Unparalleled Beauty

Chapter C051

For many days, the Marquis Changyang's mansion was shrouded in a deathly stillness.

The servants moved with utmost caution, trembling with fear, lest they displease the Marquis's Madam.

Throughout the entire mansion, only the atmosphere in Ruyi Pavilion was somewhat better. Jianjia, carrying a tray, sighed faintly. Who could have imagined that in just a few months, the situation in the mansion would change so drastically? The Third Miss, once looked down upon, was now the most favored person in the mansion, with everyone fawning and flattering her. Conversely, the Eldest Miss, who had once been the object of everyone's flattery, had now fallen to such a state.

The Old Madam had fallen ill again, this time more severely than before. The last time it was merely a case of internal heat, but this time it was a wind ailment. In those two days, the Old Madam had several fits of temper. Then, upon hearing from Cao shi that the Sun family would only take Mei Wuxia as a concubine, she flew into a rage and scolded Cao shi again. By the afternoon, her mouth was crooked.

Not only was her mouth crooked, but her hand was also numb.

The Old Madam was not unfamiliar with wind ailments. The Old Marquis had passed away from such a condition. However, her wind ailment was discovered in time and was not yet severe. Currently, it only manifested as a crooked mouth and a numb hand. However, she could no longer afford to get angry. If she continued to lose her temper and rage without restraint, she risked paralysis, or even death in severe cases.

These were the physician's exact words.

The last time the Old Madam was ill, Mei Wuxia had attended to her. This time, Mei Wuxia was in dire straits herself, leaving only her daughter-in-law, Cao shi, to personally take on the task. However, after only a few days of this, Cao shi ran off, using the excuse of managing the household affairs and dealing with her daughter's matters.

In reality, there was nothing for her to deal with. Now, everyone in the mansion knew that the Eldest Miss would either marry into the Sun family as a concubine or become a nun.

Of course, there was one last path, which was death, but if she wanted to die, she would have done so long ago, and would not have dragged it out until now.

These past few days, Mei Chang and Mei E had come to Ruyi Pavilion, also looking worried. It was not that they were concerned about Mei Wuxia, but rather that, given the current situation, the reputation of the Mei family's daughters had been tarnished. Others would think, if such a thing could happen to a legitimate daughter, what about them, the concubine-born daughters? Surely, they were equally unchaste.

The only one seemingly unaffected was Wushuang.

That afternoon, just after lunch, it began to rain. Wushuang woke up from a nap, still feeling languid, when suddenly, Chan'er reported that the Eldest Miss had arrived.

The Eldest Miss?

Jianjia went to the door and saw Mei Wuxia, wearing only a worn-out shirt, without any maids, standing under the eaves, soaked to the bone.

Her gaze was complex as she said softly, "Eldest Miss, please come this way."

Wushuang had not expected Mei Wuxia to become like this. She was even thinner than before, reduced to skin and bones. Especially now, with her whole body drenched in rain, and yet she had come to her. Wushuang even suspected that Mei Wuxia might have some other conspiracy waiting for her.

"Go and get a towel for the Eldest Miss to dry herself," Wushuang said, frowning.

Jianjia fetched a towel and handed it to Mei Wuxia. She accepted it, but did not use it. Instead, she looked at Wushuang and said, "I have something to say to you."

"If you have something to say, then say it," Wushuang said, lowering her eyes as she drank her tea, not wanting to look at her at all.

Mei Wuxia looked at the three maids beside her, then at Wushuang's attitude, and suddenly gave a desolate laugh. "You don't need to worry about me doing anything to you." She did not even mention wanting the maids to leave.

"I am like this now, what can I do to you?"

Wushuang put down her teacup, not being polite, "Once bitten by a snake, one is afraid of well ropes for ten years."

"You know that the last time, I was the one who schemed against you?"

"You are also suffering the consequences now," Wushuang said, raising her eyes to look at her.

"Consequences?" Mei Wuxia laughed again, it was unclear whether it was a laugh or a cry, "Consequences, indeed, it is consequences. Mei Wushuang, do you know that sometimes I am very envious of you, jealous of you?"

"I only just found out, I didn't know before."

Wushuang spoke the truth. At that time, she did not think that she had anything that Mei Wuxia would envy or be jealous of. It was only after being reborn that she understood.

"To covet and desire what is not rightfully yours, even to the point of harming others, although the Buddhist teachings say that there are eight great sufferings in life: birth, old age, sickness, death, encountering those you hate, being separated from those you love, and not getting what you desire... some are unavoidable, while others are self-inflicted."

"You have changed a lot."

