Pei Yuanshao pressed his lips together, his brows tightly furrowed. After a long while, he said in a low voice:

“Forget it, take good care of his family, and by no means let anyone find out the truth!”

“Yes!”

The black-clothed, masked woman responded softly. She nimbly pulled out a blood-stained cloth strip from her bosom and presented it with both hands.

“Master, please examine this. This is the last message Hong Zhu sent before his death!”

Pei Yuan’s lips were pressed into a straight line. He took the cloth strip and, by the moonlight, saw the blood-stained writing on it was messy and chaotic.

Eight large characters were clearly written on it: “Jing Huan is undoubtedly female.”

Pei Yuanshao gripped the cloth strip tightly, his palm breaking out in a fine sweat.

Hong Zhu was the third assassin he had lost in the Marquis of Zhennan’s mansion.

Hah! Marquis of Zhennan, Jing Huan…

If he hadn’t heard him admit with his own ears before death that he was male, he would never have doubted his true identity. Now reborn, he had sent wave after wave of people into the Marquis of Zhennan’s mansion to investigate and search for evidence.

Laughable, even when he became a soul, he was still fooled by this person.

The dignified Commander of the Cavalry, the Marquis of Zhennan personally conferred by the late emperor, actually had a preference for women. That would be fine, but to kneel and beg a subject without success, and then deceive oneself as being male. Ridiculous! No wonder that person rejected him so thoroughly in his previous life. Saying he loved on the surface, but all actions were deception, what kind of liking is that called?

Red Lian, kneeling on the ground, had slightly trembling hands. Since taking the cloth strip, the master hadn’t spoken again.

Hong Zhu had grown up in a brothel since childhood and was skilled in seducing women. This time she personally went out and came back with the same information, so the rumor of the Marquis of Zhennan being male was once again shattered.

The night wind blew, dispersing the sweat on her body. Red Lian shivered.

Pei Yuanshao came back to his senses, his peach blossom eyes obscure and inscrutable. He spoke in a deep voice to the kneeling shadow guard: “Get up and report, was there anything unusual before Hong Zhu’s death?”

Red Lian straightened up, keeping her head lowered: “Nothing… except…”

She paused, hesitating for a moment before saying: “Three days ago, Hong Zhu sent a pigeon message to Feicui Tower. The Second Prince visited the Marquis of Zhennan’s mansion and caused a scene in the study. The Marquis of Zhennan personally told him that the person he admired was the number one beauty in the world. So Red Lian guesses that the Marquis of Zhennan must like Your Highness. Now that the Second Prince has received this news, he will surely make another move. Your Highness must be very careful here.”

The corners of Pei Yuanshao’s lips curved deeper, his gaze fixed on the reeds in the distance. He sneered: “Likes me? If so, it would be quite interesting. An elder sister liking her younger brother, how could the world tolerate such an incestuous imperial history?”

Pei Yuanshao’s smile grew wider and wider, but his eyes were as if poisoned. He clasped his hands behind his back and muttered to himself: “Poor Mother Empress, spending all her efforts before death to pave the way for her illegitimate child lost outside, willing to sacrifice me and my sister. If she knew that the heir she adored actually liked his own younger brother, wouldn’t that be interesting? It’s a pity that your Highness’s beauty is unparalleled, yet still can’t compare to another person. The number one beauty in the world is not only Long Emperor Pei Yuanshao.”

“Who is that person?” Red Lian knelt on the ground, a flash of surprise passing through her eyes as she asked softly.

But the black-clothed man under the moonlight did not explain to her. His peach blossom eyes showed little outward emotion.

He spoke softly to the moon, inscrutable: “I didn’t expect Jing Huan to meet that person so early! How pitiful that I went to such lengths, but found the wrong person. Hah!”

…

Liu Changning got up from bed before dawn the next day.

She had always had the good habit of going to bed early and rising early. Even in the present world, she had a standard timetable.

After washing up and getting dressed, her spirits were much better. After a night of meditation, though there wasn’t much visible change in her whole person, at least her spirits were much better, with keener hearing and eyesight.

Carrying a bamboo basket on her back and holding a sickle in her hand, she was about to head up the mountain. As she was about to leave, she glanced at the tightly closed door on the other side. The steady breathing of her convenient husband came through the poorly soundproofed wooden door.

Liu Changning’s eyes darkened slightly as she looked at the sky, thinking that this man truly went to bed late and rose late. It’s fortunate he married her as a husband. If it were any other woman, she would surely have divorced him.

However, though this person had many flaws and even went out to meet people secretly late at night, it had little to do with her.

Keeping him as a family housekeeper was suitable. Although it would still take some time to train him, it was like teaching an apprentice – there would eventually come a day when he could serve his master.

Thinking thus, Liu Changning quietly closed the courtyard gate, carrying her bamboo basket on her back.

In midsummer, there weren’t many villagers going up the mountain. The weather was hot, and with the autumn harvest approaching, the farmhands were endlessly busy, so few people went up the mountain at this time.

The occasional hunter who encountered Liu Changning would just nod and then dart deeper into the mountains.

