Chapter 9.1

As he slowly came to consciousness, a sort of unreal feeling, akin to a dream, lingered in his heart. With difficulty, Fan Yuan moved his body, and in an instant, he was entirely drenched in a cold sweat.

“Ss……it’s so painful, Xiao Wu. Did I get into a car accident?”

No one answered. Fan Yuan called out again two times in his mind. Suddenly, his heart went in shock, Xiao Wu……didn’t seem to be here.

When he willed himself with a great deal of strength to open his eyes, he saw that the entire room was dim and he could hear the scurrying of mice not too far away. His body seemed to be lying on a basic straw mattress and his limbs were as if they were filled with heavy lead. Although he couldn’t see anything, he could tell that his body was full of wounds. It was obvious that he’d gone through cruel torture.

This wasn’t right……

The story was one that he’d personally selected, so naturally, he would be clear on whether torture was part of the plot or not.

This was a record about the rebirth counterattack of the female lead, involving both a household struggle and imperial harem struggle. The original host, Ning Siyuan, was the female lead’s twin younger brother. He had received a tremendous amount of pampering and adoration ever since he was young, growing up safely under the female lead’s protection. It was a pity that later on he had developed feelings for the male lead who had become the emperor. Despite repeated criticisms to change his ways, he never did, so finally, the female lead hardened her heart to send him to Ningzhou, never to return to the capital till death.

In this life, except for love, the original host was able to obtain everything else in a smooth-sailing manner. This was particularly so with the external plug-in that was the female lead who was especially good to him. Even if he had been sent to Ningzhou that was thousands of miles away, he had no shortage of servants, lived with an enormous amount of wealth, and was never ill-treated by even a shred.

If it weren’t for that, Fan Yuan would not have chosen this script in such a clear-cut manner. But what was up with the situation now? What was more strange was that even Xiao Wu had disappeared. Since they were bound together, they had never been separated even once through thousands of years. To suddenly have no one there to accompany him, Fan Yuan slowly began to feel uneasy.

A few scattered fragments flashed across his mind, they seemed to be the original host’s memories. However, the pain erupting all over his body left him with no time to care about this. It was already very difficult to stay conscious.

By his ear, he heard the resounding impact of chains. He raised his gaze and saw the black iron door pushed open, before a boy and a girl came in.

The girl looked 15 or 16. She was wearing a pink floral-stitched skirt and white embroidered shoes encrusted with pearls that looked like a lotus blooming with each step, but her expression just had to be icy cold. She looked at Fan Yuan with a ruthless gaze, as if she wanted to cut him into pieces.

As for the man by the side, no emotion could be discerned from him. He simply said blandly, “Uncle said, it is unknown when Yuan’er will awaken, you can’t find any evidence to prove your innocence either, so you should go back to your courtyard and stay in confinement until the dust settles.”

Fan Yuan was stunned. Was the “Yuan’er” he was speaking of referring to the original host? If so, who was he?

The girl saw his expression reveal shock, and she coldly said, “Ning Siqi, you just focus on being stubborn and keeping your mouth shut. These thirty hits are just the beginning. Yuan’er can’t wake up and help you. I, this sister of his, will help him一一collect his debt on his behalf.

Ning Siqi, the shu son of the Ning family, was a year older than Ning Siyuan. The two had grown up together since young, and among the Ning brothers, they had the best relationship. It was a pity that his mother’s womb wasn’t well taken care of, so Ning Siqi was born with a body-weakening disease. Before reaching adulthood, he had already passed.

He had become the sickly shu son of the Ning family, Ning Siqi. On the other hand, Ning Siyuan was in a coma. What the hell was……

Ning Xirong saw his expression change greatly, and she left with a cold sneer and a flick of her sleeve.

Fan Yuan’s mind was in chaos. He would have never expected such an unforeseen turn.

Amidst the chaos, his jaw was suddenly lifted. That man squatted in front of him, staring at his eyes, as he said calmly, “Yuan’er said, you are his brother and best friend. I can’t fathom why you would do this.”

Fan Yuan’s eyelashes lowered as he remained in silence. After a moment, he implored weakly, “Cousin Tong, may I trouble you to please send me back to Fukang Courtyard.”

The youth’s weak voice was mixed with shallow bitterness. Tong Zhengxuan didn’t realise that he had let him go. The child reminded him of the cat he had raised many years ago. When it was seriously ill, it laid in his arms and meowed weakly. It was obviously weak, but it was stubborn and arrogant, refusing to be trampled upon by others.

He should actually say, as expected of uncle’s spawn. Even if he was born by a humble slave, the body still flowed with half of the blood of the tiger wolf.

He stood up and called to those behind him, “Changgui, send the Second Young Master back to Fukang Courtyard.”

After speaking, he didn’t stay any longer. However, he took a deep look at Fan Yuan before leaving.

