The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort

Chapter 2: New Year's Eve

There were three houses with green tiles and red walls. The spacious farmyard was covered with a thick layer of snow. The big black dog that looked after the house walked to the door and lazily ate a bone from a broken bowl. It seemed to be frozen by the cold air and shrank back into its nest.

It was New Year's Eve. The door was pasted with colorful New Year's pictures of the bountiful harvest. Three fat red lanterns hung from the eaves. The sound of firecrackers could be heard from outside. The people in the house were talking and laughing. It was the time for the New Year's Eve dinner. Although it was a farmhouse meal, the eight main dishes were made with care. There were meat and vegetables. There were spicy steamed bass with black beans, braised pork with soy sauce, smoked chicken with tea, colorful shredded eggplant, lamb and onion dumplings, prawns of happiness, four happiness meatballs, and a hall full of gold and jade. At the side, there was a pot of extremely mellow sorghum wine. It was obvious that the owner's family was well-off.

It was very lively here. At the same time, the innermost and most remote courtyard of the farmhouse was deserted. In the only room, the candlelight in the room was dim, as if it was going to be extinguished soon.

A tall young lady with a maid's bun sat in front of the room, carefully adding firewood to the brazier. The room was small. When the brazier was lit, a pungent smoke was immediately emitted.

Another petite servant girl hurriedly ran over and casually picked up a worn-out cattail leaf fan on the ground and carefully fanned herself. She scolded, "Lian Qiao, be careful. Miss has not fully recovered yet, what if she chokes?"

Lian Qiao curled her lips. Her expression was indignant, but she still lowered her voice and said, "I hope there's no smoke at all. Today, when I went to look for Zhang Lan's family, I didn't say silver wire charcoal, just ordinary charcoal. She said that she had been using a lot these days and there was no more charcoal in the warehouse. Bah! Who is she lying to? It's the New Year's Eve. How can there be no charcoal in the house? She's just bullying us. If it wasn't for the fact that Miss is still sick and I don't dare to make her worry, I would have given her two slaps! "

"You ..." The servant girl fanning herself sighed, "You should restrain your stubbornness. Even though this family has gone too far, we have no choice but to lower our heads under the eaves. If you really start a dispute, the one who will suffer is still the young lady."

Lian Qiao looked at her with disdain. "Baizhi, I really didn't know you were actually this timid. What is the status of this family? What is the status of our Young Lady? No matter what happened to Young Lady, with Young Lady's status, we can't let these lowly people bully you! "

Bai Zhi shook her head. "You and I are both Miss's maidservants. Do you think I don't want Miss to be happy? It's just that there's been no news from the capital. I don't know how long Miss is going to stay here. It's fine if it's just a short period of time, but it's already the fourth year now. Has the Master sent anyone to inquire about it? If you want to stay here for a long time, you will quarrel with them, and the one who will suffer in the end is the young lady. "

Lian Qiao didn't make a sound. After a while, she said in a low voice, "Don't tell me we're just going to let others bully us for nothing?"

Baizhi could only sigh softly.

The room fell into silence again. Only the crackling of the firewood could be heard. The two maidservants were still fanning themselves. No one noticed that the person on the bed had already woken up.

It had been a while since Jiang Lisa had woken up. Naturally, she had heard every single word of Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao's conversation. Three days ago, when she had woken up from her bed, she had discovered that she had actually returned to ten years ago. Everything that had happened in her past life was like an afternoon wet dream. Only she herself knew that a blood feud was not something that could dissipate in a dream. Since the heavens had given her a chance to start over, she would not hesitate to accept it and make good use of it.

When she woke up three days ago, Baizhi and Lian Qiao heaved a huge sigh of relief. Ever since she fell into the water, Jiang Lisa had been in a coma for more than ten days. The doctors had all said that there was nothing they could do to save her. Zhang Lan's family even went out to inquire about the coffin. Who knew that she would wake up again? Lian Qiao held her hand and cried loudly. She kept saying that the heavens had blessed her. Jiang Lisa, however, narrowed her eyes.

After dying once, not only did the events of her past life not vanish into thin air, but she remembered them very clearly. Four years ago, when her mother passed away, the wandering Taoist priest who came to the fu could tell at a glance that her eight characters were extremely hard. It was truly the bane of her life. Jiang Quan had originally wanted to send her to the family temple. It was precisely because Jiang Nancy had knelt down to plead for mercy that Jiang Quan changed his mind and sent her to the countryside estate. Because of this, Jiang Lisa had always felt grateful towards Jiang Nancy. Now that she thought about it, the bullying and humiliation she suffered here was all thanks to Jiang Nancy and her mother.

The estate was handed over to Zhang Lan's family to manage. Zhang Lan was greedy, stingy, and extremely fierce. She often scolded and insulted Jiang Lisa while pointing at the mulberry tree. Zhang Lan's husband, Chen Fu, was even more lazy and an alcoholic gambler. The two had a son and a daughter. The son, Chen Zhao, was extremely lecherous, and the daughter, Chen Fang, was sarcastic and unkind. When Jiang Lisa came, she brought a lot of jewellery. If it didn't fall into Zhang Lan's hands, then it was swindled away by Chen Fang. Ten days ago, Jiang Lisa accidentally fell into the water. It was also because Chen Zhao was groping her by the pond. Unable to bear the humiliation, Jiang Lisa jumped into the water. When Chen Zhao saw that he had gotten into trouble, he hurriedly escaped. By the time Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi called for people to rescue Jiang Lisa, Jiang Lisa was already unconscious.

It was the twelfth month of the winter. The pond water was icy cold and piercing to the bone. In addition, under Zhang Lan's harsh treatment these past few years, Jiang Lisa's body had become increasingly weak. Catching a cold was like adding snow to snow, and she immediately fell seriously ill.

Jiang Lisa remembered very clearly that she had not woken up so early. After she woke up, she fell ill. More importantly, not long after, there were rumors that she was seducing men at such a young age, and that she had no self-respect for her precious body. She had taken the initiative to seduce Chen Zhao and fell into the water after failing. Thinking about it, it was also Zhang Lan's doing. She pushed all the dirty water onto her. Thanks to this dirty water, in the future, when Jiang Lisa's appearance grew, she also lost the title of a demoness.

Now that she had woken up early, the rumors had not yet spread. Presumably, Zhang Lan had not thought of this, so she could take this opportunity to send her a New Year's gift. There was no future to continue living in this rural residence that was bullied and humiliated by others. Four years later, she would be sent to the palace as a chess piece. This was also something she could not bear. Moreover, being taken advantage of was not her goal. Everything had to be done, and Chen Zhao was the first to be dealt with.

Jiang Lisa looked out the window. The sound of firecrackers could be heard faintly outside the house. With only the three of them in the house, it seemed even more deserted.

She slowly sat up. Bai Zhi heard the sound of her getting up and hurriedly stood up to greet her, "Miss, you're awake. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

Jiang Lisa shook her head, "What time is it now?"

"It's about the Xu period," Bai Zhi replied.

Lian Qiao put down the fan, "Miss, are you hungry? I'll go to the kitchen and bring some food over. "

Most of the young ladies and madams who lived in the rural residence were criminals, but they were still masters. Unless they received special care, they would not be in such dire straits that they could not even be compared to a servant. Even on New Year's Eve, the food had not been sent over early. It was really thought-provoking.

Before Jiang Lisa could reply, she heard the sound of knocking on the door. A clear and melodious voice said from outside, "Miss, I've come to deliver the New Year's Eve dinner."

Lian Qiao was stunned. Jiang Lisa said, "Come in." The door creaked open, and a maidservant dressed in festive attire came in. She carried a food basket in her hand and said with a smile, "Auntie Lan has ordered me to deliver the food. Miss, please eat some."

Bai Zhi saw that Jiang Lisa had not moved for a long time, so she lowered her head in puzzlement. Just then, she saw a flash of emotion in Jiang Lisa's eyes. Then, she raised her head and smiled slightly.