The mountain was shady, with towering trees blocking out the sky. Even with the sun high, it didn’t feel hot.

When Liu Changning came down the mountain for training in her first life, she had traveled through many mountains and was familiar with the growth habits of medicinal herbs.

In fact, she had many prescriptions for improving cold constitution and eliminating impurities from the body, but this place was after all the mortal realm, unlike the celestial spirit realm, and many celestial herbs were not available.

In her second life as a white-collar worker in the previous life, she had personally prepared a formula. Although it couldn’t help with cultivation, it could strengthen the body and eliminate cold constitution.

This medicinal bath prescription required: Evodia rutaecarpa, mulberry leaves, Sophora flavescens, Dictamnus dasycarpus bark, Cynanchum paniculatum, lingzhi mushroom, Isodon rubescens, and pine branches.

With this prescription combined with daily morning and evening qi cultivation, in a year or half, it should be able to expel the toxins from the body.

Except for lingzhi, the rest of the herbs were common Chinese medicines, and Liu Changning didn’t have much trouble finding them.

Walking and stopping along the way, this body of the original owner couldn’t withstand the mountain trek, so Liu Changning’s search became much slower.

Fortunately, by noon, except for lingzhi, all the herbs that could be found on the mountain had basically been collected.

Liu Changning leaned against a large tree, took out the brown rice ball cooked by her cheap husband yesterday, and ate it in small bites with clear water.

With renewed strength, she tirelessly ventured deeper into the mountains.

Wild lingzhi mostly grows on the roots of broad-leaved trees and on rotten wood. Only the branches and leaves growing in deep forests are more lush, so one can only go deeper and try their luck.

Searching along the way, she didn’t find lingzhi, but found several other medicinal herbs. Liu Changning carefully protected the roots of the herbs with a small shovel and picked them intact.

The original owner was penniless, poor as a church mouse, and future livelihood was all a problem. At this time, she could only pick some medicinal herbs to take to the town to exchange for some silver to temporarily improve their diet.

The vegetation on the western mountain was lush, and the deeper Liu Changning went, the harder the path became. Her feet slipped, and she almost lost her balance. The corner of her eye glanced towards a large tree with shrubs growing nearby. Liu Changning’s sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a black shiny surface reflecting through the gaps in the shrubs. She approached and parted the shrubs. Good heavens, it was two large black lingzhi mushrooms.

Liu Changning curved her lips, her moist eyes carrying a hint of a smile. Carefully protecting the roots of the lingzhi, she picked the two large black lingzhi mushrooms and placed them in her basket, covering them with a layer of torn cloth at the back of the basket.

As the saying goes, don’t flaunt your wealth. She would inevitably encounter fellow villagers on the way down the mountain, and if someone saw it, it would inevitably lead to another entanglement.

Liu Changning wasn’t afraid of arguments, but she disliked trouble.

By the time she returned home, it was already the hour of the Goat. The rice ball eaten at noon had been substantial, so she wasn’t hungry now.

But her body was particularly sore and painful. After all, she had been struggling on the mountain for three or four hours, and her body could no longer bear it.

Liu Changning looked at the herbs in the bamboo basket, hesitated for a moment, then turned to the kitchen to boil water for a medicinal bath.

The original owner had some simple carpentry skills, and there were actually two wooden tubs for bathing in this house.

She found an iron pot to decoct the herbs, shed her clothes, and directly got into the wooden tub.

Sitting cross-legged, she closed her eyes and activated her qi-cultivation technique. The impurities in her body were visibly expelled as stains. After half an hour, she opened her eyes. By then, her body was reeking.

Liu Changning held her breath, put on her clothes, and poured the herbal water into the outhouse. She then brought hot water and immersed her whole body in the clear water again.

The person reflected in the clear water now looked somewhat better, her skin slightly improved. Though not obvious, it was much better than the first day she had transmigrated.

Liu Changning rested her chin on her hand. She hadn’t used a large dose of herbs, otherwise if the original owner’s skin suddenly became fair and delicate, it would arouse suspicion and be very troublesome. Moreover, there was still a cheap husband of unknown nature who came with the troublemaking attribute.

It’s never wrong to be cautious in everything.

Just as she was pondering this, the wooden door was suddenly kicked open.

Liu Changning looked up.

Her cheap husband came in aggressively, backlit, each strand of his black hair distinct.

His peach blossom eyes were blazing with anger, his crimson lips about to curse.

But as he looked down, his gaze fell on her naked body. His mouth slightly opened, the angry expression frozen on his face.

He was stunned for a moment, and a blush uncontrollably spread from his ears to the side of his neck.

Averting his eyes, he cursed unbearably: “Wanton, [expletive]!”

With that, he slammed the wooden door shut with a “pa” sound.

Old cadre Liu Changning: …

Who was the one seen naked? Come back and explain clearly?

***

Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation (Female-dominant)

One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.

Intro:

To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.

But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.

It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.

This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.

Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.

Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.

“Let’s divorce!”

***

Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.

Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?

But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.

Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.

Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.

In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.

Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”

Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.

He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”

***

Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.

But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.

“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”

Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?

Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?

[Reading Guide]

1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.

2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.

Link to read

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