Another project to work on yay! I read the first few chapters that were available and wanted to pick it up. It’s another transmigration novel with a strong female character. Without further ado, please enjoy!
Returned to Tang Yuan.
Qi Furen faced towards the courtyard that was full of cherry apple trees in full bloom and faintly sighed. She ordered Zhang Ma to bring over a chair to the nearest corridor so she could sit.
Then embraced Cheng Qing as she began to speak.
“San Er, you treat your mother so well. I had always thought that you had a cold personality since you spoke very little.
All year round, even I as your mother, would only get to hear a few sentences from you. You also didn’t want to learn poetry.
I didn’t expect you would acknowledge mother’s suffering in your heart.”
“In this family, mother has only you as her closest relative. It has been more than a year since your father visited this courtyard.”
“You were able to express the feelings of bitterness and sorrow in the poem you recited yet you are just six years old right now. I am not quite sure if this good or bad.”
Cheng Qing thought that as a six year old, it really was too suspicious that she was this capable and wanted to come up with an excuse when she heard Qi furen’s voice change to one with hatred.
“Those despicable people wanted to take advantage of you since you don’t know the four arts.
I was so worried that you would receive the punishment yet frustrated knowing I cannot protect you from being hit with planks.
As the Li family’s daughter, if you were considered useless then you cannot help your father.
Even Xiao Yu would be considered more valuable!
But you are indeed my daughter, how could you not know poetry and literature?”
Since Cheng Qing saw that the seventh madam had no doubt she was her daughter, she was too lazy to explain. At this time, she was already used to being hugged by the madam. The nice fragrance and soft embrace reminded her of her own mother’s embrace as a child.
She took this opportunity to ask a question. “Can you tell A’Luo what father needs help with? Why do the Li family daughters have to learn the four arts?”
Cheng Qing started to regret after asking her question, wondering if the seventh madam had already told A’Luo. What if she investigates?
Qi Furen replied slowly. “San Er, you’re just a child. I will tell you when you are a little older!”
Cheng Qing was anxious and eager to understand this new world. She was still very confused. When she woke up, she found herself in the body of a young child. Then had to face a crowd of people and feeling fearful for most of the day. She had to get to the bottom of this!
Cheng Qing heard herself speak in a delicate voice. “It’s better to know earlier than later. Maybe in the future, A’Luo will change, studying diligently so that in the next 3 months she won’t receive punishment!”
When she finished speaking, she sighed inwardly. She really couldn’t get used to this voice of hers.
Qi Furen let out a breath of air before speaking.
“The Li family initially married seven wives for the sake of a son. As the last wife to enter the household, I didn’t think I would also give birth to a daughter.
Your father is Ning Country’s right minister. Since he has no heir, he was thinking of marrying his three daughters into the royal family to consolidate his power.
How could he not be strict with his daughters? All his hopes are placed on his daughters, wishing they could bring wealth and glory to this family. Da Furen comes from a prominent family, if it weren’t for the fact that she had no children, would Lao Ye continue to marry more women?
Your mother was married into the Li family just to be used as a baby birthing tool.”
Qi Furen looked down with a smile.
“Mother never wished for San Er to excel among her peers and to stand out in a crowd. But if you don’t improve you will provoke your father’s anger, not getting warm clothes and food. Your personality is just like mine when I was a child.
Stubborn and capricious, always causing trouble for Zhang Ma and Xiao Yu and never caring about homework.
Mother doesn’t blame you but San Er, this world is always disadvantageous to women.
If you do not marry a good family, you will not live easily in the future.”
The last two sentences brought tears to her eyes.
Cheng Qing saw that Qi Furen’s jade-like face held a sorrowful expression. In her heart, she knew that her fate and hers were now bound tightly together. She then looked at herself, the little body that she was in after mysteriously transcending through space and time.
She was originally a fourth year university student with a great family and bright future. Now the future was uncertain and after hearing the seventh madame say that girls are at a disadvantage in this society, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Qi Furen clutched her tightly. “San Er, why is it so hard to be a woman? Why did you have to be one of Li family’s daughters!?”