It was as if Fan Yuan didn’t realise it, but he was carried back to his courtyard. The stretcher was rickety all the way, tearing the wounds on his body open. Soon, his clothes were soaked with sweat. Fan Yuan gritted his teeth to stay awake, if he fainted now, he didn’t know whether he could wake up again.

Without Xiao Wu, he couldn’t return to the cultivation room. He could only wait for his spiritual body to gradually dissipate.

As he was put on the ground in a daze, a woman rushed at him with tears. Seeing that his back was covered with bloodstains, she was frightened to the point of almost fainting as she cried, “My Qi’er, my Qi’er, how did you get so badly injured? Ning Siyuan’s life is a life, but is my Qi’er‘s life not worth any wealth?! Heavens, there are no more principles! Ning Xirong, this little hussy, even if I lose mine, I want her to pay with her life!”

Fan Yuan squinted at her and saw that she was full of tears, lacking the propriety befitting of a favoured yiniang. His heart felt warm as he reached out and grasped the corner of her clothes, “Yiniang, I’m not dead yet. Please request for the physician.”

This phrase “yiniang” caused Xu-shi’s entire body to tremble. When there was no one around, Ning Siqi would call her “Mother”. It was only when they were in front of outsiders that he would address her as “yiniang”. Right now he was reminding her to pay attention to her surroundings.

It was only now that she realised it was the Tong Family’s people who had sent Fan Yuan over. Thinking that she had just misspoke with improper decorum, she quickly covered her mouth and cried, “This servant was lost in a moment of confusion. Second Young Master is normally the most kind-hearted, how could he harm others? Someone must have framed him.”

The two from the Tong Family were very much like their own master. They did not pay any attention to her crazy words and left after a cold half-bow.

Xu yiniang hurriedly ordered the servants in the courtyard to carry Fan Yuan into the house. She also sent a servant girl to request for the physician and made the other servants boil more water.

On the other hand, she held Fan Yuan’s hand and talked to him. She spoke of how hard it was to raise him till he was so big, and that she didn’t expect him to attain a high position or great wealth, she only hoped that he could have a peaceful and healthy life. She also scolded Ning Xirong for being such an inhuman thing, her own brother had met with trouble but she had to push the blame onto Xu-shi’s weak-bodied son. All her good consciousness had been given to the dogs to eat.

Fan Yuan listened to her ramble on. At least, he finally figured out what was going on.

It turned out that yesterday was Ning Xirong’s coming of age ceremony. Ning Siyuan had raised a rabbit and was planning to give it to his sister as a coming of age gift. However, he accidentally let the rabbit run out of the cage. Thus, he brought Ning Siqi along to look for it. Ning Siqi had a good relationship with him, so naturally, there was no reason for him to refuse. They both searched all the way to the back garden, and when Ning Siqi turned back, he saw that Ning Siyuan was unconscious on the ground.

Ning Siqi thought that Ning Siyuan was teasing him, so he gently kicked the boy twice to quickly make him get up. It was not good if others saw them. However, who would have thought that this scene would be witnessed by Ning Xirong’s most trusted maid, Lu Zhu, who was passing by. The maid yelped in shock and cried out, “Oh no, Second Young Master is beating Third Young Master! Third Young Master has already collapsed to the ground……”

After that, Ning Siyuan still didn’t wake up. How could his sister leave the matter at that? Ning Siqi had used god knows what means to hurt her brother and the witness was her own maid, Lu Zhu.

Old Master Ning burst in rage and punished Ning Siqi. Ning Siqi was weak since young, so how could he withstand thirty hits? Before the beating was even finished, he had already passed away. It was then that Fan Yuan entered his empty body.

The sequence of events were very simple to put together. It was likely that Xiao Wu had met with some malfunction, leading to the delay of transmigration. By this time, the plot had already begun. Ning Siyuan’s data was damaged, so he became a “vegetable”. Meanwhile, Ning Siqi had coincidentally just passed, so Fan Yuan had entered into this empty vessel by mistake.

Now the problem was that without the help of Xiao Wu, how can he rid himself of Ning Siqi’s body and go into Ning Siyuan’s body? Moreover, as he looked at the sobbing Xu yiniang who was heartbroken in front of him, he couldn’t bear to leave her behind.

Before the physician arrived, Fan Yuan had already fallen unconscious due to the pain. At the moment when he lost consciousness, he thought, if he died, where would Yan Rui go to find him?

*******************

In the middle of the night, Fan Yuan woke up feeling muddled. He felt pain resonating through every part of his body, the wound on his back hurting like a burning fire. On top of that, he was so hungry that he was convulsed. Furthermore, his head was abnormally hot, he knew that he had a fever.

Moving a little, Xu yiniang who was by his side immediately woke up in a shock. She asked, panicked, “Qi’er, is there discomfort anywhere? The physician applied medicine and bandaged you, don’t move carelessly.”

