The woman hesitated for a long while without saying a single word.
Lin Yanxi’s gaze lightly swept across the woman’s face, her eyes carrying the wisdom of someone who could see through everything.
“Madam wants me to help find your son, doesn’t she?”
The woman was instantly shocked. She hadn’t said anything at all—how did this girl know?
“You can figure that out?”
After speaking, she realized something sounded wrong and quickly added:
“As long as you can help me find my son, I’ll fulfill any request you have in the future!”
Lin Yanxi silently muttered to herself:
Can you help me live longer?
She originally came from another world. In her previous life, a fortune teller predicted that she wouldn’t live past twenty years old. Considered an ill omen, she had been abandoned by her parents as a child. Fortunately, her master found her and brought her into the Mystic Sect to cultivate.
But even after mastering every technique her master taught her, she still failed to defy fate. She died the day before her twentieth birthday.
She had thought her life would simply end like that.
Yet somehow, by sheer luck, she had mysteriously transmigrated into a novel.
Now that she had gained a new life, naturally she cherished it immensely.
The problem was… this novel was extremely unfriendly toward her.
She wasn’t the heroine of the story. She was merely a disposable side character who only appeared twice—not even worthy of being cannon fodder.
The country she lived in was Beili Kingdom, which had always been bitter enemies with the neighboring Linyuan Kingdom. To defeat Beili, Linyuan sent a female spy into the kingdom to gather intelligence.
That female spy was the true heroine.
After arriving in Beili, the spy used every possible method to approach Prince Zhan, Xiao Junyan, secretly sending vital military intelligence back to Linyuan. As a result, Linyuan’s cavalry consecutively conquered seven Beili cities and advanced straight toward the imperial capital.
Meanwhile, the villain Xiao Junyan was falsely accused of treason and collaborating with the enemy. With seven cities fallen, the emperor placed all the blame on him and ultimately ordered the execution of everyone in Prince Zhan’s household.
As for her…
She was a genuine tool character. Upon meeting Xiao Junyan for the first time, she inexplicably fell in love with him. Upon meeting him a second time, she even wanted to consummate the relationship immediately.
But by accident, she discovered the female spy’s conspiracy.
To silence her, the spy killed her.
In the end, she died so thoroughly that not even her corpse received an explanation.
She was a living, breathing person!
After finally escaping her frail body and cursed fate, she wanted nothing more than to properly enjoy the happiness this world could offer her. There was no way she wanted to die such a miserable death again.
In her previous life, she had already been trapped by fate itself. She worried that this life would end the same way.
So she had to stay far away from Xiao Junyan.
Far away from every plotline in the book.
At this point, if helping someone could change her destiny, then forget finding a son—even finding someone’s ancestors would be no problem for her!
Seeing Lin Yanxi remain silent, the woman lowered her head in disappointment.
“If you can’t find him… then forget it…”
She had spent over half a year searching without success. Everyone insisted her son was already dead, but she stubbornly believed otherwise.
Out of desperation, she had resorted to fortune-telling.
If even this failed, then perhaps her son truly was dead.
Thinking of this, tears welled up in the woman’s eyes.
But she couldn’t accept it.
Just as the woman turned around dejectedly to leave—
“Your son is still alive.”
Those words struck directly into the woman’s heart.
She immediately turned back around, emotionally grabbing Lin Yanxi’s arm.
“Miss, is that true? My son is really alive?”
“He’s indeed still alive… but not for much longer.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a village ten miles south of the city—”
Before Lin Yanxi could finish, the woman anxiously interrupted her.
“You mean my son is there?”
Lin Yanxi answered with complete certainty:
“Yes. He’s there.”
“But I already sent people there before. We didn’t find any trace of him.”
Lin Yanxi looked at the woman’s desperate expression and sighed softly.
After all, she was just another pitiful soul.
Unable to harden her heart, Lin Yanxi decided to say a little more.
“Don’t bring any of the people around you now. Secretly gather a few people you absolutely trust and go quietly. It’s best to move at night.”
Still worried, she added another warning:
“Hurry. He doesn’t have much time left.”
The woman instantly understood what she meant. Wiping away her tears in panic, she tightly held Lin Yanxi’s hand in gratitude.
“Thank you, miss. Once I find my son, I’ll definitely repay you generously!”
“You should go.”
Lin Yanxi watched the woman leave while weighing the heavy purse in her hand. Even the pouch itself was made from premium cloud brocade.
Still, since her stall had been smashed today, she was technically operating at a loss.
Glancing at the destroyed remains of her stall, she sighed helplessly.
Looks like she’d have to find another place to listen to gossip in the future.
Slowly making her way to the entrance of the Lin Residence, the maid Cuizhi immediately ran over.
“Miss, you’re finally back!”
Lin Yanxi sighed dramatically.
“Cuizhi, your miss had terrible luck today. My stall got smashed and my mood is awful. I absolutely must eat the osmanthus hibiscus cakes you make.”
The moment she stepped through the doorway, Cuizhi hurriedly blocked her path.
Blinking her bright watery eyes, Lin Yanxi asked quietly:
“Why are you stopping me?”
“Miss… maybe you shouldn’t return to the residence right now. You should go hide somewhere for a while.”
“What happened?”
“Concubine Liu already heard about what happened earlier…”
That fast?
Lin Yanxi waved dismissively.
“So what if she knows?”
Worry was written all over Cuizhi’s face.
“Concubine Liu gathered everyone in the residence at Xiyan Pavilion waiting for your return. If you go now, she definitely will…”
“It’s fine. She’s not even my real mother. What, is she going to beat me?” Lin Yanxi continued walking without slowing down. “Besides, there’ve been incidents before too. Why is she so angry this time?”
“They say Concubine Liu ran into problems while checking the accounts today and was already furious. Then some gossiping busybody happened to tell her about your situation, so she exploded in anger.”
Lin Yanxi understood.
So she was being used as someone else’s punching bag.
Cuizhi hurried forward again to block her.
“Miss, this time Concubine Liu really doesn’t seem to be joking. If you go now, what if she randomly finds an excuse to punish you?”
“I’m the legitimate eldest miss of the Lin family. Why would I be afraid of her?”
She was the one and only eldest daughter of the Lin family, while Concubine Liu was merely a concubine.
Her parents had been utterly unreliable. Claiming they needed to expand the Lin family business, they left when she was only one year old.
And never came back.
It was as though they only remembered expanding the family business. Over the years, they spread Lin enterprises throughout the entire Beili Kingdom, yet completely forgot they even had a daughter.
As a child, she had no choice but to be raised by Concubine Liu.
Since Concubine Liu had no children of her own, the original Lin Yanxi had grown up entirely under her oppressive authority. During the three months since arriving here, Lin Yanxi had personally witnessed all kinds of Concubine Liu’s methods.
But regardless, she was still the Lin family’s only eldest miss.
She had to carry herself with the dignity of one.
Being afraid of a concubine?
Wouldn’t that be a joke?
“Oh? So you do remember that you’re the eldest miss?”
The sudden voice sent chills down Lin Yanxi’s spine even in broad daylight.
“What’s wrong? Weren’t you acting pretty impressive just now? Why aren’t you talking anymore?”