3
In the Nanyang Marquisate, news from the Peony Garden always traveled fastest.
After word spread that Tang Cheng had kept the two nursemaids sent by the Duchess of Zhen, everyone in the Nanyang Marquisate found it utterly unbelievable. It seemed the Fourth Miss truly intended to keep the heir of the Wen family’s child. Those who had been secretly hoping to watch Tang Cheng continue her self-destructive path were deeply disappointed.
They had been so close… so close…
That Shanhu was completely useless.
In the main courtyard, Madam Zhang, the Marchioness of Nanyang, listened as her trusted confidante, Chen momo, reported the news from the Peony Garden. When she heard that Tang Cheng had kept two nursemaids without her—the lady of the household’s permission, Madam Zhang’s expression didn’t change at all. In the past, she might have felt anger and resentment, but she had since made peace with it. A motherless girl, and a concubine-born daughter at that, posed no threat to the status of her own son and daughter. She would eventually marry and leave. Why concern herself with it? If the Marquis wanted to dote on her, so be it.
Thus, aside from refusing the Marquis’s request to register Tang Cheng as a legitimate daughter in name, Madam Zhang turned a blind eye to Tang Cheng’s every move. Her actions pleased the Marquis greatly, and as a result, he thought more highly of her son and daughter—an unexpected bonus.
Madam Zhang was a clever woman. She followed the Marquis’s wishes and concerned herself even less with Tang Cheng. Whatever Tang Cheng wanted, she never made things difficult. She even allowed Tang Cheng to choose her own servants in the Peony Garden.
She directed all the resentment from the entire inner household onto Tang Cheng, even secretly shielding her from many schemes, letting Tang Cheng serve as a dazzling decoy.
At gatherings of noble ladies, Madam Zhang would helplessly “vent her grievances,” lamenting how the Marchioness of Nanyang was unable to discipline a concubine-born daughter. Everyone greatly sympathized with Madam Zhang.
By now, every citizen in the capital knew that Nanyang Marquis had spoiled his willful, capricious concubine-born daughter to the heavens.
Beside her, Tang Xin listened as her mother’s trusted confidante spoke of the Fourth Sister’s affairs. The plot from the book involuntarily surfaced in her mind. The Fourth Sister was merely a tragic pawn, destroyed by the reborn female protagonist.
She had held such a good hand—a marquis father who doted on her endlessly yet she still courted destruction. In both lifetimes, she met a bad end. In this lifetime, with the female protagonist reborn, her fate would be even more miserable.
Not just the Fourth Sister—the original owner of this body she now inhabited would later also become an enemy of the reborn female protagonist. She would marry a man who was a lovelorn supporting character hopelessly devoted to the reborn woman, helping her torment the original owner. Her fate would be equally bleak.
Fortunately, she had transmigrated at just the right time, before she had any interaction with the reborn female protagonist or that lovelorn supporting character.
She wanted to blend into this ancient era quietly, but she didn’t want to marry the kind of husband the original owner had in the reborn woman’s memories—a man with nothing remarkable except his family background, just for the sake of staying low-key.
Tang Xin pressed her lips together.
When she had read this story of a reborn female protagonist seeking revenge, she had greatly admired the young heir Wen.
In the book, the Fourth Sister, manipulated by the disloyal maid Shanhu, aborted the young heir Wen’s child. That was the beginning of her tragic fate. If only she had transmigrated as the Fourth Sister instead.
The young heir Wen was a man of god-like stature.
She really doesn’t know what the author was thinking. To make readers feel a shared sense of indignation, they deliberately arranged such a plot. When she first read the book, she couldn’t wait for the reborn female protagonist to get rid of Tang Cheng, the woman who had defiled her idol.
With this thought, Tang Xin immediately wanted to go see her Fourth Sister. Come to think of it, she had transmigrated over half a month ago and still hadn’t met this vain, willful, and overbearing Fourth Sister.
“Mother, I’ll go to the Peony Garden to visit Fourth Sister.”
Speaking of the origin of the name “Peony Garden,” Tang Xin’s eye twitched. The book had mentioned that the Fourth Sister had chosen the name herself. Because peonies symbolized wealth and nobility, the Fourth Sister loved them. She had even tried to imitate cultured people by growing peonies to appear refined, but every single pot she planted died, making her the butt of many jokes.
Hearing this, Madam Zhang couldn’t help but frown and stopped her with a stern tone: “Xin’er, you and Fourth Girl have never gotten along. This is not the time to play at sisterly devotion. Don’t get involved. Otherwise, if that girl Tang Cheng runs into any trouble, all sorts of filth will be splashed onto you.”