"People learn from their mistakes, from being deceived, from suffering hardships, and naturally, they change." Wushuang exhaled a long breath, saying, "You needn't speak such nonsense. What do you seek me for?"

Mei Wuxia, however, ignored her, continuing, "If I had known that using Commandery Princess Minghui to harm you would ultimately harm myself, perhaps I wouldn't have..."

No, she still would have done it.

Mei Wuxia knew her own character too well. As long as she could gain more, she would always attempt to take the risk. It was just that, if given another chance, perhaps she would have been more cautious in her dealings with Commandery Princess Minghui. She had overestimated herself and underestimated others; this was the consequence of her disdain.

This was not the only time she had overestimated herself. At the Qixi Festival banquet, her brilliance had gone to her head. So, when a maid came to report that a certain young master admired her literary talent and wished to invite her out to appreciate the moon and compose poetry, adding that to avoid suspicion, she could bring several other noble young ladies, and he would invite a few people on his side as well.

That young master's family was quite respectable, and he was handsome and dashing. Naturally, she wanted to go. However, she had few truly close noble young ladies. There had been some superficial friendships before, but after she had ignored their letters, they had all grown distant. Even Chen Yueyi, she had developed a rift with, and naturally, she did not want these people to steal her spotlight.

Later, after some thought, she had only invited Commandery Princess Minghui, thinking that since she was already betrothed, bringing her along would serve as a deterrent.

But she never expected that this was a trap set against her.

There was no such thing as a certain young master. It was merely a ruse to lure her out of the gate. As for what happened after she went out—in truth, it wasn't even a trap, because after she went out, she was knocked unconscious. When she woke up again, she found Sun Shixian lying on top of her, seemingly disoriented, having been drugged with aphrodisiacs, and by then, what was meant to happen had already happened.

Mei Wuxia seemed to be in a state of delirium, recounting the entire process in great detail and clarity.

The several maids nearby were all pale with shock, not to mention Wushuang. Even Wushuang had not expected Commandery Princess Minghui to use such crude methods.

But although the methods were crude, they were effective, weren't they? They had indeed ruined Mei Wuxia, causing her to fall into such a predicament.

"...I now understand a principle: when you are powerful enough, schemes and tricks are merely embellishments. With enough strength, you can overcome all obstacles…"

Commandery Princess Minghui was not particularly intelligent, but she had power and influence. Even within the Princess's villa, she could set up a trap, and so far, there had been no news of it outside. It seemed that all the blame had been placed on Mei Wuxia, who was at the lowest end of the hierarchy.

Wushuang frowned, saying, "Why are you telling me all this? I don't want to hear it."

"I want you to help me!" Mei Wuxia looked directly at her.

This made Wushuang laugh.

Yes, she was indeed not ruthless enough to kick someone when they were down, but what confidence did Mei Wuxia have that she would help her? In two lifetimes combined, how many times had she harmed her? Could she even count them? And now she wanted her help?! In her dreams!

"I think you're overthinking it. I don't have that ability, nor that skill."

"You do!"

Mei Wuxia suddenly stood up. Because she seemed a bit deranged today, Jianjia and Meifang were on guard, and they quickly stepped forward.

"Even if you don't, Prince Wei does!"

This time, Wushuang laughed outright, unable to stop herself.

"Mei Wuxia, what on earth are you thinking? What makes you think that after you treated me so badly before, I would now disregard past grievances and help you, even to the point of getting Prince Wei involved? When you incited Old Madam to use Master Qin to be harsh with me and deal with me, you probably didn't expect you'd have this day, did you?"

In fact, this was not difficult to guess. Wushuang had long noticed that every time Old Madam was harsh with her, Mei Wuxia was always nearby, and every time, she would come out to play the good person.

Once or twice was fine, but every single time it was like this. Every time Mei Wuxia played the good person, she never thought of truly helping her solve the problem, such as getting Master Qin to leave. Instead, she would always advise her to endure.

In the past, Jianjia and Bailu had also advised her to endure. Not only did they advise her to endure, but she also had the ointment Old Madam had specially prepared for her, so that she would not be left with scars after being beaten.

Such meticulous preparation, it was truly difficult for them. This was naturally not something the Old Madam, with her crude methods and violent temper, could have thought of. The fact that she had thought of it meant that someone had given her the idea.

It was not difficult to guess who that person was.

Perhaps it was because in this life, she had broken free, and Wushuang was no longer afraid of Old Madam, no longer afraid of Master Qin, that she could see things so clearly.

It was precisely because she saw through everything that she harbored such hatred. What deep-seated grudge could possibly justify their meticulous schemes against a mere orphaned girl of a few years old?

