[Warning, Warning: This is not an extremely gratifying novel. The plot progresses slowly. The female lead is not the type to go on a rampage immediately after rebirth; her goals will be achieved slowly. The female lead’s character is not perfect, but the male lead loves her anyway. Fans of gratifying novels and stories where the protagonist changes completely after rebirth and dominates everyone, please steer clear. If you feel any discomfort, please leave immediately. You can curse, just don’t curse the author.]
The winter this year seemed exceptionally cold.
The windows were pasted with thick paper, letting in only a faint glimmer of light.
“Cough, cough, cough.”
Several thick silk quilts were piled on the bed. The person beneath them was so frail that her chest only heaved violently when she coughed.
“Miss,” Sun said, holding a cup of hot water, wanting to help Pei Yunshu drink.
“Nanny, please open the window.”
Since the beginning of winter, although the charcoal fire in her room had never gone out, it was not the fine silver-thread charcoal but the most inferior black kind. Pei Yunshu was already gravely ill; if not for Sun constantly watching over her, she might have suffocated to death one night long ago.
“Nanny, did it snow?”
“It snowed last night.”
Sun opened the window, and a frigid draft rushed in, instantly chilling the entire room.
Pei Yunshu leaned against the bed and looked out. Besides the snow that had fallen the previous night, there was only a single withered tree in the courtyard.
“What is that sound outside?” Pei Yunshu asked, hearing the faint strains of music.
“Is… is the grand army returning in triumph?” Pei Yunshu regained some strength. “Is it… is Father back?”
Seeing Pei Yunshu’s expectant look, tears welled up in Sun’s eyes. She quickly wiped them away. “Miss, hold on. When Lord Guogong returns, he will surely seek justice for you.”
Pei Yunshu wanted to smile, but she was now wasted away to skin and bones. No one looking at her would ever recognize her as Pei Yunshu, the legitimate daughter of the Guogong Mansion whose beauty once outshone the capital.
The person lying on the bed now was nothing more than a skeleton draped in human skin, barely able to draw breath.
“Miss, you must hold on. When our Lord Guogong returns, he will definitely seek justice for you.” Sun had watched with her own eyes as their young miss was tormented into this state, clinging to a single breath that grew weaker and weaker, a breath that could be extinguished at any moment.
Pei Yunshu nodded, her dim eyes looking at Sun. Of all the people who had once been by her side, some had left and some had died, leaving only Sun.
“Nanny, when will Father be back? I want to eat the crab roe pastries Mother used to make,” Pei Yunshu whispered, leaning against Sun with her eyes closed, having to rest after every few words.
“Soon, soon.”
Sun gently patted the woman before her, her voice choked with sobs. “Just wait a little longer, Miss. Lord Guogong will be back.”
“Alright, I’ll wait.” Pei Yunshu did not want to die. She could not die. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Guogong Mansion, the Crown Princess of Dachen. If she died in this remote servants’ courtyard, wouldn’t it tarnish the Pei family’s honor?
Twilight gathered, and the sky was like a fallen inkstone. The window paper blocked out even the dim lamplight from outside.
The door was pushed open. A cold wind, carrying flurries of snow, rushed in. Pei Yunshu shivered and opened her eyes to see a woman in a phoenix coronet and embroidered wedding robes walk in from outside.
“Jiang Liuyan.”
Pei Yunshu seemed to find a sudden burst of strength. She glared at the person before her, her face contorting with rage.
“You still dare to show your face before me.”
“And why wouldn’t I dare? I, Jiang Liuyan, am now the Crown Prince’s rightful Crown Princess. Is there anywhere in this Eastern Palace I cannot go?”
Jiang Liuyan stood before Pei Yunshu, bent down, and slowly traced her fingers over Pei Yunshu’s face.
“Tsk, tsk. Sister’s beauty was once unparalleled in the capital. Now, we should let all those who were once infatuated with you see just how ugly and wretched you’ve become.”
“How has my Guogong Mansion ever wronged you? For you to become such an ungrateful wretch and humiliate me like this.” Pei Yunshu seemed to have found a sudden surge of energy.
The Jiang Liuyan before her was adorned in a phoenix coronet and wedding robes, her face exquisitely beautiful, her lips a deep, striking crimson. In Pei Yunshu’s memory, Jiang Liuyan was the cousin who lived in the Guogong Mansion, a gentle girl who dressed in plain colors, like a little white flower on a branch—all appearance and no substance, completely harmless.
But now, Jiang Liuyan stood before her, arrogant and cruel, eager to grind Pei Yunshu into the mud.
“Ungrateful wretch?”
Jiang Liuyan scoffed. “You are the legitimate young miss of the Guogong Mansion. Everyone respected you, fawned over you. But what about me? I was just someone living under another’s roof. Even the old maids and servant girls in the household could step on me.”
Standing by the bed, Jiang Liuyan finally unleashed the pain and grievances that had accumulated in her heart, spurred on by Pei Yunshu’s nearly tragic state.
“So, I had to climb up. The Guogong Mansion, and you, the Crown Princess, all had to become my stepping stones.”
Jiang Liuyan watched Pei Yunshu’s eyes widen in a nearly terrifying way, a malicious smile playing on her lips.
“I heard Lord Guogong committed treason by colluding with the enemy. He’s to be executed upon his return to the capital.”
“His Majesty wouldn’t.” A flicker of hope ignited in Pei Yunshu. His Majesty wouldn’t. His Majesty would surely help her.
“His Majesty? Starting tomorrow, the person on that dragon throne is about to change.”
Jiang Liuyan sneered, looking at Pei Yunshu. “His Majesty truly did value you as a daughter-in-law. He would always say that as long as it was a pastry you made, he would eat every last bite, just like the lady of the Guogong Mansion.”
“Don’t you worry, sister. Not just Crown Princess, but Empress too—that will all be me, Jiang Liuyan. As for you, the Former Crown Princess will die of illness tonight.”
“My mother… what did you do to my mother?” Pei Yunshu grabbed at Jiang Liuyan’s clothes with all her might, almost hysterical.
“Ah, Yunshu, you are so beloved. The people of the Guogong Mansion surely wouldn’t bear to let you walk the road to the underworld alone.”
Jiang Liuyan gently patted Pei Yunshu’s cheek. “In this world, for as many people who love you, there are just as many who despise you. Did you never once think about how many people your arrogance, your condescension, made you an object of loathing?”
Jiang Liuyan vented all the resentment in her heart. After tonight, she would no longer be the cousin everyone in the Guogong Mansion could bully. She would become the most noble Mother of the Nation in all of Dachen.
“Pei Yunshu, don’t blame me. This is just how the world is. Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost. If you must blame someone, blame your own foolishness.”
With that, Jiang Liuyan stood up and gave Pei Yunshu one last look, her heart filled with glee. “Next time, I hope you’ll be just as lucky and be born into a good family.”
Jiang Liuyan walked out of the room step by step. Behind her, a few stout nannies entered. After tonight, Pei Yunshu would become the Former Crown Princess.
Jiang Liuyan looked at the red lacquer on her ten fingernails. She was going to be an Empress and bear children in the future. She would consider this an act of accumulating good fortune for herself—letting Pei Yunshu have a quick death would be her way of repaying the Guogong Mansion’s kindness.
Jiang Liuyan slowly walked away, her great red cape trailing over the snow like a river of fresh blood, flowing far from Pei Yunshu’s limply hanging hand.
Jiang Liuyan did not hear the two words Pei Yunshu cried out with her last breath, mixed with the blood she vomited, carrying her final hope.
“Teacher.”
The two words were spoken and then scattered. Pei Yunshu’s wide-open eyes turned ashen and lifeless.