Tang Cheng was carrying the legitimate grandson of the Duke of Zhen. Unless one secretly urged her to destroy herself, it was best not to make a move personally. If discovered, not only would one face the Marquis’s fury, but also the retaliation of the Duke of Zhen. The cost would far outweigh any gain—it simply wasn’t worth it.
“The Marchioness is right, Miss. Look at the other masters in the household—who has gone to the Peony Garden to visit Fourth Miss? Everyone is avoiding her.” Chen momo also echoed Madam Zhang’s words.
Right now, countless eyes were fixed on the Peony Garden. Secret maneuvers were constantly taking place. Especially among the cousins from the young heir Wen’s collateral branches—they coveted the Duke of Zhen’s title and desperately hoped that the young heir Wen would never have children of his own so that they could have their sons adopted as his heirs. Otherwise, why would the Duchess of Zhen need to send two nursemaids to protect Fourth Miss’s child?
Who would care about a concubine-born daughter of a marquis, pregnant out of wedlock, with a ruined reputation and a character beyond reproach, aside from the child in her belly?
Madam Zhang explained the stakes one by one, with Chen momo adding her own input.
Tang Xin wasn’t foolish. After hearing her mother and Chen momo’s explanations, she nearly broke out in a cold sweat. She was indeed too young and naive. With the golden finger of knowing the plot, she only knew that Fourth Sister was obsessed with the Fourth Prince and had fatally aborted the young heir Wen’s child. She had no idea that so many hidden hands were pushing things along behind the scenes.
So even though Fourth Sister had decided to keep the young heir Wen’s child, every step was perilous. With one slight misstep, her child would be lost.
Tang Xin now felt a faint twinge of sympathy for Fourth Sister and abandoned the idea of visiting her. She followed Madam Zhang’s advice and stayed in her own courtyard, tending to her flowers and plants.
Tang Xin’s courtyard was a riot of blossoms, brimming with vitality. All of this was thanks to Tang Xin’s golden finger—her plant-based superpower.
This was Tang Xin’s source of confidence and her greatest secret.
“Miss, this morning Fourth Miss sent someone to say she wants the three-colored peony you just cultivated.”
Tang Xin’s maid, Jinshu, hesitated for a long moment before cautiously stepping forward to relay Fourth Miss’s message.
Tang Xin’s pretty face darkened.
Fourth Sister casually uttered one sentence and wanted to take the mutant three-colored peony that she had painstakingly cultivated for half a month using her plant-based superpower. What an enormous appetite. She wasn’t going to indulge her.
“Who spread the news that I cultivated the three-colored peony?”
“This servant does not know.”
“Go find out!” Tang Xin lowered her gaze. The fact that she had cultivated a three-colored peony was a secret. She hadn’t expected it to leak out. It was possible that the reborn female protagonist already knew about it.
She hoped it hadn’t aroused Liu Jintong’s suspicion.
Tang Xin had absolutely no desire to cross paths with the female protagonist. Throughout the entire Nanyang Marquisate, only Tang Cheng had a grudge against the female protagonist. Tang Xin had no intention of getting caught up in it.
“Yes, Miss.”
Jinshu acknowledged the order and left.
Tang Xin no longer had the heart to use her plant-based superpower to nurture the valuable flowers in her courtyard. She decided to hide the three-colored peony and fabricate an accident to brush off Tang Cheng, lest her biased marquis father come knocking to claim it on behalf of his favorite daughter.
…
Tang Cheng, who had just undergone a change of soul, had her heart and mind completely focused on nurturing her baby. She had long forgotten the troublesome things the original owner had done that morning, leaving Tang Xin alone to brace herself as if facing a formidable enemy.
At this moment, Tang Cheng was eating fresh fruit while silently planning her future in her mind. In both her past life and this one, Tang Cheng had been a young lady spoiled and cherished as she grew up, living a life of flamboyance and willfulness.
But flamboyance and willfulness required backing. Tang Cheng narrowed her eyes and decided that after giving birth, she would resume practicing physical combat techniques.
Having no strength to rely on left her feeling far too insecure.
This body had a good talent for physical combat, comparable to her original talent and this made Tang Cheng very satisfied.
She truly couldn’t understand what the original owner had been thinking. She had access to the original’s memories, including knowledge of physical combat techniques, yet she had been completely dazzled by the memories of the empire’s technological civilization. She had abandoned her doting marquis father and the baby in her belly, cheerfully going off to be reborn elsewhere.
Tang Cheng found it incomprehensible.
But before she could practice physical combat, she first needed to strengthen her constitution.