Cheng Qing cried until she fell asleep.
Qi Furen looked fondly upon her six year old daughter. Her face looked just like hers. She had no doubt that when A’Luo was older, she would be a beauty. Her own beauty was doomed to wither away in this Li family garden filled with cherry-apple trees. She hopes that her daughter’s life will be better than hers as she is now left to watch over this garden silently while waiting for death.
Qi Furen observed A’Luo for a long period of time before calling over Zhang Ma and Xiao Yu over. In a soft voice she said, “Xiao Jie is still young and inexperience, please be accommodating. She isn’t a weak child but willful and stubborn.”
Zhang Ma and Xiao Yu’s eyes reddened as they answered. “Furen treated us with great kindness, we of course, will work with utmost effort under Xiao Jie”
Qi Furen allowed Zhang Ma to carry Cheng Qing’s sleeping figure back to her room. She stayed where she was, lost in thought as she gazed towards the courtyard. Another tear rolled down her cheek as she remember the words from the poem A’Luo recited earlier in front of everyone.
XXX
Cheng Qing woke up from her nap.
She quickly looked down at herself, yet she was still in this little body.
Her surroundings were utterly silent. No sounds from cars traveling across the road nor sounds from people. It was as if this entire world was empty except for her. When moonlight shined into her room, the atmosphere felt even colder causing her eyes to redden while tears streamed out.
Cheng Qing was wondering to herself. Could it be that she had to remain here in A’Luo’s body until she grew up? And then marry someone? Was this now her life? Stricken with fear and panic, she could not help but continue to cry. Just outside of the curtains covering her bed, a candle was lit and it brightened up the room. Xiao Yu then hurriedly parted the muslin veil covering the bed and hugged her nervously.
“Xiao Jie, did you have a nightmare again? Xiao Yu is right by your side. Xiao Jie, don’t be afraid.”
Xiao Yu came right over with her hair disheveled, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
How could a child like you just over ten years old protect me, when I am already 22 years old? Cheng Qing thought to herself.
She slowly willed away her tears and addressed Xiao Yu. “I can’t sleep. Xiao Yu, come over and sit down with me. Talk with me for a bit.”
Under the candlelight, Xiao Yu looked at the face of A’Luo, seeing her cheeks still wet with tears, a pleading expression that tugged at her heart.
She couldn’t help but think.
This miss of hers was just six years old and was already capable of invoking pity from others.
Who knew what kind of outstanding beauty she will become in the future?
Xiao Yu agreed and got onto the bed, signaling A’Luo to lay down.
Cheng Qing looked at Xiao Yu and asked. “Can you tell what the outside world is like? What is Ning Guo is like?”
Xiao Yu bashfully smiled.
“I know that the whole world has five countries. In the west we have Qi Guo, southwest is Xia Guo, north is An Guo, south is Chen Guo and Ning Guo is to the east. Ning Guo is the largest and strongest country. We are currently living in the capital city of Ning Guo, Windy City.
Xiao Jie, our Windy City is really large. Even if you rode on a horse and urged it to go as fast you can, the time it takes to get from east side to the west side would be several hours. As for events, the most exciting festival would be the Lantern festival. The riverside would be filled with lights. Oh, there’s also quite a lot of leisure boats. In the evening, it looks so majestic as if fairies live here.”
What kind of place is this? Cheng Qing thought. It was as if she entered a different era. She will decipher it later. She then closed her eyes to think.
Xiao Yu thought she fell asleep as she covered her yawn and drifted off to her own dreams.
Cheng Qing opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. It looks like she will have to live the rest of her life as A’Luo, daughter of the Li family. The initial feelings of fear and panic were suppressed by her sheer will. At least it wasn’t all bad, her “father” of the Li family was a minister and getting food and clothes weren’t a problem. She also had time to face other things that would come up as she got older. Who knows? Maybe one day she will wake up and find herself back in her own home, thinking this was all just a dream.
Her mind then slowly settled down.
Cheng Qing then evaluated herself.
At her university, she studied English which is useless here but considering she had already lived for 22 years, there was bound to be some knowledge that she could reuse here.
Poetry verses could be copied.
She understood and was able to grasp five thousand years of culture to be used at her disposal which should be more than enough.
Whether it’s Tang dynasty poetry or Song dynasty poetry, it didn’t matter if she couldn’t remember it all.
She knew phrases that would appeal to everyone.
But she couldn’t sing, she was always off-tune yet it didn’t matter.
She knew some lyrics that may be useful.
She also did yoga and knew karate. Karate was her best skill. If there were 3-5 ordinary guys she could definitely use karate to sort them out. At least she wasn’t a women with no strength!
Cheng Qing felt relieved. It was fortunate that her mother and father both worked in government positions and were quite busy, being unable to take care of her much. She was then able to pick up karate to protect herself.
Since there was no one to look after her, Cheng Qing learned to cook when she was five years old.
Oh right, she knew how to cook!
The scenario Cheng Qing was in made her feel like she drifted off to a remote island. When she realized that she had many useful skills, she couldn’t help but get excited. After thinking for half of the day, there was no other skills she could think of.
Her thoughts wandered off in another direction.
Ah, this six year old A’Luo. It was said that in past, girls would marry once they reach 13 years old. At least she had at least seven years to learn. She was starting from the beginning and will eventually learn what is there to learn about this society. There was just one important thing.
Being able to live and survive was most important.
Cheng Qing told herself that from now on she was the Li family’s third daughter, A’Luo.
While observing today, she noticed none of the women used foot-bindings and she let out a sigh of relief. But when she saw that her maternal grandmother’s foot was wrapped, she felt goosebumps.
Cheng Qing then recalled the crowd from earlier that day, analyzing the details. Her “father”, the head of the Li family, and her own father were politicians. But she didn’t know if her “father” was a minister with significant authority. In ancient times, the ministers with the most authority never had any good endings. For the most part, they were usually the ones killed off by the emperor.
As long as he doesn’t participate in any crimes, he will have a peaceful and secure life. She took this moment to pray to all the gods in the hopes that her “father” will never incur punishment that will cause all family members to be beheaded. When she thought of the punishments in ancient times, she became quite frightful.
Now thinking about the seven wives, there was bound to be infighting behind closed doors but it seemed like all six wives disliked the seventh wife. Was it because the seventh madame was the youngest? Or was it because she was the prettiest? Or were there other reasons…?
Her “father” only had three daughters, should she strive to become his favorite? Cheng Qing was thinking of the advantages and disadvantages. An advantage was that she and the seventh madame would receive better treatment in the household and get privileges. The disadvantage was that she would attract attention and even if she didn’t want attention, it would be hard to get away from it.
She dismissed her wandering thoughts and came back to focus on her current surroundings.
This Tang Yuan seemed like it was located on the outer corners of the Li family residence.
To get here from the main hall would take at least ten minutes.
She also noted that there were only two servants, Zhang Ma and Xiao Yu. Zhang Ma served the seventh madame for the longest compared to Xiao Yu. And Xiao Yu just recently started to serve closely at her side. Her living quarters had an elegant layout but she didn’t see anything that could be valuable.
Even today, she noticed that seventh madame only wore two jade hairpins in her hair. She was a simple bead flower standing in the midst of others extravagance.
Thinking of the seventh madame’s gentle yet sorrowful expressions, she was probably cast aside after giving birth to a daughter.
With 22 years of wisdom in the body of a six year old, in addition to having modern-day knowledge, it wouldn’t be too difficult for her to win over her “father” and become his favorite.
But she also thought about how standing out too much could be dangerous.
She then decided to conceal her talents and to bide her time.
Once she was more familiar with her situation and had settled down for a few years then she’ll see.