CH 106

“Niangniang, a greatly joyous occasion, the Emperor has canonised the Oldest Prince as the Crown Prince!”

“Niangniang, something bad has happened, the Emperor has collapsed!”

“Paying respects to Emperor Dowager niangniang!”

“…….”

Before Mu Qing Ci died from a serious illness, she was constantly having preposterous, realistic, and bizarre dreams.

In the dream, she was still her transmigrated self, except her dream self had a much better life, by several folds in fact.

In the dream, she and Ruan san niang never intersected, and she did not become friends with Ruan san niang either.

In that dream, Ruan san niang was still as high-profile and ostentatious as ever; she had abandoned Marquis Huaiyang Residence’s Qi er gongzi a long time ago, and her illegitimate younger sister Ruan si xiaojie had replaced her in upholding the marriage contract and she married Qi er gongzi.

Ruan san niang’s finale was extremely tragic, for Emperor Shengde had passed down an edict for her to accompany him in burial.

Mu Qing Ci felt that it was absolutely inconceivable.

Why was she having such outlandishly strange dreams?

Ruan san niang was currently living very well; she was the Taifei that was above and far removed from the masses, and apart from having to be a grass widow that was confined within the palace, she enjoyed all the riches and luxury available in the mortal world.

Ruan Xi and Wen Ting Zhou went on a scenic tour after the latter had resigned from his government post, living out her days happily and freely, and she was a cause of endless envy and jealousy.

Qi daren and Qi furen were harmonious and beautiful as well, incomparably loving.

In that dream, the Empress Li Xiang Xiang had no offspring for her entire life, and she died early because of depression, but the Empress clearly gave birth to an intelligent son and daughter.

What was more ridiculous was the fact that in her dreams, Minister Wen had actually remained unmarried his whole life, spending his last years alone.

The only constant was Ruan si xiaojie.

Whether it was her dream or reality, she gained a husband that favoured and loved her with his whole heart and mind.

Truly, she was a person with a good fate.

Whilst she had been pregnant three times and did not manage to keep a single one, in her dreams, she had been pregnant thrice too, and gave birth to three little imperial sons. Her splendour and favour were limitless, though she was frequently envious of Ruan Xi.

Mu Qing Ci laughed self-deprecatingly.

“It looks like whether it is in dreams or reality, I still envy Wen furen all the same.”

“Dreams at night are formed by thoughts during the day. For being able to transmigrate once, I shouldn’t be having any regrets, but why do I feel unreconciled?”

“If I never met Ruan san niang, how nice would that be!”

Mu Qing Ci harboured that regret as she closed her eyes forever.

……

Mu Qing Ci thought that she had already died, but who could have thought that when she opened her eyes again, she would find that she had returned to the time where she had just transmigrated over.

Upon seeing the young and tender Mei Hua, Mu Qing Ci was bewildered and tittering.

She… Was she reborn?

After taking a few days, Mu Qing Ci finally accepted the reality that she had been reborn.

“Mei Hua, did any important events happen to the Earl Chengyi Residence recently?”

Mu Qing Ci asked probingly.

When Mei Hua heard her Young Lady ask about the matters concerning Earl Chengyi Residence, her spirit immediately roused, and she spoke about the news she had heard.

“Young Lady, yõu don’t know, but this piece of news has spread out to all ends, Earl Chengyi Residence’s Ruan si xiaojie has been engaged to Wen gongzi.”

Mu Qing Ci issued an inaudible sigh of relief when she heard that.

It looks like she had really returned to the past. This time, she decided to stay far away from Ruan san niang.

After making that decision, Mu Qing Ci recalled that her first meeting with Ruan san niang was at the flower banquet that Duke An’s legitimate daughter had hosted in Wen lao-furen’s Junzhu Residence.

This time, Mu Qing Ci purposefully exposed herself to the night’s cold winds for two days before the flower banquet started, and she did not attend the flower banquet because she fell ill.

For the following banquets that she was required to attend, Mu Qing Ci used all sorts of ways to avoid it.

Mu furen was glad to see it happen, since she did not have to bring along Mu Qing Ci, this concubine-born daughter of hers.

Just when Mu Qing Ci presumed that she could avoid Ruan san niang, Mei Hua suddenly gave her a report while wearing a strange expression:

“Young Lady, Ruan san xiaojie has arrived, she said that she wanted to become acquainted with Young Lady and be friends with Young Lady.”

Mu Qing Ci was stunned.

