Just then, a soft light suddenly enveloped them.
The two soul forms were wrapped within it, and their consciousness gradually blurred.
When Wang Yutong regained clear awareness, she realized the two souls had already merged into one.
The original owner’s small soul had completely disappeared, leaving behind only fragments of broken memories flooding into her mind.
Wang Yutong frowned slightly. Before she could fully digest those memories, she heard sobbing by her ear—it was Aunt Tian, crying at the bedside while calling her name.
She slowly opened her eyes. Looking at the familiar yet strange surroundings, Wang Yutong let out a helpless sigh.
A dignified innate grandmaster like herself had actually died in an ancient tomb—it was truly absurd to think about.
As for why she had transmigrated here, she had no time to investigate for now.
The most urgent priority was to keep this small life of hers.
In ancient times, drowning often meant catching a severe chill, leading to fever—survival was uncertain.
What’s more, the original owner was only a five-year-old girl.
Three days later, Wang Yutong’s body finally improved a little. During those three days lying in bed, she also sorted out the family situation of this body.
The Weiyuan Marquis Manor—its first marquis had been a military general who followed the founding emperor and rendered great service. When the dynasty was established, he was granted the title of marquis.
As the Yue Kingdom gradually became peaceful, military officials were increasingly neglected, and civil officials gained the upper hand.
After five generations, Wang Yutong’s father was the last marquis.
With the tradition that meritorious military families were stripped of titles after five generations, the Weiyuan Marquis Manor had gradually declined.
The old marquis and his wife had three legitimate sons and two concubine-born daughters.
The eldest son, Wang Yuanwu, had inherited the marquis title early with the old marquis’s help and held a minor official post as Deputy Garrison Commander. His wife, Lady Cui, was a concubine-born daughter of the Duke Protector. Because her mother was favored, she was registered under the duke’s main wife and married into the marquis household as a legitimate daughter.
They had two sons and three daughters: legitimate son Wang Yongyong, legitimate daughter Wang Yuxin, concubine-born son Wang Yongjian, and concubine-born daughters Wang Yulu and Wang Yutong.
The second son, Wang Yuanzhi, worked as a minor official in the Court of Judicial Review and married Lady Wei. They had one son and three daughters.
The third son, Wang Yuanhou, pursued the imperial examinations but never passed the highest level. Eventually, through connections, he obtained a position as an adviser.
He married Lady Shen and had two sons and one daughter.
Sigh… this family really has a lot of children, Wang Yutong couldn’t help but remark inwardly after sorting it all out.
And this was only the main branch. Other collateral branches had even more descendants, though they had already scattered.
Wang Yutong was the youngest concubine-born daughter in the household. In this declining marquis family, she was not favored at all.
Her mother, Concubine Tian, had originally been a maid to Lady Cui. When Lady Cui became pregnant, she gave Tian to the marquis as a bed attendant. Only after giving birth to Wang Yutong was Tian elevated to concubine status.
After understanding her situation, Wang Yutong fell silent.
Such a precarious marquis household truly gave one a strong sense of crisis.
However, for a five-year-old girl, all that was still far away.
What Wang Yutong was thinking about now was how to survive quietly and unnoticed in the manor.
She couldn’t remember how the original owner had fallen into the water, and Lady Cui hadn’t found anything either.
This made Wang Yutong slightly wary.
If it had been the real little girl, there might have been no suspicion. But as the heir of an ancient martial family, it immediately raised doubts for her.
Wang Yutong was not truly a child. She clearly remembered being lured there.
As for who it was, she didn’t know.
She had only heard someone in the garden talking about how beautiful the lotus flowers were and that there were fish in the pond.
After hearing that, the original owner had insisted on going.
Since she couldn’t find the culprit, Wang Yutong wasn’t in a hurry. She decided to set the matter aside.
Since the first attempt had failed, the other party would likely lie low for now.
More importantly, in this Yue Kingdom, literary pursuits were revered while martial arts were suppressed.
Even a military family like the Weiyuan Marquis Manor had no choice but to abandon the martial path and turn to the imperial examinations.
Wang Yutong felt quite helpless about having transmigrated into this family.
On the one hand, her mother was of servant origin, and she herself was an unnoticed concubine-born daughter.
On the other hand, at least she hadn’t ended up in a poor family struggling for food and clothing.
Sigh… it’s a mix of good and bad.
After lamenting for a few days, Wang Yutong accepted that she couldn’t return and finally began to calmly plan for her future.
With a monthly allowance of only one tael of silver, she was truly poor. More importantly, since she was only five, she couldn’t even access that money herself—what a pitiful child.
Having just arrived, Wang Yutong feared others might notice anything unusual about her, so she used her recovery from drowning as an excuse to stay in her courtyard and avoid going out.
After her wet nurse and maidservants were sold off, Lady Cui assigned a new young maid and a nanny to take care of her.
Wang Yutong looked at the little maid in front of her. The girl was about eight or nine years old, wearing light blue clothes that hung loosely on her thin frame.
“What’s your name?” Wang Yutong asked in a childish voice.
“Replying to Sixth Miss, this servant’s original name is Er Ya. Since entering the household, I have not yet been renamed. I ask Sixth Miss to bestow a name,” the girl answered respectfully.
Wang Yutong was silent for a moment, then said, “Since you’re wearing light blue, I’ll call you Lan’er.”
“Lan’er thanks Sixth Miss for bestowing a name,” the girl said happily.
Being given a name by one’s master meant being accepted.
For Lan’er, who had just entered the household, it was something worth celebrating.
With this, she wouldn’t be sent back to the broker. She had just been bought from the agency—if Wang Yutong hadn’t named her, she might have been returned.
Seeing Lan’er’s delighted expression, Wang Yutong felt a moment of relief. Fortunately, even though she was just an unnoticed concubine-born daughter, she was still better off than a maid bound by a contract—at least she was a master, not a servant whose life and death were controlled by others.
After settling Lan’er, Wang Yutong turned to look at the nanny sent by Lady Cui, a woman in her fifties.
“Nanny, what is your name?” she asked in the same childish tone.
“Replying to Sixth Miss, this old servant’s surname is Sun. You may call me Nanny Sun,” the woman answered respectfully.
Wang Yutong nodded and carefully observed her. Though aged, her eyes were sharp—clearly, Lady Cui had sent her with a purpose.
“Nanny Sun, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of matters in this courtyard from now on,” Wang Yutong said.
“Sixth Miss, rest assured. This old servant will do her utmost,” Nanny Sun replied, though there was a faint hint of perfunctoriness in her tone.
Wang Yutong understood. Nanny Sun likely wouldn’t truly help her—but she wasn’t in a hurry. With her footing still unstable, all she could do for now was steady these two people first.