Chapter 1.2
The Li family had been defending Wei county for generations and were thus a heroic clan in Wei county. Li De was the son of a concubine in the family, having a childhood of loneliness and hardship. Only at the age of twenty-five did he take Tang shi1, a merchant’s daughter, as his wife. At the age of twenty-eight, he joined the army and gradually rose to prominence, soon replacing his elder di2 brother as the head of the Li family, and was conferred the title of Wei county’s military ambassador.
Later, when war broke out and chaos grew in various places, Li De responded to the current situation by recruiting soldiers and horses in the name of defending his hometown. Leading his clan in an uprising, he gathered tens of thousands of people and won a few small battles.
Li De frequently led his troops away from home, while Tang shi stayed home to take care of their son Li Xuanzhen.
When Li Xuanzhen was two years old, a group of rebellious soldiers fled to Wei county. Taking advantage of the vacant guard, they entered the county and looted the city.
The family servant who stayed in Wei county sent out news: Mother and son of Tang clan were killed by the swords of the rebels.
Li De was so angry that he had mistakenly fallen into the other party’s trap in battle, losing his own soldiers and personal men. He himself was seriously wounded. Within a month, he had lost several cities.
Seeing that the Wei army was defeated like a collapsing mountain and the Li family’s years of foundation would soon go down the drain, the clansmen advised Li De to join forces with noble families to consolidate their power.
The Li family was a heroic clan, but could not be considered a noble family. They had never been accepted by the noble families.
After Li De recovered from his injuries, he took the advice of his strategist. He went to the Xie family, which was the strongest among the strong and rich noble families at that time, to ask for a marriage. Promising that if he could achieve great success in the future, he would enthrone the di daughter of the Xie family as Empress.
The Xie family had money, people, and prestige, but lacked generals who could lead the war. Promising to marry down their di daughter to Li De, the two families set a wedding date, reaching an agreement to share their wealth and riches.
Little did they know that Tang shi was still alive.
She, a weak woman, escaped through the chaos of the soldiers blockade with Li Xuanzhen, wandering desperately and enduring countless sufferings. She found Li De at last, just in time to witness with her own eyes the di daughter of the Xie family with her ten miles of rich dowry, grandly get married to her husband.
Tang shi made a big scene, however, the ceremony was already done. It was impossible for Li De to repent the marriage.
With the backing of the Xie family, Li De quickly grew in power and revived his war banner.
As he was invincible on the battlefield, his rear court3 was ablaze with war.
Xie shi was from a prestigious family and looked down on Tang shi whose ancestors made their fortune by selling timber. Tang shi hated Xie shi for snatching away her husband and cursed Xie shi all day long.
One was the di daughter of the Xie family, the other was the original wife. Li De’s two wives were both difficult to offend, putting him under momentary pressure.
Li De was in a dilemma, the people below were even more in a dilemma. Due to an unfortunate turn of events, both furen4 could be considered Li De’s legitimately married legal wives, so how to address them?
Finally, they could only vaguely call one Tang furen, the other Xie furen.
The two furen fought for several years. The eldest son Li Xuanzhen and Xie shi’s second son Li Zhongqian had grown up and their confrontations stretched to the position of shizi5.
The Xie family was extremely noble, experiencing the switching of dynasties and generations without declining. Li De’s success could not have been achieved without the full support of the Xie family. The elders of the Li family felt that Tang shi’s status was humble, while the second son Li Zhongqian’s mother was noble and should inherit the position of shizi.
Seeing that her son could not compete with Li Zhongqian, Tang shi, who had a fierce temperament, wore the wedding dress she had worn when marrying Li De as she died by self-immolation6.
At death’s door, she laughed heartily: “Husband, my lord, you have failed me in the end!”
Li De was in the army at that time. When the news of Tang shi‘s death was sent to his tent, he coughed up blood on the spot, fainting to the ground.
Within half a month, this generation’s hero who had ridden the battlefield for many years seemed to have aged more than ten years, his head full of black hair turning half white.
Only then did the world know how much love Li De had for his first wife Tang shi.
Li Xuanzhen became shizi.
Xie shi‘s soul turned to ashes.
The son did not kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of him7. Li Xuanzhen felt that Xie shi was the main culprit that forced Tang shi to die, hating to the bone Xie shi and the children she had borne.
Li Yaoying’s birth mother was none other than Xie shi, and second son Li Zhongqian was her full-blooded brother.
With one foot in the grave, Tang shi repeatedly urged her son to avenge her in the future.
In the novel, Li Xuanzhen kept the task his mother entrusted him in mind, borrowing other people’s hands to force Xie shi to death, setting a trap to kill Li Zhongqian, not even sparing the Xie family’s distant branches.
As for Xie shi‘s youngest daughter, the novel only mentioned her in passing. Not even having a name, she probably died at a very young age.
……
Li Yaoying was speechless.