It was evident that she had broken off all the possible chances for her to become acquainted with Ruan san niang, and yet Ruan san niang personally came up to her door.

Mu Qing Ci frowned slightly.

Something was wrong, something was really wrong.

“Mei Hua, go and tell Ruan san xiaojie that I want to copy Buddhist scriptures and it is not convenient to meet guests. As for making friends, I have never met her once, nor do I understand her as a person, so how could I be friends with her? Mei Hua, help me reject her in a modest manner.”

Mei Hua nodded and went out with her orders. Not long after, she returned, though her complexion left much to be desired.

“Young Lady, this Ruan san xiaojie’s behaviour is way too strange. Nubi tried to reject her for yõu, and yet she refuses to give up. She clearly isn’t familiar with Young Lady, but why is she adamant about being friends with Young Lady, could there be some kind of conspiracy?”

Mei Hua became more worried the more she thought about it.

“Indeed, it is strange.”

Mu Qing Ci furrowed her brows. Ruan san niang’s behaviour was undeniably queer. In the last lifetime, she and Ruan san niang became acquainted at the flower banquet, and they had become friends because they had gotten along extremely well, so Mu Qing Ci did not realise that there was anything wrong.

But right now? She did not have any intersections with Ruan san niang, and yet she came up to her door to find her.

What was she conspiring for exactly?

The preposterous and realistic dream that Mu Qing Ci constantly had during her deathbed came unbidden to her mind. An epiphany flashed past her mind.

A bold conjecture emerged in Mu Qing Ci’s heart.

Supposing…. Supposing that the dream’s Ruan san niang was this Ruan san niang reborn, then everything would make sense.

Her dream self had become the most respected and noble Empress Dowager in the end.

Mu Qing Ci carefully scrutinised Ruan san niang’s behaviour and actions in the past lifetime, examining her attitude towards her then, remembering how she had tried to play the matchmaker between her and the Fourth Prince, recalling the attention she gave to the Fourth Prince….

The more she meticulously dissected it, the more certain she was of her conjecture.

The Ruan san niang of her previous lifetime had been transmigrated then reborn.

Mu Qing Ci laughed bitterly. She had been too naive in her previous lifetime; she had failed to notice these suspicious points earlier.

And now she had returned, reborn.

Since she had been avoiding all her intersections with the Fourth Prince, she probably won’t be entering the Fourth Prince’s back courtyard.

This was good too. Whether it was the blissful and happy dream self who had sons and grandsons filling the halls, or her solitary past self who had a life of brocade garments and jade meals, let everything leave with the passing winds.

With the Mu Family’s current power and influence, the possibility of her marrying into a meritorious and/or noble family as a legitimate wife was exceedingly high.

Mu Qing held onto this aspiration as she waited.

As for Ruan san niang, she finally gave up after bumping into the wall countless times, and recently, she heard that she had been constantly creating chances to encounter the Fourth Prince.

Mu Qing Ci smiled faintly.

As expected, her conjecture was correct.

No matter how much her fellow transmigrator squandered and played crazy, it had nothing to do with her, she and the Fourth Prince should not be having any intersections in this lifetime.

But who knew that the affairs of this world were hard to predict, Mu Qing Ci was unaware that she was the female protagonist of the original novel; she was fated to be the male protagonist’s woman.

When she entered the imperial palace during the New Year to meet Mu taifei, Mu Qing Ci entered Mu taifei’s eyes, and she was bestowed to the Fourth Prince by Emperor Shengde in the end.

Mu Qing Ci wanted to cry but had no tears.

After all the twists and turns, she still became the Fourth Prince’s woman in the end, and the only difference was that she did not have any intersections with Ruan san niang.

Ruan san niang did not manage to claim a higher social status through the Fourth Prince and entered the imperial palace just like the previous lifetime. Likewise, she bestowed palace maids to the Fourth Prince when she became pregnant.

This time around, Mu Qing Ci had her guard up and she managed to give birth to the Fourth Prince’s illegitimate eldest son without a hitch.

Mu Qing wept with joy as she hugged this child.

Ruan si xiaojie still enjoyed Wen Ting Zhou’s pampering like in the previous lifetime, but her own fate differed from her past life, and it was gradually drawing closer to her dream self…

What happened afterwards certainly proved that to be the case.

Apart from the variable that was Ruan san xiaojie.

Mu Qing had a vague feeling that this was supposed to be her original fate.

……

The author has something to say: Thanking everyone for the flowers. This is the extra for the original female protagonist’s Mu Qing Ci, to give her a beautiful ending.