Chapter 17

With her keen senses, Cheng Ruyi noticed the intermittent glances Cheng Qingyao kept throwing her way. She curled her lip in distaste; Cheng Qingyao was like a piece of dog-skin plaster—always sticking close and trying to step on her to highlight her own radiance. It was beyond annoying.

“Moxiang, let’s go for a walk by the lake.” The air in the Lotus Garden was exceptionally fresh after the rain. As a wood-element ability user, Cheng Ruyi particularly loved the garden’s lush flora. She decided to leave the pavilion and wander around, getting out of Cheng Qingyao’s line of sight. It was better than being poisoned by those constant looks.

“Yes, Miss!” Moxiang replied happily. This was the most famous lotus garden in the capital; it would be a waste not to admire it properly.

The moment the master and servant left the pavilion, they drew the attention of the crowd. Cheng Ruyi didn’t care. Holding up the corners of her skirt, she strolled leisurely along the shaded paths. Her sharp ears caught several noble ladies exclaiming over Cheng Qingyao’s jewelry set. She glanced back at the set—supposedly crafted by Master Zhao—but with her lack of appreciation for such things, she couldn’t see what was so amazing about it.

Seeing Cheng Qingyao surrounded and praised by everyone, Cheng Ruyi truly didn’t understand the mindset of these noble ladies. She had always advocated for simplicity and practicality. If it weren’t for her cousin Rong Mo insisting she wear the jewelry he gave her, she would have just had Moxiang style her hair in a simple maiden’s bun with a single white mutton-fat jade hairpin and a couple of pearl flowers.

Unfortunately, for this Lotus Appreciation Poetry Gathering, the three concubine-born daughters of the Jian’an Hou Manor—including the former legitimate daughter—had all had their reputations ruined by Cheng Qingyao and failed to receive invitations. Cheng Ruyi was the exception. Otherwise, she could have used them to nauseate Cheng Qingyao a bit, preventing her from constantly staring and scheming. It was too tiresome.

When she had first read the book, Cheng Ruyi found it quite satisfying to watch the female protagonist ruthlessly battle concubines, legitimate sisters, noble ladies, and imperial consorts, slapping faces and climbing the social ladder step by step. Almost every noble woman she encountered eventually turned “blackened” and met a miserable end. The protagonist’s ruthless methods had been cathartic to read.

But since transmigrating into this era and understanding the customs of this feudal dynasty, she was speechless at Cheng Qingyao’s behavior of designing the ruin of her own sisters’ reputations and purity over the slightest disagreement. One woman with a bad reputation might not affect the clan much—every clan has a few black sheep—but if a clan constantly had daughters with scandalous reputations, the character of all the women in that clan would be questioned, making it difficult for any of them to marry well.

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Ubldt Swuk qlzv vbyv vbl sdzu alypsd Ubldt Ckdtuys oyp yczl vs xyaau vbl rakdnl rasvytsdkpv, ypkel qasx bla “blaskdl byzs,” oyp vbl xyppkhl ralpvktl pbl ynnwxwzyvle ewakdt vbl talyv dyvwayz ekpypvlap sq vbl dlmv vos ulyap.

Gnnsaekdt vs vbl rzsv, Ubldt Ckdtuys yde vbl rasvytsdkpv bye yzalyeu naspple ryvbp, cwv vblal byed’v clld pwcpvydvkyz rastalpp. Ubldt Ckdtuys oyp yxckvkswp; okvb bla “rasrblvkn” tszeld qkdtla, pbl jdlo vbl qwvwal sq xydu rlsrzl. Ebyv pbl oyp eskdt dso oyp lpvyczkpbkdt nsddlnvksdp okvb vbspl obs oswze bsze talyv rsola kd vbl qwvwal.

Ubldt Swuk tzydnle yv Nkd Dkd’la vyzjkdt kdvkxyvlzu okvb Ubldt Ckdtuys kd vbl ekpvydnl yde aykple yd lulcaso. Mblal tslp ydsvbla “czynjldle” qlxyzl pwrrsavkdt nbyaynvla elpvkdle vs cl ycydesdle cu lhlausdl. Ebyv y oypvl! Jwv vbld ytykd, Nkd Dkd’la bye yd swvpvydekdt casvbla obs oyp elpvkdle vs kdblakv vbl Kkduydt Yyaiwkpyvl.

Ohld jdsokdt vbl rzsv, Ubldt Swuk bye ds “Tszu Ysvbla” watl vs pyhl lhlausdl. Fbl zshle vbkp osaze—ds gsxcklp, yde elzknkswp qsse lhlauoblal. Fbl bye ds alyz elpkal vs xyaau. Gp bla qyvbla, vbl Yyaiwkp sq Ubydtzl, pyke: kq pbl nswzed’v xyaau swv, pbl nswze fwpv qkde y xyd vs xyaau kdvs bla qyxkzu.

Mbl okpb oyp clywvkqwz, cwv Ubldt Ckdtuys oswzed’v zlv bla byhl bla oyu. Gp zsdt yp Ubldt Ckdtuys tykdle rsola, vbl qwvwal Ubydtzl Tsw Yydsa oswze hydkpb zkjl pxsjl. Mblalqsal, Ubldt Swuk sdzu dllele vs elpvasu bla “Nkhkdt Jsebkpyvvhy” rzyd.

Gzsdt vbl oyu, Ubldt Swuk yde Ysmkydt yexkale vbl clywvu sq vbl tyaeld obkzl Swuk iwklvzu wple bla osse-lzlxldv yckzkvu. Mbl rzydvp blal olal ralnkswp; clpkelp vbl wdkiwl zsvwplp, vblal olal xydu ydnkldv vallp shla y nldvwau sze. Mblu ldnswdvlale xydu sqqknkyzp’ okhlp yde dsczl zyeklp pvaszzkdt kd hlkzle byvp. Fsxl olal lmnlrvksdyzzu rskple yde clywvkqwz, cwv vblu yzz yhskele Ubldt Swuk yp kq pbl olal vbl rzytwl. Ysmkydt oyp kdektdydv, cwv Ubldt Swuk eked’v xkde; pbl ynvwyzzu ralqlaale kv vbkp oyu.

Ebld pbl alynble y iwklv, pryaplzu rsrwzyvle yaly, pbl blyae y qyxkzkya hsknl dlyacu. Nkpvldkdt nzsplzu, pbl blyae vlaxp zkjl “Nydezsae,” “Jke qsa Nydezsae”…

Ubldt Swuk oyp pvwddle. Fsxl dsczl psdp olal ynvwyzzu bkekdt kd y plnzwele nsadla sq vbl Nsvwp Qyaeld rzyukdt Wktbv vbl Nydezsae… vbl xldvyz kxytl oyp iwkvl nsxknyz. Tla qyvbla, vbl Yyaiwkp sq Ubydtzl, xwpv byhl pralye vbl tyxl ewakdt bkp swvkdtp.

“Miss, someone is playing Fight the Landlord!” Moxiang looked excited.

Cheng Ruyi gave her a speechless look. “…It’s just Fight the Landlord, is there a need to be that excited?”

Leading Moxiang away from the gamblers, Cheng Ruyi found a quiet spot to sit down. Suddenly, her wood-element ability sensed two presences. One of them carried a sharp, righteous aura mixed with an overwhelming, blood-soaked killing intent. Both presences were moving toward her.

Cheng Ruyi felt a surge of excitement. She hadn’t expected to meet someone with such heavy killing intent in this era. Since this person possessed a righteous aura and was within the heavily guarded Lotus Garden, he had to be a high-ranking military officer. He might even be the legendary “God of War” Prince—Prince Pingnan.

She remembered the book mentioning that the Emperor had ordered Prince Pingnan to attend the gathering, though he only showed his face briefly before leaving.

As the two presences drew closer, her eyes darted around as a plan formed.

“Moxiang, I’ve had the same dream for several nights now. I feel like it must be a warning from Heaven,” Cheng Ruyi said suddenly, calculating the distance so the hidden person could hear her.

A warning from Heaven?

Moxiang’s eyes widened, and she asked curiously, “Miss, what did you dream about?”

“It definitely wasn’t a good dream. In the dream, a catastrophic drought struck our Great Zhou Dynasty next year. No rain for a whole year, fields cracked, rivers dried up, and the people had no harvest, forcing them to flee their homes.”

As Cheng Ruyi spoke, she monitored the hidden aura. She noticed that the moment she mentioned a “warning from Heaven,” that aura suddenly stopped.

“Not only that, in the second year after the drought, before anyone could recover, a massive flood hit. Countless people died, the land was covered in corpses, and plague spread. The scene was terrifying.”

Moxiang shivered. It truly was terrifying. Luckily, it was just her lady’s dream. “Ahem, Miss, that’s not real. It’s just a dream you had.”

“But I don’t feel like it was just a dream. The scenes were too real. Moxiang, you don’t know that in the dream, during these two rare natural disasters, my Cousin Qingyao emerged out of nowhere and earned the reputation of a ‘Living Bodhisattva.’ Her prestige among the people rivaled our Great Zhou’s God of War Prince.”

“Moxiang, don’t you think it’s strange? In the dream, Cousin Qingyao had actually hoarded massive amounts of grain and ice in advance…” Cheng Ruyi didn’t forget to dig a hole for Cheng Qingyao.

In the book, Cheng Qingyao was reborn at thirteen, three years ago. Since her return, she had used her foresight to secretly accumulate wealth and hoard grain. As for hoarding ice, that would happen this winter. As long as someone investigated with intent, they would surely find something.

In the book, after the rare disasters, it wasn’t that no one suspected Cheng Qingyao of having the ability to predict the future, but she had fooled them by saying she was warned in a dream by a deity. Because her prestige was too high and she was the “Living Bodhisattva” in the people’s hearts, the matter was eventually dropped.

So, Cheng Ruyi also fabricated a dream as a warning. Whether the hidden person would keep the information to themselves after verifying it didn’t matter to Cheng Ruyi, as long as Cheng Qingyao didn’t hold a monopoly on the situation. In the end, the people would benefit regardless.

“Miss, your dream is too strange. Maybe you only dreamed it because of your fire-and-water relationship with Miss Qingyao,” Moxiang suggested, finding an excuse after a silence, seeing that her lady was taking the dream seriously.

“Yeah, it is strange. If it were as you said, I should have been the one stepping on her in the dream,” Cheng Ruyi rolled her eyes and huffed in displeasure.

Moxiang chuckled: “Right, right, this servant was wrong.”

“Of course you were wrong. That’s why I told Father and Mother to renovate the manor, dig wells, build cellars, and hoard some grain and ice. Regardless of whether a disaster happens in the next two years, we won’t go hungry or suffer from the heat.” Cheng Ruyi spoke proudly.

She noticed the hidden aura seemed to grow heavier for a moment.

Moxiang didn’t really believe the dream would come true, but something suddenly occurred to her: “Miss, didn’t you say Miss Qingyao in the dream hoarded a lot of grain in advance? Then we should find someone to investigate if it’s true.” Once they checked, the lady would know that a dream is just a dream and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Hearing Moxiang’s words, Cheng Ruyi became even happier. It was like someone handing her a pillow just as she was getting sleepy—she had been wondering how to bring up that point.

She deliberately rolled her eyes and teased: “Moxiang, we don’t have the manpower for that.”

Moxiang became anxious immediately.

Cheng Ruyi burst out laughing and comforted her: “Alright, Moxiang. It’s very simple to find out if this dream is a warning from Heaven. In the dream, one month after the Lotus Appreciation Gathering, there will be a solar eclipse.”

These words were meant for the person in the shadows. Feeling that person’s aura shift again, Cheng Ruyi was even more delighted.

Hearing this, Moxiang perked up. If the solar eclipse didn’t happen, her lady would have to give up on the idea. She looked at the sky and said hurriedly, “Miss, the poetry gathering is about to start. Let’s head over.”

“Fine!” Cheng Ruyi answered with little interest. She didn’t care about poetry, but thinking that her fabricated dream warning might destroy Cheng Qingyao’s plans, she couldn’t help but curl her lips into a happy smile and hum a tune.

She really was too clever!

Moxiang was speechless at her lady’s inexplicable joy.

As soon as they left, a man in a brocade robe, exuding a heavy killing intent, stepped out from behind a tree. The man had handsome features, a deep-set profile, and the aura of someone who had long held a high position.

“Who is she?”

“In reply to Your Highness, this lady is the eldest legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Changle,” another man dressed as a guard replied respectfully.

The man’s gaze was deep as he watched the retreating backs of Cheng Ruyi and her servant, his expression unreadable.

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