Chapter 2
“Holy shit!”
Jiang Lingyu saw the earth-shattering changes but had no time to figure out the situation before her entire being plunged into darkness.
When she regained consciousness, her mind hadn’t yet processed the strange experience from before. She immediately felt a prickling pain all over her body.
Jiang Lingyu opened her eyes to find herself wearing a white undergarment, kneeling on the cold ground with her body covered in thorns.
The white undergarment had unknowingly been stained with blood spots. Her body shivered uncontrollably from the cold wind, her teeth chattering in pain.
Jiang Lingyu’s face was as pale as paper. Due to excessive blood loss and prolonged lack of food, she looked on the verge of collapse.
Jiang Lingyu hadn’t forgotten that before losing her memory, she was promised to go to a wealthy family and live a life of luxury. But given her current predicament, had she transmigrated into a prisoner?
Moreover, a prisoner who might die again before long.
When Jiang Lingyu thought about how her inexplicably missing seventy years had been exchanged for this treatment, anger ignited in her heart.
Due to her emotional agitation, the thorns on her body directly pierced her skin and flesh, causing her to let out a muffled groan of pain.
Her already unsteady body lost balance from this movement. Jiang Lingyu fell directly onto the ice-cold ground. The thorns, which had only penetrated three-tenths before, now sank seven-tenths into her flesh. Having just regained consciousness and completely unprepared, Jiang Lingyu couldn’t help but cry out in shock.
Jiang Lingyu’s body was drenched in cold sweat, trembling uncontrollably from the pain. She looked both pathetic and pitiful.
At that moment, a cool voice reached Jiang Lingyu’s ears.
“Your Highness, you’ve disturbed the Male Empress’s rest.”
Your Highness? Male Empress?
It sounded like a couple, but something felt off.
Before Jiang Lingyu could be shocked that if they were truly a couple, why the other party didn’t come to comfort and help her in her current miserable state, but instead came to question why she disturbed his rest, a flood of information suddenly entered her mind.
…So the earlier lightning and thunder were heavenly punishment because that New Year picture doll had mistakenly hooked the wrong soul and arbitrarily altered the book of fate.
Although it was heavenly punishment, it was ultimately directed at the New Year picture doll, while she had indeed transmigrated.
She could never return to her original world.
In fact, Jiang Lingyu wasn’t too concerned about the wealth and status from before her transmigration. After all, she was confident that what she could achieve from scratch in her previous life, she could achieve again after transmigrating.
However… thinking of those fox-like eyes, once as clear as autumn water and peach blossoms, now hollow and silent, and that desolate figure kneeling woodenly in the hospital like a puppet.
She couldn’t quite describe the feeling in her heart. It was just dull and empty.
Like the feeling when you finally get a string of sugar-coated haws as a child, not wanting to eat it all at once, licking it bit by bit, but accidentally dropping it on the ground.
Ah, the past cannot be chased. Jiang Lingyu forcefully suppressed her guilty conscience and began to receive information about this world.
It turned out she had transmigrated to a matriarchal country, and the owner of this body was also called Jiang Lingyu, coincidentally the fourth daughter of the current Emperor. Her father was once the most beautiful tofu seller in the imperial city, of unparalleled beauty.
He was taken into the palace after the Emperor noticed his beauty.
However, compared to normal people, her father’s intelligence was naturally sufficient, but compared to the other men in the harem, he was truly a naive beauty.
Fortunately, this Lord Shen knew his place, staying quietly in the palace without fighting or competing, living peacefully for over a decade.
Two years ago, when the original owner was 12 years old, her father directly requested to go to the fief with his daughter.
Originally, being far from the Emperor’s reach, Lord Shen’s days should have been extremely comfortable. Who would have thought that the original owner would fall in love with the current Male Empress last year.
The son of a poor scholar.
Originally, they were from completely different social classes, but the original owner couldn’t help her feelings.
Who knew that this Huo Male Empress was a reincarnated troublemaker, and a luxury-loving one at that.
