Chapter 2: Reincarnation

Seventeen years later.

In the beautiful Fu Mansion, the air was filled with the sound of birdsong. A breeze gently brushed the leaves covering the courtyards and white clouds danced in the blue sky. The slender branches of the peach blossom tree arched over the roof of the building. They tossed in the wind, and the petals fluttered to the ground at the door of Miss Fu's bedroom.

Yixia Pavilion was almost completely silent, like most days. But as the breeze whistled, stirring the petals scattered on the ground, the silence was interrupted by the sound of rapid footsteps.

Suddenly, a sharp voice resounded in the yard and shouted in panic: "Miss, Miss!"

With the sound of footsteps getting louder and louder, the young woman sitting at the table in the bedroom put down the scroll in her hand, her long black hair like crow's feathers. She was wearing a jade green hanfu and brough out a faint emerald hue from her brown eyes. Her lips were as red as roses, a pair of eyebrows thin like willow leaves arched over her diamond-like eyes. Her incomparably beautiful face slowly turned to the maid who hurried into the room.

"What is it that makes you so panicked?" Fu Jiurong, the eldest young miss of the Fu family, asked. She looked at the maid in front of her slowly. Fu Jiurong had now turned around completely, her slender figure reflected in the bronze mirror behind her.

The maid, who had been with Fu Jiurong for several years in the previous life and never once betrayed her even after being tortured to death by Emperor Qian Ze, looked at her and said in a hurried tone, "Young--Young Miss, look!" She held up something that looked unmistakeably like a letter.

Fu Jiurong took it and carefully used her fingers to pry open the top cover of the envelope, revealing a piece of paper. The paper was exceptionally strong and of exceptional quality. This meant only one thing: this letter was from the Royal Palace.

"Qing Lu," Fu Jiurong called to the maid, "where did you get this letter from?"

Qing Lu was taken aback for a moment, but she still replied: "A mysterious man in dark blue attire handed this letter to me and said that Young Miss you needn't go to see His Royal Highness again in the future."

Hateful. Fu Jiurong had never once seen the Crown Prince in this life; where did he get so much of this nonsense from? Even if he wanted her to go visit him, she'd refuse.

She pulled out the paper and scanned the few words written on the page, each stroke strong and aggressive. A few minutes later, Fu Jiurong crumpled the paper in her hand and put it on the table, a smile appearing on her face again.

In her past life, she'd suffered all kinds of pain. After being reborn, she found that she was once again Fu Jiurong of Nanyun Kingdom, the daughter of the Prime Minister. The whole family looked down on her, but she was going to take back everything that should have been hers, and never let others take advantage of her again. This time, she wants to make sure her life would not go down the same path as before. When Fu Jiurong was a child, Empress Dowager had already betrothed her to the newly established Crown Prince of Nanyun Kingdom, but that was the trigger that led to her downfall in her previous life. If she refused this marriage in this life, future tragedies would not be staged.

Fu Jiurong glanced at the letter on the table beside her, the letter that forever broke off her engagement with the prince.

In her previous life, she had vowed to avenge herself and her dead daughter. This time, she would definitely do it.

In her first life, before she was reincarnated back to life into her seventeen-year-old body, she had already made up her mind to marry the Crown Prince, the man that all the women of Nanyun Kingdom longed for. Doing so had caused her to be tortured by the prince day and night; she had suffered too many grievances. It was the Fourth Prince who saved her from the cruel Crown Prince. Mo Yehui had promised her eternal wealth, safety, and care. She had then believed in him without a doubt, handing her whole life over to him without hesitation. And yet she was still betrayed by the man she trusted the most. In this life, she would never allow herself to be hurt so badly again.

She would no longer be bullied or controlled by others. Without the marriage contract to the Crown Prince, she was free.

Without Mo Yehui, her life would be so peaceful.

The maid looked at Fu Jiurong curiously, not knowing whether to laugh with the young lady or to ask what made her so excited.

Fu Jiurong quickly looked at her maid, her eyes sparkling, and said, "Qing Lu, help me find that blue-clothed boy, and give him five hundred taels of silver."

What?

The maid blinked at Prime Minister Fu's eldest daughter and was immediately confused. "But Young Miss, is this really appropriate?"

Fu Jiurong just smiled lightly. "Qing Lu, that young man brought a great gift to me, so I must reward him handsomely."

This was ridiculous. Which woman in history was satisfied when she found out that her engagement to a prince had been called off?

Qing Lu was stunned and looked at Fu Jiurong without saying a word. She had never seen such a willful woman, but being the personal maid of Miss Fu could only be a blessing in her life. Fu Jiurong was definitely the most generous and elegant woman the maid knew.

"Yes, Young Miss." The maid finally responded and nodded obediently.

Immediately afterward, the maid seemed to have remembered something important and raised her head again, a trace of panic flashing across her round and youthful face. "By the way, Young Miss, Qing Lu has one more thing to report: Madam Ning, the second miss, and the third miss have all returned from the capital this morning. Master Fu has instructed Qing Lu to tell Young Miss to go outside the mansion to meet the mistress and her daughters."

"Why have they come back so early?" Fu Jiurong frowned.

After Fu Jiurong's mother died of illness, Madam Ning became the second wife of the Prime Minister. Now that the old fox decided to call herself the landlord, it was reasonable. If Madam. Ning hadn't regarded it as her duty to destroy Fu Jiurong's life, even after she made the smallest mistake, she wouldn't have been punished and sent to the most secluded area in the mansion. However, Fu Jiurong was not at all afraid of Madam Ning and her two vicious daughters, who were both eager to follow in their mother's footsteps and torture Fu Jiurong constantly. It had only been a few days ago since all three of them left the Fu Mansion to go to the capital wearing their most luxurious clothes.

Since their departure, the mansion had been peaceful almost every day. Fu Jiurong was a little disappointed by the news that they had returned so early.

"Young Miss, Qing Lu heard from the other maids that Mrs. Ning only brought the second and third misses to the capital to visit their fiancés." Qing Lu cupped a hand over her mouth as if she was afraid others would hear. "Young Miss, Qing Lu also heard that their fiancés are very good-looking and come from the wealthiest families in the city."

Wealthiest families in the city? Wasn't that the Wang family and the Lin family?

Qing Lu never told her a lie. Fu Jiurong was not grateful enough in her last life to have such a loyal companion. In this life, she promised herself that she would never treat Qing Lu so unfairly again.

"Young Miss, Qing Lu thinks you have no need to greet Madam Ning and the other misses." Qing Lu tried to persuade her.

The eldest sons of both the Wang family and the Lin family were unmarried. Fu Jiurong smiled. Mrs. Ning really knew how to play.

"No," Fu Jiurong said. "I'm going right now. I want to see what other good tricks Madam Ning and my younger sisters have up their sleeves." She would also begin to avenge those who were tortured by her hateful family.

They always had some kind of ruse, always some way to harass and humiliate her and Qing Lu.

"Qing Lu, help me freshen up a little, and then we will wait for them to return."

"Yes, Young Miss." Qing Lu obediently picked up the comb in the room and did as her mistress said.

Fu Jiurong looked at herself in the mirror and smiled secretly.