Reborn to be a Stepmother

Seeing the cold reaction, the man was a little annoyed and said: “Ben gongzi* had been outside in the wind and rain, but that’s okay with you as long as the beauty is happy. Don’t you feel bad?”

“No, didn’t you just say that benwang will not mind?”

Wei XinHan got irritated and rolled his eyes before saying, “Yes, but the wangfei you married this time is much more interesting than the last one.”

Having come from the outside, he had always felt like there’s a difference between his friend from before and now. After seeing the wangfei, he finally understood.

But he didn’t mention it, so as to not make his friend be on guard.

“She has a child’s temperament.”

Jiu Wangye* shook his head indifferently.

Wei XinHan couldn’t hold back and asked cautiously: “I say, didn’t you notice that when you talk about your wangfei, you have a different tone?”

Shua!

Jiu Wangye returned to his usual indifference, and Wei XinHan secretly thought that it’s a pity.

“How’s the investigation this time?”

When speaking of business affairs, Wei XinHan looked solemn as he frowned: “There are indeed changes on the Jiangnan side. The King of Jiangnan has frequent activities in private, but no evidence has been found yet.”

Jiu Wangye nodded and talked about the affairs of the palace, “Huang xiong* found that map in the palace.”

“What map?” Wei XinHan asked, puzzled.

However, before Jiu Wangye could speak, he suddenly jumped three feet from the ground, then excitedly asked, “Is it the map where the Great Seal of State of the Celestial Empire was buried?”

Jiu Wangye silently smiled.

Wei XinHan smiled, “My God, this world has been calm for only 20 years. I thought there’s going to be another war, but it’s okay now. If our Empire gets the Great Seal first, we could have peace that day. It’s also great to be able to accept tribute from all the other nations for twenty years.”

Three hundred years ago, the Celestial Empire unified the divided nations, but the good times didn’t last long. After the death of the Emperor, civil strife continued. Finally, two hundred years ago, the ancestors were afraid that the people would lose their lives due to civil strife again and left an Imperial Decree.

For every country that held the Great Seal of the Celestial Empire, the other four great kingdoms and ten provinces must respect it as the mother country, and pay tribute for twenty years.

Why 20 years? Considering that there’d be no progress if there’s too much peace, they made such an oath.

Now that another 20 years was approaching, they didn’t expect it to be the turn of the Imperial Chu family.

This was the first time they had hope in obtaining the Great Seal since two hundred years ago.

“Why is the map in the palace? Didn’t they say that Yu Fei, the greatest thief in the world, stole it?”

Jiu Wangye silently smiled, “A few children were playing around and mentioned Jade Water Pavilion (bishuixuan). You also know what happened to Chen guiren* back then, so huang xiong angrily made the people dig the ground. Who would have thought that this map would be dug out?”

“Damn. Ben gongzi really want to know who’s the child that was so blessed?” Wei XinHan asked curiously.

“Si huangzi* and Zhao Hua.”

“S-Si huangzi, well, he’s quite unlucky.”

The two didn’t mention Si Huangzi again. Wei XinHan then asked: “Then, do you need me to stay?”

Jiu Wangye shook his head, “Huang xiong is thinking of a way to crack the map. It’s useless if you stay, so just keep your eyes on Jiangnan!”

Wei XinHan reluctantly agreed before disappearing.

On the other side, Xiao Ting asked Zhao Hua to continue inquiring about the map. Then Zhao Hua returned to the Palace.

After a busy day, Xiao Ting lay in the tub and took a comfortable bath. After dinner, she coaxed Xiao Shi and then called over Hong Shao and Lu You. Both of them had a bit of swelling on their faces after being beaten by those two matrons.

Xiao Ting’s anger came up again. She looked at them angrily, then said, “If you won’t fight back when someone beats you, you’ll just kneel there and wait for someone to beat you? Are you two stupid? Ah?”

“I’m so mad at you two idiots.”

The two looked at Xiao Ting dumbfoundedly before suddenly bursting into tears.

“Hey hey hey, don’t cry. Can’t I even scold you?” Xiao Ting thought it was fun to watch children cry but watching these two big girls cry made her scared.

“Wangfei, I’m sorry, nubi* didn’t protect that jar, and si guniang* broke it…”

Speaking of this, Lu You became even sadder.

“It’s fine, but where is that jar?” Xiao Ting quickly asked, and then heard that Lu You had wrapped up the broken jar.

“Nubi will bring it.”

Xiao Ting let out a sigh of relief when Lu You went out.

Not long after, Lu You came in carrying a dark object. Xiao Ting asked her to put it aside, then exclaimed: “You two are not allowed to cry later, you heard me? No matter where and who is bullying you, just bully them back. Of course, you have to learn to look at my face. If ben guniang* could afford to offend them, then you can directly bully them back. If ben guniang can’t afford it, then…”

The two maids eagerly stared, waiting for her instructions.

“If ben guniang can’t afford to offend them, then we’ll secretly bully them back. In short, we can’t suffer.”

Xiao Ting summarized then motioned them to go rest.

As the sky darkened, the room was lit by candlelight. Xiao Ting opened the black cloth that Lu You had brought to reveal the jar that had been broken into pieces inside.

She drew a few figures on the jar, and a faint mist appeared in the air.

It then condensed and formed, showing the soul of the original owner, Xiao Ting.

*Beng gongzi: this + son of an official; son of nobility; your son (honorific) = this young master

*Jiu Wangye: Ninth Prince/King

*huáng xiōng, 皇兄: Emperor elder brother

*贵人, guì rén: nobility; person of high rank

*Si Huangzi: Fourth Prince

*nubi: slave servant

*Si guniang: fourth + girl; young woman; young lady; daughter; paternal aunt (old)

*Ben guniang: this + girl; young woman; young lady; daughter; paternal aunt (old)

Okay, so Wangye is used to mention the Ninth Prince. Though calling him Prince is fine, a more accurate one should be Ninth King or Ninth Duke? On the other hand, the Fourth Prince is the real prince. Though I both call them ‘Prince’, you should have realized from the context that they’re of a different generation. See, this is why I’m doing the pinyin stuff from now on. It might take some getting used to, but I’ll try my best.

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