She didn't know what time it was. Only the red candles by the bed flickered in the room, and outside there wasn't even the bark of a dog.
Cheng Xihuan slowly rose and craned her neck to peek behind the folding screen. The person inside hadn't stirred, as if already asleep.
Only then did she let out a soft breath and return to where she had been sitting. Her hand brushed against the smooth, slippery bedding, and it all felt terribly unreal.
She surveyed her surroundings. Within the circle of light cast by the red candles at the head of the bed, she could only make out one corner of the room, where an antique tall stand held a vase with a few stalks of grass stuck in it—grass, for lack of a better word. Then she looked at where she was sitting, which seemed to be a narrow bed.
She touched the wedding garments she wore and could tell the quality was excellent, completely unlike the plastic she'd worn in modern times.
It had taken Cheng Xihuan one whole night to come to terms with the fact that she had transmigrated.
She had barely breathed her last before coming back to life. The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by a sea of red and green. Before she could even react, she had gotten married.
She didn't dare act rashly. Up to now, she hadn't said a single word. But she could understand the two maidservants who attended her, and she could understand the person sleeping in the inner room—her husband, for lack of a better term.
She didn't know which dynasty she had landed in. She was naturally overjoyed to be alive again, but being transported to ancient times terrified her. Fortunately, her feet hadn't been bound—she could tell from the moment she stepped off the carriage that her feet had grown naturally and healthily.
Secondly, from the wedding itself she could sense that this household was quite wealthy, and she seemed to be the principal wife. Although her new husband didn't seem particularly fond of her, the treatment was already quite good.
Since arriving in this room, she had remained perfectly still, waiting for the person inside to fall asleep and the maidservants to leave.
Now that all was silent, she finally dared to move.
Cheng Xihuan picked up the red candle from the bedside and moved slowly. She needed to first figure out what dynasty she was in and what her identity was before she could feel at ease.
She didn't go around the folding screen. Instead, she headed toward the most conspicuous piece of furniture—the dressing table by the window. There was a bronze mirror there, with two red candles placed in front of it as well. Many boxes sat on the dressing table, presumably ancient cosmetics.
There! She spotted a letter there, with the envelope inscribed: To be opened personally by Cheng Xihuan.
Could it be from a family member of this body? But the form of address was far too distant and formal.
She glanced behind her, saw that the person inside hadn't woken, and only then set down the red candle and slowly opened the letter. The moment she saw the stationery, a suspicion formed in her mind—this paper looked exactly like the faux-ancient stationery sold in modern bookshops. She refused to believe ancient times had this kind of technology.
Sure enough, she had guessed right. She had transmigrated into a book, because she saw the word "System."
Thank goodness. Transmigrating into a book wasn't so bad—at least it wasn't a real feudal dynasty. But she couldn't celebrate too soon. What if this book was a story of inner-house scheming? With her brains, losing her life would be a matter of minutes.
She read the letter's contents carefully, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper. In the end, she sat down on the floor with a bitter expression.
"Of all the books to transmigrate into, why did it have to be this one…"
This resurrection was hardly a blessing in disguise.
The letter was written by the system. It said that after her death, she made the news. The author of the book Estate of the Duke of Xian saw the news, discovered she was too pitiful and had the exact same name as a cannon fodder character in the book, felt there was some kind of fate at work, and applied to the System Bureau to let her live again in this book.
Cheng Xihuan was genuinely grateful to the author of this book, and also genuinely hated this author. When this book was originally being serialized, she followed it from beginning to end, was tortured until she was utterly broken, her heart and liver aching.
The protagonists of this book are the eldest young master and eldest madam of the second branch of the Estate of the Duke of Xian—namely Lin Congji and Xu Lingyuan. Their love-hate entanglement spanned over a decade, and just when you thought they were finally going to have a sweet moment, the people in the book died and died…
Now that she had transmigrated in, you ask her how she felt? Her emotions were very complicated.
This body of hers was the wife of the second young master of the second branch of the Estate of the Duke of Xian, who died before they could be married—meaning the original owner had already died on the sedan chair just now, which was why she was able to transmigrate in.
With her brain, she couldn't accomplish anything like saving the entire household. Were they just going to make her watch the people in this estate die and die?
Cheng Xihuan really wanted to scream and vent. She had just experienced death, and now she had to face this kind of situation.
She sat on the ground and read that letter over and over. Apart from this information, it seemed the system had no intention of helping her do anything. She tried calling out to the system in her mind—no response. Then she softly spoke aloud: "System, are you there?"
…
She looked at the letter's contents again and found that the system had only written a letter explaining the reason for her transmigration into the book, with no mission to complete. She should have been happy, but having transmigrated into this book, she couldn't bring herself to be happy.
Oh, there actually was one thing worth being happy about—though it couldn't really be called a good thing. Having transmigrated into the book, she could watch with her own eyes as the CP she shipped ended in BE right before her eyes.
Heh.
"What are you doing?"
A voice came from behind her. Cheng Xihuan was startled. "I-I-I…"
The man before her wore a white undergarment, with long hair, his body thin and gaunt—no different from a ghost.
Cheng Xihuan thought of something and quickly looked at the dressing table, only to find the letter had vanished into thin air. She didn't need to worry about leaking anything at all.
"I—I was looking at the mirror."
Lin Suiyu looked at her. "Not sleeping in the middle of the night, looking at the mirror?"
Cheng Xihuan fumbled about in a fluster and picked up a comb. "Yes, yes," she had just finished speaking when she let out a yelp and sat back down on the ground in fright.