Tang Cheng acted on her thoughts. After finishing the delicious, fresh fruits, she immediately told Zhenzhu to fetch paper and ink brushes. Zhenzhu was momentarily stunned, but she didn’t question it and brought the items that had been gathering dust in her mistress’s room.
“Miss, are you going to practice calligraphy?” Zhenzhu asked curiously.
Truth be told, it was rather embarrassing. Although the young miss had studied with a female tutor for many years, aside from learning to recognize all the characters, her handwriting was worse than that of a six-year-old child, not to mention her complete lack of any other artistic accomplishments.
Everyone outside knew that the Fourth Miss of the Nanyang Marquisate was unlearned—a beautiful but empty-headed, willful, and capricious girl.
Now that the young miss, who usually detested studying the most, suddenly asked for paper and ink brushes, Zhenzhu couldn’t help but happily wonder if her mistress had finally decided to better herself.
“No. I suddenly thought of a particularly useful medicinal formula. I’ll write it out, and then you go to the apothecary to get the herbs. I want to make a medicinal brew.”
Tang Cheng replied casually, picking up the brush and writing down the ingredients she needed in crooked, uneven strokes. She was utterly unaccustomed to this frail body. A weak mother would affect the baby’s innate constitution.
This physique-strengthening brew was the only medicinal formula Tang Cheng knew how to make. In the interstellar empire, it was the most popular and best-selling medicinal brew, and also an essential preparation for pregnant women.
Tang Cheng was grateful that out of curiosity, she had learned how to make this physique-strengthening brew.
Now it had come in handy.
Hearing that her mistress was once again up to her antics, wanting to make some strange medicinal brew from a bizarre prescription she had acquired from who knows where, Zhenzhu nearly died of fright. Her face turned pale.
Nanny Cao and Nanny Gao also changed their expressions. Before arriving, they had thoroughly understood Tang Cheng’s temperament. They had finally breathed a rare sigh of relief when this willful young lady decided to keep the heir’s child. Now their hearts were back in their throats.
Indeed, they shouldn’t have allowed themselves to hope too much.
“Fourth Miss, most prescriptions from outside sources are unreliable. If you wish to learn how to make medicines, you should find a skilled physician to teach you.”
The two nursemaids didn’t dare urge Tang Cheng to rest quietly and focus on nurturing the pregnancy, terrified that she might suddenly change her mind about aborting the child.
“Don’t worry. These are the ingredients needed to make a physique-strengthening brew. My body is too weak right now, and this brew is good for my health. With this physique-strengthening brew, I’ll surely be able to give birth smoothly and without complications.”
Tang Cheng blew on the paper to dry the ink, speaking with full confidence, ignoring the ugly, crooked characters on the page. She had never written with a brush before, and the original owner’s handwriting was also painfully hideous, but Tang Cheng felt no shame about it.
Nanny Gao and Nanny Cao grew anxious.
“Fourth Miss…”
What kind of physique-strengthening brew was this? They had never even heard of it. Could it be some swindling trick from itinerant charlatans?
Given Fourth Miss Tang’s temperament, it wouldn’t be surprising if she was being scammed.
The real fear was that Fourth Miss would become fixated on the idea, not only trying to make it herself but also planning to drink it.
Wasn’t that courting disaster?
Couldn’t she just settle down?
If it weren’t for the fact that she was carrying the heir’s child, who would care if she courted disaster?
And as for giving birth smoothly—they were more afraid she would lose the child through her reckless toss.
“Say no more. I know what I’m doing. Zhenzhu, it’s getting late. Go get the herbs.”
Tang Cheng interrupted the two nursemaids’ protests directly.
She was naturally domineering, acting on her own authority, willful and overbearing—quite similar to the original owner’s temperament.
Zhenzhu was both angry and anxious. She couldn’t take the prescription, nor could she refuse to take it. She was caught in a dilemma.
Shanhu, who had been standing by quietly like a frightened chicken, quickly stepped forward. “Miss, let this servant get the herbs for you.”
“Shanhu… do you know what you’re doing?” Zhenzhu glared at Shanhu as she intervened.
Shanhu noticed the young miss’s displeased expression and felt secretly delighted. Schemingly, she tried to smear and suppress Zhenzhu: “Zhenzhu, have you forgotten that we are both the young miss’s servants? How dare you disobey the young miss’s command? Just who is the master here?”
This was a perfect opportunity to tamper with things, she absolutely couldn’t miss it.
Based on Shanhu’s understanding of the young miss, once she said this, even if she couldn’t regain the young miss’s trust, she would at least make the young miss despise Zhenzhu.
Shanhu cast a malicious glance at the pale-faced Zhenzhu, then composed herself and waited.
**