Lin Shiheng walked to the bamboo forest and looked up and down at the marks on the ground.
It seems that Doctor Cui has been sneaking around for quite a while.
The plot of this world was relatively simple. In the original owner’s perspective, he was a leisurely Prince, but on his way to offer incense to the Empress Dowager, he came across a beautiful woman and was immediately taken aback by her. After finding out that she was the first young lady of the Marquis, he immediately sent a marriage proposal to the Marquis.
In the letter, it said that he was enamored by their first young lady on that day of prayer and wanted to marry her.
He was a Prince and the brother of the current Emperor, so the Marquis certainly wouldn’t dare to refuse. Thus, he soon begged his Emperor Elder Brother to grant him a marriage, and excitedly welcomed the beauty of his choice.
When the bridal veil was lifted, it was not the same beauty as the one he had seen that day. After inquiring, he found out that two of the Marquis’s ‘first young lady’ had gone to offer incense that day, and this was the other one.
The original owner was naturally angry, but this was a marriage granted by his Emperor Brother, and he couldn’t go back on it. Looking at the good-looking woman he married, he had to put up with the anger.
Naturally, he would never consider that the girl he had bumped into was the one who didn’t want to marry him. Instead, he was adamant that the current consort was lying and had seized the marriage. As a result, he had a lot of ill will towards the consort.
After the Princess Consort entered the mansion, she took care of the affairs of the household for him. She was virtuous and magnanimous, and kept the household in order. Therefore, the original owner only neglected her. After having a proper consort, he could take a concubine. A concubine wasn’t enough to be considered a side consort. For a whole year, the original owner took in one woman after another into his backyard without showing respect to his consort, the main wife.
Later, when his Emperor Brother died, he sat on the throne as the Emperor, because there was no heir to pass on the throne to. As soon as he became Emperor, he searched for Mu Qingrong, the other young lady, and the one he had bumped into at that time among the consorts left by his older brother.This was a proper white moon light story.
(TNote: White Moonlight = unattainable crush/always in one’s heart, but couldn’t reach.)
Regardless Mu Qingrong’s identity as the previous Emperor’s concubine, the original owner gave her a new identity, allowed her into his harem, and doted on her.
Mu Qingrong was full of jealousy. Not only did she suppress the other women in the palace, but also the Empress. The original owner was still upset about ‘missing his first love because of the Empress’, so he pretended not to see it.
It’s just that he never expected that his indulgence would cause Mu Qingrong to develop a higher ambition. She harmed the fetus in the Empress’s womb. When the Empress found out, she quickly went to him for help. That was the original owner’s first child, so he was naturally heartbroken. However, the woman that he loved was hiding in his arms, shivering. He couldn’t bear it.
So, in the end, the big issues became smaller and smaller.
Later, the Empress was pregnant for a second time, and was able to safely give birth to a frail Imperial son, the only child the original owner had. He told Mu Qingrong that he wanted to make him the Crown Prince.
A month later, the child, who had been protected in layers, died of a cold.
The Empress was seriously ill, but she still held out to investigate thoroughly. Mu Qingrong’s methods weren’t very skillful, and she had only survived for so long because the original owner had been protecting her. After the Empress found out that it was her again, she also found out that the original owner had been protecting the person who killed her son. She immediately unsheathed her sword and tried to kill Mu Qingrong, to pay for it with her life.
No one in the palace dared to step forward to stop her. The original owner rushed forward to block with his sword, but he missed, and killed the Empress to protect Mu Qingrong.
When the Empress died, her beautiful eyes widened, and she stared at him.
The original owner was scared, regretful, and afraid. In his dreams, he was chased by the Empress, and suffered a stroke. He became lethargic, looking like he was going to die. However, he never expected Mu Qingrong to pretend that she was pregnant all this time. She was waiting for his death to give birth to a baby, and muddy the Imperial bloodline.
He was so angry that he directly dragged the man down to be executed. In his fit of anger, he kicked the bucket.
After finding out that there was a task taker in time and space, he chose to exchange his soul for the safety of the Empress and his two children.
[Ding! This small world mission: To guarding Mu Qingling and two children. Task completion: 0]
Lin Shiheng looked down at his sword.
This world is really... simple.