In the mirror, she wore a green garment, and the makeup on her face was all smeared together—more terrifying than a ghost.
Her scream drew the maidservants from outside. They opened the door and rushed in. "Miss, what's wrong!"
Cheng Xihuan looked at the two maidservants who entered and recognized them as the two who had followed her at dusk. For a moment she couldn't recall their names, so she said: "It's nothing, nothing. I scared myself."
Jinzhu and Yin Lan helped their young miss up. Seeing her face in a mess, they said softly: "We thought you and the young master were… so we didn't come in to disturb you."
As a twenty-first-century shameless girl, Cheng Xihuan quickly understood what they had omitted. "No, hurry up and help me fix this. I'm about to die of discomfort."
Ever since she learned she had transmigrated into a book she was familiar with, she had stopped being so reserved in her speech. If she had truly transmigrated into ancient times, she probably would have chosen to play deaf and mute for the rest of her life.
The two maids were startled for a moment, then led her to the washroom to freshen up. Cheng Xihuan nodded at Lin Suiyu. "Um, I'll go wash up."
Lin Suiyu said indifferently, "Come over after you're done. I have something to say to you."
Cheng Xihuan nodded. Of course she knew what he wanted to say—he was going to deliver some classic line like "Spend the money however you like, but don't expect anything else." She knew the drill well.
While washing up, the two maids tried to comfort Cheng Xihuan. "Miss, don't worry. Even if you don't consummate the marriage tonight, there will be other opportunities."
Cheng Xihuan let out a snort of laughter. She didn't know why, but she found that statement particularly amusing.
Jinzhu and Yin Lan thought their miss had been driven mad by anger.
Cheng Xihuan, on the other hand, thought that with Lin Suiyu's frail build, consummating the marriage was out of the question—and the maids made it sound like she'd have to force herself on him.
After washing up, Cheng Xihuan saw that Lin Suiyu had already risen and changed his clothes. She was surprised. "You're up this early?"
Oh, right. She'd forgotten—ancient people rose early and slept early. She'd need to get used to their schedule.
Lin Suiyu ignored her remark. "Come here. I have something to say to you."
She went over, looking like she was all ears, waiting for the classic speech.
But to her surprise, Lin Suiyu said, "In a moment, we'll go pay our respects to my mother. I hope you'll show her proper respect. After we return, you'll sleep in the side chamber. Keeping you in my room tonight was already the extent of my goodwill. From now on, we'll stay out of each other's way."
Cheng Xihuan thought his request was rather unrealistic. The two of them were already married—how could they stay out of each other's way? Besides, she'd made up her mind from the very first moment she laid eyes on Lin Suiyu.
Even if her brain might not be capable of saving the entire ducal manor, perhaps she could at least preserve Lin Suiyu's life and prevent his early death.
As a reader with an omniscient perspective, she knew Lin Suiyu was a genuinely good person. If he didn't die, her own situation would be much better too.
But for now, she wouldn't say any of this to Lin Suiyu. She simply obeyed obediently. "Don't worry. I'll listen to everything you say."
Lin Suiyu was slightly surprised, then seemed to have figured something out. "If you're thinking of using the ducal manor to do something for your own family, I'd advise you to drop that notion. I won't let you have your way."
Cheng Xihuan said bluntly, "I understand. I won't."
She knew Lin Suiyu wouldn't change his opinion of her anytime soon, and she wasn't in a hurry to prove herself—that would only arouse suspicion.
By the way, what kind of personality did Cheng Xihuan have in the original novel? She looked at Jinzhu and Yin Lan and remembered—she was a cannon fodder character who bullied the weak, feared the strong, and harbored a vicious heart. The two maids before her, Jinzhu and Yin Lan, were her accomplices in lording over others.
Because the author had been irregular with updates during the serialization, she often went back to reread the book, so she remembered it fairly clearly. But she'd always skimmed over the court politics and scheming parts, only reading the romance between the male and female leads and the scenes featuring Zhao Lijia and Lin Zeyan together.
That was also why she felt that aside from being brainless, she couldn't save everyone in the manor.
Ahem.
Still, the thought of meeting the second branch of the family soon—especially the male and female leads and Zhao Lijia—made her excited.
Jinzhu and Yin Lan watched from the side and felt their miss hadn't grasped the gravity of her situation. They quickly pulled her aside. "Miss, we have a hard battle ahead of us today."
"Huh?"
Jinzhu whispered, "You see, the young master won't consummate the marriage with you, and the people in Yunyu Hall don't treat you with respect. Once we get to the madam's place, they'll likely make things difficult for you too."
Yin Lan gave a light snort. "What's there to be afraid of? Our young lady is more than capable."
Jinzhu shook her head. "But now the young lady is married. She can't act the way she used to anymore."
Cheng Xihuan felt gratified, and also found it somewhat touching that although these two maidservants were the most insignificant of extras, they were still quite loyal to their young lady.
Her gratification didn't last long before Jinzhu continued, "Young lady, your reputation in the marquis's household isn't good right now, but that's alright. As long as you win over the madam, you can slowly work toward gaining control of the second branch's household management."
Cheng Xihuan held her head in her hands. She hadn't expected these two sisters to harbor such grand ambitions. Alas, it was a pity they had followed the wrong person.
She didn't argue, only smiled and said, "Ah, I wonder what's for breakfast?"
Soon, the sky began to lighten, and a ray of golden light spilled across the horizon. Lin Suiyu said, "Let's go."
Cheng Xihuan saw him sitting in his wheelchair and paused for a moment. "Mm, let's go."