Fan Yuan turned to look at her and said weakly, “Mother, I’m hungry.”

Xu yiniang immediately wiped away the tears from her eyes and said with a strong smile, “Alright, mother will get the people to cook delicious food for you right now. Tell mother what you want to eat.”

Fan Yuan said, “White rice porridge. I can’t eat greasy food now. You return to your room first, it’s alright to just let the maid accompany me.”

Xu yiniang held a damp towel and wiped his forehead. She shook her head and said, “Mother has served people before. How could I not know what these servants have in mind? Your body has not been good to begin with, there is no future to speak of, so who will take you seriously? If I do not take care of you personally, how can I feel at ease? The physician’s words about you possibly having a low fever at night were indeed not false. But now that you have woken up, I’m not afraid any longer. Mother was scared that this round of unconsciousness of yours……”

Fan Yuan knew the unspoken meaning behind her words. He couldn’t pinpoint what he was feeling in his heart. This humble woman, who could not appreciate a few big words, loved and cherished her son wholeheartedly. On the contrary, when he thought of his mother in the actual world who was a well-educated socialite, her heart was harder than anyone else.

He comforted, “I will not sleep to not awaken. I promised you, I will grow up to be an adult and take you out of the mansion to lead a good life.”

As soon as his voice fell, Xu-shi‘s tears were already falling like rain. She turned her back to him as she choked with sobs, “Alright, mother is waiting for that day.”

Fan Yuan knew that doing this was shameless. Who Xu-shi cared for was not him, but rather Ning Siqi. However, he could not help but want a part of this warmth.

He thought, this woman’s son had already gone, and he had occupied this person’s body. It was also right for him to show filial piety on behalf of the boy. At the very least, he could not let her continue to be bullied by others.

After being fed a whole bowl of porridge by Xu-shi, his stomach finally stopped hurting unbearably. Fan Yuan finally mustered some strength and said slowly, “Mother, Father has not gone to your place these two days, right?”

Hearing this, Xu-shi said in a voice of hatred, “It is better if he does not come. If he dares to come, I must ask him for an explanation. It is not that he is unaware what kind of constitution you have! Even if you really fought, how could you have won against that little monkey, Ning Siyuan! You would have only gotten beaten instead. Yet, he punished you indiscriminately without finding out the truth of the matter. I only hate that I had misjudged him!”

Fan Yuan furrowed his brows. Xu-shi had served Old Master Ning ever since she was young. As a result of her excellent appearance, she was accepted as a tongfang. The first time Old Master Ning had ever done it was with her. Naturally, she held different weight from the rest in his eyes.

However, no matter how important he thought of her as, she was just a tongfang, how could she come up to par with the di daughters? She would have to suffer sooner or later. If she lost her favor in this estate, she would only be left with the end of being trampled upon.

He said, “Mother, if Father goes to your courtyard, just serve him as usual. Wait till he mentions this matter and then you can talk about it properly. Remember not to be unreasonably rude and make a scene.”

Xu-shi was not stupid, she understood what he was saying right away. After pondering, she asked, “What if he does not mention it at all? Won’t you have been wronged in vain? Also, if Ning Siyuan does not wake up at all, do not tell me that you will be confined to your courtyard the entire time?”

Fan Yuan shook his head, “Father is naturally wise, but there were too many guests present yesterday. If he did not punish me, Ning Xirong would absolutely not have given up. Once she starts making trouble, our Ning Family will lose all our reputation. If he is willing to go find you, that means that he wishes to minimise the matter. You can pretend to be pitiful and cry a little to vent your complaints which will leave him with an opportunity to step down, and we can all be at peace. If you want to seek justice and end up angering Father, we can only suffer the loss for nothing, do not think of removing my confinement either. ”

Xu-shi nodded, but at last she was still dissatisfied, “Then what of the thirty hits with the board you took? You almost lost half of your life, we are simply letting it go like that?”

How was it just losing half his life? Ning Siqi’s life had been given up. The child was only 14 years old, but had lost his life for no reason. He must not be able to die peacefully either. As expected, this rebirthed female lead was as cruel as the script said.

It was also too much of an utter disregard for human life.

Fan Yuan said, “Of course, we will not simply let it go like that. Father owes us, so in the future, he will naturally be more biased. Sooner or later, a time will come when we can use this favour. As for Ning Xirong……”

Xu-shi looked at him, questioning, “How do you plan to punish Ning Xirong, that little hussy?”

Fan Yuan sighed and spoke helplessly, “I have not thought about that yet. Let’s talk about it in the future.”

Xu-shi took it that he had no plan, so she did not pursue that matter. Little did she know that Fan Yuan was simply worried about doing too much damage to the plot.

So 8.10 was the end of arc 8! I like this new arc actually, Xu-shi is quite a likeable character in this chapter.