Finding out that you were an unnamed novel character who died young, and that your eldest brother, who held military power in his hands, was always thinking of how to torture your mother and older brother and would surely kill you, what was there to be done?
Li Yaoying had tried to reconcile with Li Xuanzhen, but found that this path was not possible.
Li Xuanzhen’s hatred for the Xie family was simply impossible to resolve.
She could only strike first and gain the upper hand.
The result was that this path was even more impossible.
Li Xuanzhen was the male lead. Having impressive luck, bountiful opportunities, obviously frequently in dangerous circumstances yet, in the final juncture, could always reap benefits from the disaster, like he had heaven’s assistance.
Li Yaoying’s several attempts trying to dispose of him, not only did not hurt Li Xuanzhen in the slightest, yet had her ending up with a body full of cuts and bruises.
Sometimes, she would just silently calculate in her heart how to make things difficult for Li Xuanzhen, then would immediately have a splitting headache, feeling pain from head to toe.
Yaoying remembered the two unshakeable laws of the novel:
The male lead, even if stabbed full of holes with a knife, would just not die.
Whoever hurts the male lead would suffer heaven’s wrath. It was not that it wouldn’t happen, just that the time has not yet arrived.
Li Yaoying’s eyes looked up toward the sky.
Could it be that there was no choice but to be resigned to their fate? Waiting for Li Xuanzhen to take power and then brandish his knife to kill her and her second brother?
Li Yaoying could not accept that. While vigilantly watching out for Li Xuanzhen, she searched for another method to save her life.
Over the years, she carefully dealt with Li Xuanzhen’s tactics and saved the lives of her mother Xie shi and her second brother.
According to the novel, Li Zhongqian should have died a year ago and Xie shi should have committed suicide through poison shortly thereafter, but Li Yaoying temporarily changed their fate.
She knew she could not change the final outcome, but only allow mother and elder brother live a few more years.
So what?
One more day was one more day.
……
The street corner restaurants were crowded with people, the aroma of hubing8 coming out of the oven was getting increasingly thicker, and the clamorous sound of people came from a distance. The present world was peaceful.
Li Yaoying put away her thoughts, stepping onto the stone steps.
Her personal soldier went up and knocked on the courtyard door.
A cursing voice came from inside. A young man in his twenties, white and thin, pulled open the courtyard door, swept a glance at the strong soldiers standing respectfully behind Li Yaoying, and frowned: “What is the purpose of Your Highness’ visit?”
Li Yaoying smiled brightly: “It’s still cold in spring, I heard that Gentleman Du has a cough these days, so I came to take a look.”
The young man in front of her was named Du Sinan, who was supposed to be Li Xuanzhen’s right hand man. The malicious calculation to frame her second brother Li Zhongqian was precisely his idea.
Li Yaoying found this depressed scholar two years ago and prevented him from becoming Li Xuanzhen’s strategist, allowing Li Zhongqian to live one year longer than in the novel.
Du Sinan had a cold expression, his gaze falling on the smile floating on Li Yaoying’s face. A breath of air was caught in his throat, sneering repeatedly.
”This lowly body, is not worthy of Your Highness’ attention.”
Li Yaoying did not care about the unconcealed sarcasm in Du Sinan’s tone. Standing in front of the steps, she glanced at the corner of the alley with a smile.
A sneaky figure stood there watching for a moment, then turned and disappeared into the morning glow.
It was Li Xuanzhen’s person.
Li Yaoying’s lips curled slightly.
She couldn’t kill Li Xuanzhen’s capable strategists, but she could still add some chaos to them.
A/N
The main character transmigrated over as a baby. There was never this person in the novel. Thank you for reading~
1Shi: clan. When added behind a person’s name, it means of the ___ clan. Usually used on married women to distinguish their maternal family. ⤻
2Di: legitimate. With ancient Chinese people having countless concubines, only the di wife’s children would be legitimate. ⤻
3 Rear court: place where the females stayed (wives, concubines, sisters, mother etc). Also known as backyard, rear yard etc. ⤻
4 Furen: madam (specifically whose husband holds an official position). This appellation can only be used on the legitimate wife. ⤻
5Shizi: title for the heir of a noble family. (Noble family usually refers to families that are bestowed titles, for example: marquis, duke or families that have remained prospering for many generations). In this novel’s case, just any distinguished family could have a recognized shizi. (Recognized meaning that it had to go through the emperor, so a huge deal). I could have used heir except it really is a title and I thought ‘Heir Li’ looked extremely off. ⤻
6 Self-immolation: death by setting oneself on fire. Sounded wordy so I explained it here. ⤻
7 This is an allusion to the famous phrase ‘I didn’t kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me.’ from the Book of Jin. Without going into all the history, someone inadvertently caused Bo Ren’s death so in this case, Li Xuanzhen felt that them fighting over who would be shizi resulted in his mother’s death. ⤻
8 A common food, looks like this. ⤻
previous | toc | next
Buy me a kofi for faster releases.