He needed specially prepared dew water to drink, had to soak in hot springs in winter, and not just any hot springs, but ones with views of snow scenery and sunsets. For this, the original owner even spent a large amount of manpower and resources to build one for him on a snowy mountain.
In summer, he needed a summer resort, and not just any ordinary one, but a grand and luxurious one.
Otherwise, it meant not loving him, not valuing him.
Most ridiculous of all, when this Huo Zhengfu threw a tantrum, he liked to argue with the original owner, threatening to run away from home, to go to a Taoist temple for self-cultivation.
Damn, just mentioning Taoist temples made Jiang Lingyu angry.
Going to a Taoist temple was one thing, but he actually spent money specifically to renovate temples and donate large amounts of incense money.
He even caused Taoist temples to spring up all over Jiang Lingyu’s fief in just a short year.
The cause of the original owner’s kneeling in penance this time was even more outrageous. Because the original owner had already married a primary husband, there were no other men in the back courtyard besides the primary husband.
The birth Emperor mother far away in the imperial city somehow suddenly had an attack of conscience, remembering that she had a daughter far away in a fief, so she specially sent some beautiful men to her daughter.
Let alone the fact that the original owner was a titled princess with real power and a fief, even for an ordinary noble family, sending men was a very common occurrence.
When the original owner learned of this and returned to the manor, before she even saw a single hair of the beautiful men, she received news that the Male Empress Huo had already disposed of them.
Good heavens, those were men sent by the Emperor. Even if he didn’t like them, he could have just neglected them. What did he mean by directly disposing of them?
Had he already openly disregarded imperial power to this extent?
Did he feel that life in this world was too comfortable and needed a harsh lesson from society, so he was rushing headlong towards reincarnation?
When the original owner heard that the Male Empress Huo had done this, she became anxious. She originally just wanted to talk to him, but before she could say anything, he turned the tables on her, placing all the blame squarely on the original owner’s shoulders.
He accused the original owner of climbing the social ladder, of being fickle in love. He thoroughly criticized the original owner, then packed his bags and went straight to the newly renovated luxurious Taoist temple to nurture his heart.
The original owner, being the ultimate devoted lover, not only didn’t punish the Male Empress Huo, but followed him to the Taoist temple. Unfortunately, after staying for several days, she didn’t even see Huo Zhengfu’s face.
The original owner became anxious, and was then instigated by Huo Zhengfu’s attendants that an apology should be sincere.
So she not only carried thorns on her back in penance, but also knelt without eating.
This went on for three days, but the Male Empress Huo was not moved in the slightest. Instead, the original owner nearly lost her life.
It was at this moment that Jiang Lingyu transmigrated over.
After Jiang Lingyu finished reviewing these memories in her mind, the barrage of comments in her heart was about to explode.
Damn, there are many devoted lovers in the world, but to actually lick oneself to death is truly the pinnacle of devoted lovers.
However, the most outrageous was not the original owner, but this Male Empress Huo.
In this world, as long as others kneel to their sugar daddy, where is there a case of making the sugar daddy both spend money and kneel down?
This having the cake and eating it too, there’s not a shred of professional ethics.
Relying on the original owner’s love, he could act in disregard of imperial power.
Enjoying the benefits given by the original owner, yet casually trampling on the original owner’s true feelings, not even coming out to see her once until she knelt to death.
Tch, men.
Jiang Lingyu convulsed and spasmed on the ground due to accepting the memories and physical exhaustion.
Huo Zhengfu’s attendant, Chang Ping, stood straight in front of her, without a hint of sympathy or reluctance in his eyes. Instead, he said impatiently:
“The Male Empress isn’t even here, who are you putting on this show for, Your Highness?”
After saying this, he even sneered dismissively and said haughtily:
“If Your Highness truly wants to apologize, how can you disturb the one you’re apologizing to? What if the Male Empress can’t sleep well and get his beauty rest because of this?”
“If you truly have sincerity, why don’t you kneel outside the courtyard? This way, when the Male Empress has slept well and sees Your Highness’s sincerity, perhaps he’ll be willing to see you?”