However, thinking of Mu Qingrong, who was supposed to be properly staying in the residence at this particular point in time, was now present in the Prince’s mansion, the corners of his mouth were slightly curled.
He emerged from the bamboo forest and was immediately greeted by the subordinate standing guard outside, “Your Highness.”
“Let’s go. See the Princess.”
Behind him, Cui Mu was still complaining, “Is he really that great? He’s a womanizer Prince, and he even has a consort. Even if you get your wish and marry him, you’ll be a side consort at best and your children would be a concubine's children. You'll be despised everywhere you go!”
Mu Qingrong knew that Cui Mu had been shamed and despised since he was a child, because he was the child of a concubine. She didn’t care about Cui Mu’s objections, because he didn’t know anything.
Yes, a concubine was despised and looked down upon, but if it was the Emperor’s concubine, it was still a great honor.
Indeed, Mu Qingrong was reborn.
In her previous life, as the most favored first young lady of the Marquis, she had been brought up with honor and glory. Although her father wasn’t the eldest son, her eldest uncle had died early, so the Marquis title naturally fell on him.
Her mother was in charge of the household, and as her father’s only daughter, she had been held in high esteem since she was a child. Everyone in the family said that she was well educated, intelligent, and pleasing to the eye. She was also very beautiful and was sure to achieve great things in the future.
Even Mu Qingrong thought so. For example, if a woman from an official’s family was 16 years old and still unmarried, she would be selected by the palace and either she would be given a marriage, or she would go home and marry on her own. However, in some cases, she would be chosen by the Emperor and remain in the palace as a concubine.
In her previous life, Mu Qingrong had always wanted to enter the palace as an Imperial Concubine. She thought that her family’s reputation, looks and conduct were one of a kind, and that if she entered the palace, she would definitely be favored and have an Imperial son. She might also be eligible for a position as someone beside the Emperor.
However, unfortunately, when she went out to pray, her veil fell and Lin Shiheng saw her, The Prince of Linjiang, who had also gone to the temple. She was so good-looking that Prince Linjiang was completely bewildered by her appearance, and when he returned, he sent word to the Marquis, wanting to take Mu Qingrong as his consort.
In Mu Qingrong’s previous life, she despised Prince Linjiang, a womanizer Prince who knew nothing about civil or military affairs, and only knew how to enjoy himself with a group of noble children. If it weren’t for the fact that he and his Emperor Brother shared the same mother, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy his life so freely.
She didn’t want to marry Prince Linjiang, so she turned to her mother for help. Her mother had the same idea as her, so she made a plan and married off Mu Qingling, the first daughter of the previous Marquis.
Prince Linjiang didn’t know her name at that time anyway. He only knew that she was the ‘first young lady’ of the Marquis family who went to the temple to offer incense. Mu Qingling was also a first young lady and also went to offer incense that day.
As for whether Prince Linjiang, who thought he had gotten his hands on a beautiful woman, would be angry with Mu Qingling when he lifted the veil and saw a different face, Mu Qingrong didn’t care.
Afterwards, she was selected for the palace draft, and was indeed chosen and made a concubine straight away. A few days later, the Emperor liked her gentle and lovely nature, and stayed in her palace for nearly five consecutive days.
Mu Qingrong was happy with her success and was simply waiting for the birth of an Imperial son to compete for the throne.
However, the Emperor was poisoned in his youth, before he ascended to the throne. Although he appeared to be in his prime, his body had already been poisoned, and his internal organs were damaged. Mu Qingrong had only been a concubine for a short year when he died.
The Emperor had no children, and before his death, he left a decree, saying that his blood brother, Prince Linjiang, Lin Shiheng, would inherit the throne. After that, it was like a theatrical story, and they, the concubines, were made former concubines, moved out of the luxurious palace and into the desolate West Palace, where a bunch of people lived in a palace with a meager monthly payment and had to pay money to eat decent meals.
Having felt the comfortable life of a favored concubine, how could Mu Qingrong stand all that? The most unbearable thing for her was the current Emperor, whom she pushed away with her own hands when he was Prince Linjiang. If she hadn’t been unwilling to marry him in the beginning, how could Mu Qingling sit on the throne?