She was timid and weak, self-deprecating and taciturn. Even if she understood some things in her past life, she still couldn't muster the courage to resist, only allowing others to exploit her for all her worth. The only thing she did that was slightly out of line was seizing Ji Yang. She saw that someone wanted to use her to deal with Mei Wuxia. She didn't know who it was, but she seized the opportunity.

In truth, occasionally when recalling her past life, Wushuang felt she was quite twisted. On one hand, she despised herself for her shameless and immoral affair with her nominal brother-in-law, and on the other, out of fear and a dark desire to survive, she diligently tried to please Ji Yang, making him cherish, like, and dote on her.

The better Ji Yang treated her, the more it was like a slap after slap to Mei Wuxia, who was then the Empress. Later, when she saw Mei Wuxia actually come to beg her, wanting to win her over and have her bear a crown prince, no one knew Wushuang's feelings at that moment.

Having lived a second life, she had mustered her courage and strived to change her fate. She faced everything, past and present, and cast off the invisible shackles of the past and present.

She lived with increasing clarity and freedom. Wushuang no longer harbored so much hatred. She knew that hatred was the tool of the powerless and the burden of the victor. Only when things actively sought her out would she briefly feel a flicker of hatred, like at this moment.

Yet, even so, on what basis did Mei Wuxia think she would help her?

Because she was her nominal elder cousin? Because she also bore the surname Mei? Because she might fear her reputation being implicated?

No one knew that Wushuang, who had lived a second life, didn't actually care so much about her reputation. Otherwise, on the night of Mei Wuxia's incident, she wouldn't have avoided it like the plague, but would have been as anxious about her own reputation as Mei Chang and Mei E.

***

"I don't think you will help me, but what if I am useful to you?" Mei Wuxia's voice was very soft, and her gaze at Wushuang was strange.

"What do you mean?" Wushuang frowned.

Mei Wuxia's voice had no emotional fluctuations as she said, "Sun Shixian is backed by the Marquis Wuxiang's mansion, and the Marquis Wuxiang's mansion is backed by Prince Qin and Noble Consort Sun. If Prince Wei has designs on the throne, Prince Qin's faction is undoubtedly his opponent. What if I said that if you helped me, I would be willing to act as an internal spy for Prince Wei, gathering as much useful information for him as possible?"

This time, Wushuang was truly shocked, not only by what Mei Wuxia had said, but also by her scheming mind.

She subconsciously glanced at the several maids in the room—Meifang, Linglong, and Jianjia.

Apart from Jianjia, the other two could be trusted. While she subtly signaled Linglong to check if anyone was eavesdropping outside, she had already made a decision in her heart that she would keep a close watch on Jianjia in the future, and even when her time came, she would not let her leave.

At the same time, she was also thinking that in her previous life, after she broke off the engagement and married another, the Mei family was actually able to persuade Prince Wei to change his choice and marry someone else. Besides the reasons related to the situation, was it also because Prince Wei had taken a liking to Mei Wuxia's intellect?

Anyway, marrying anyone was the same. Prince Wei could not marry Commandery Princess Minghui, but Commandery Princess Minghui wanted to marry Prince Wei so much, and with the Empress Dowager behind her, it had clearly put some pressure on Prince Wei. And marrying a princess consort with a keen mind and a relatively simple background was much more useful than marrying just anyone.

It must be said that only at this moment did Wushuang truly understand most of the truth behind this matter from her previous life. At that time, when she broke off the engagement and married another, it seemed that only Duke Zhao's mansion and Marquis Changyang's mansion lost face, but in reality, there was another person who lost face, and that was Prince Wei.

Prince Wei might have thought that he hadn't lost face, at most he might have felt it was beyond his expectations, but don't forget there was also Emperor Taihe. After Prince Wei returned to the capital, he entered the palace to inform Emperor Taihe of his intention to have him bestow a marriage. Emperor Taihe was still hesitating about the Empress Dowager's intentions when news came out that the Mei family and the Zhao family were going to form a marriage alliance.

As the Emperor, he could feel that you were not worthy of his son, but he would not allow you to abandon his son and marry another, so Emperor Taihe was quite annoyed.

This imperial wrath was directed at Marquis Changyang's mansion, but Marquis Changyang's mansion was already in such a state, and even if His Majesty was angry, they wouldn't know. It must be said that having a low status also had its advantages. The other side of the anger was directed at Prince Wei, and Emperor Taihe was eager to bestow a marriage upon Prince Wei.

It would be better if it could be Commandery Princess Minghui, but if not, then just someone who was better than Mei Wushuang would do.

At this juncture in the past life, Mei Wuxia approached Prince Wei.