang Camp, and the Prince didn’t want you to be implicated. That’s why he petitioned for merit for Song Kaiyuan, having him posthumously titled Pingbei Hou. It’s a bargain for him. This way, with his whole family dead, the Emperor was bound to bestow rewards, and those rewards could only fall to your branch. As for us, we eliminated a thorn in our side and snatched the credit that should have been his for you, strengthening our position. Song Kaishan, don’t forget the Prince’s great kindness in elevating you! It was just a bit of a pity… the taste of the Third Madam and those two young misses… tsk tsk! Ah, how could we have let our guard down for a moment and let them slit their own throats…” The young general shook his head and chuckled as he spoke.
It was only then that the original host realized her aunt’s entire family had been murdered by her own father’s associates…
Simply because of political disagreement and differing allegiances, an entire household was plotted against and met a tragic end at the hands of their own kin’s people.
And Song Kaishan, the biological brother, far from seeking revenge, had sided with the killers, using his brother’s family as a stepping stone.
That wasn’t all. To cling to his benefactor’s leg, the original host’s father did not hesitate to send his own daughter to be the successor wife of a widower in Beidi.
All because a niece of that deputy general—who was roughly the same age as Song Kaiyuan—was a favored consort of a certain Prince.
Song Kaishan cared nothing for the fact that the man had already lost four wives and was notoriously violent…
The news the original host had heard was that as soon as the widower returned from Beidi, he would send people to the Song residence to exchange Gengtie…
With everything piling up, the original host had been literally worked into a fatal rage.
And then, the current Song Zhimian had arrived.
Even now, Song Zhimian could feel a faint, lingering pain in her chest.
When she thought of the tragic death of the aunt’s family, she felt dizzy and breathless.
Song Zhimian struggled to calm herself.
The situation she faced was perilous.
She had no one to rely on. If things continued like this, she would be forced to marry that old widower, and there was no telling how long she would last.
And the massacre of her aunt’s family…
Thinking of that aunt brought another pang of sharp pain to her heart…
That aunt… had been so good to her.
Before leaving for Beidi with Song Kaiyuan, she had told Song Zhimian so much…
“Mian-er, don’t be afraid. Your aunt is here for everything! I will protect you! Once I return from Beidi, I’ll bring you to live with me so you don’t have to suffer that woman’s temper. If I can’t come back for a while… keep this safe! This is the dowry list your mother left for you. Your father currently holds it, but your mother gave me a copy. When the time comes… I will definitely check every single item against this list. If one item is missing, I’ll make sure your father and that woman lose face. Don’t worry! The laws of Dayu stipulate that a husband’s family cannot privatey seize a married woman’s dowry. Furthermore, there is a copy of this dowry list at the local yamen. Wait for me in the capital with an easy heart. I will surely find you a good match and see you married off with great fanfare. Wait for me to return, and make sure to take care of yourself. If anything happens, write to me…” The image of a beautiful woman holding her hand and speaking appeared in Song Zhimian’s mind.
Unknowingly, Song Zhimian’s face was suddenly covered in tears, and her heart felt numb with pain.
Now was not the time for crying. Tears solved nothing.
Wiping the tears from her face, Song Zhimian sat up.
She had to save herself. She had to avenge the original host. She had to avenge the family of the aunt who had loved her so dearly…
And the dowry her mother had left her…
She would rather destroy it than let that ungrateful father and his insane family have a single cent…