Even if Mu Qingrong wanted to go out and ‘bump into’ the current Emperor to renew his affection for her, there was no chance at all. The Empress was in control of the harem, and they were all locked up in the West Palace, where they weren’t allowed to come and go as they pleased.
Afterwards, the maids at her side took great pains to get her out, which allowed Mu Qingrong to successfully meet the Emperor by chance. When they met each other again, they were both pleasantly surprised and immediately made love under the moon, in front of the flowers.
Mu Qingrong changed her name and surname, and was once again named as a concubine. For a while, she was even more favored than the Empress. But, for some reason, she hasn’t been able to conceive. Then, she saw that the unloved Empress was pregnant. Even when the Empress was suppressed by her, if she gave birth to a Crown Prince, Mu Qingrong would be trampled underfoot.
In desperation, Mu Qingrong asked Cui Mu for abortion pills and bribed the palace maid at the Empress’s side to make her drink what she thought was a fetal protection pill.
When the Empress lost her baby, the Empress, who had always stayed in the Changcun Palace and lived her life there, uncharacteristically conducted a thorough investigation of the harem and discovered Mu Qingrong.
In Mu Qingrong’s desperation, she asked the Emperor for help, and after being rescued, she was afraid to do anything else but nurture her body in order to conceive a child as soon as possible. Who would have thought that Mu Qingling would be so lucky as to conceive another child?
Mu Qingrong never found a chance to attack the child. She originally thought that the child was born so weak that he would die without the need for her to do anything. However, the Emperor actually mentioned that he wanted to make him the Crown Prince.
She could only repeat the same trick and cause the young Prince to die from a fever. Afterwards, Mu Qingling went mad and wanted to get revenge on her. Fortunately, the Emperor protected her and killed Mu Qingling by mistake.
Mu Qingrong thought she could enjoy peace and quiet from then on and concentrate on getting pregnant. But then, the Emperor became very ill. She was afraid that he would leave like the previous Emperor did, so she came up with an idea, to pretend to be pregnant.
As a result, the Emperor instantly saw that something was wrong and gave her a poisonous cup of wine without the slightest hint of mercy.
Before her death, Mu Qingrong realized that the Emperor was the one who stopped her from conceiving for so many years, simply because she was a side consort. No matter how much he liked her, he would never let her—a woman who had served his brother to give birth to an Imperial heir.
Because he personally sterilized her, he naturally knew that she was pretending to be pregnant.
After a lifetime of scheming, she ended up with a cup of poisoned wine.
Mu Qingrong resented and regretted, hating herself for pushing the marriage to Mu Qingling, the eldest uncle’s daughter, and made a wedding dress for others in vain.
(TNote: making a wedding dress for others = giving other people good fortune, unintentionally.)
As a result, when she opened her eyes again, she was back to the time when she was still innocent and hadn’t entered the palace for the draft yet.
It’s just a pity that, when she woke up, the Imperial family and the Marquis’s family had already exchanged gifts, and Mu Qingling’s name had already been placed on the Imperial decree for marriage. So, if she back tracked now, wouldn’t it be a crime of deceiving the sovereign and they would be laughed at?
Mu Qingrong could only plot further plans. She would never enter the palace to serve the Emperor, who would die prematurely this time. Instead, she had to hold on to Lin Shiheng, who was still the Prince of Linjiang.
Although she couldn’t be a Princess Consort, she could still be a side consort. With her skills, when Prince Linjiang ascended to the throne, she could become an Imperial Consort.
In this life, she was still pure. How could she not give birth to an Imperial son?
Together with her mother, she drugged Mu Qingling to ensure that she would die early. Little did Mu Qingling know that she would be so weak, and that she would fall seriously ill just after marriage. Mu Qingrong followed her mother to the Prince’s Mansion under the pretext of visiting her older sister. Thinking that Lin Shiheng liked women with kind hearts the most, she talked her way into meeting Cui Mu, who had always liked her, and planned to act out a scene.
She never expected...
When she thought of Lin Shiheng’s appearance, the way he pulled out his sword in order to slice her flesh without any pain, Mu Qingrong couldn’t help but tug at her handkerchief with hatred.
In this life, I’ll definitely replace Mu Qingling!
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter