Chapter 3: Unexpected consequences

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And dying, Bai Xian wondered if it mattered really that much if that woman took the money.

“I am doing a vocal testimony. All of my money would be left to my father’s charity case. Every penny of it”.

Of course it mattered, it was the only thing left by her beloved parent. The only thing.

She smiled at her, feeling alright for once.

Oh, Ming Xi was smiling, she wondered what kind of face she’d make when she’d know about the charity she did. She wondered what kind of face she’d be making. A pity she won’t see.

Growing up, she was actually quite a healthy person. She didn’t know who her mother was. In her brightest day, she would say that the woman.

As cruel as it sounds, she prefer to think her mother died rather than imagine the woman leaving her and going far away from her sick daughter.

Her father was quite a chubby man, always with sweet in his mouth. What he liked most of all, was baking by Sunday. He introduced her to his hobby when she was just three. At first, she was in charge of sucking the spoon, or tasting the amount of sugar. But by six, she could actually make her own cake. Her dad, was of course, always behind her, making sure she never cut herself.

So she grew in quite homely atmosphere, never missing the presence of her mother.

But when she was seven, her father resigned and opened his own enterprise. For a long time, he wouldn’t bake, he wouldn’t cook but ordered instead.

At the time she didn’t see the tools missing, the presents becoming smaller, cheaper. It was a friend at school, who later, point it out.

She took charge then, cooking by herlself. It wasn’t that difficult. Her father hadn’t been there but she still didn’t cut herself. She was scolded harshly but the next day he apologized

Three years after, they were suddenly moving to another house, a bigger one . She was ten. Two years after she was introduced to Ming Xi

Now with the eyes of her sixteen year self she could say at the time she hadn’t realy welcome the person who took the time her father used to give her. Two years later when she married into the house wasn’t better! Who knows what he had seen suddenly talking about legacy. Wasn’t that just jinxing his fate? She wouldn’t say the woman poisoned her but she sure as hell feel the woman is a bad omen mauvaise augure for not long after her sickness started

The will was a requirement of the company

She grew up with her father and very much became a father daughter, always clinging to the man. But his post kept on raising and in flash, his budding enterprise got renown. They were out of misery. She didn’t have to cook.

Now look that how your beautiful wife killed me, wont you be proud to know that in the end she wouldn’t have what she was after?

She liked very much seeing tat xomans distorted face.

She oh so longed to see her dad face. But just the darkness welcomed her

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ATF 1. The long awaited fiancé

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Following the call, Rhys left the two luxurious cars parked in the villa, and instead took the taxi to the hospital. It couldn't be helped, she had yet to familiarize herself with the roads here and it's been so long since she last drove a car, there was just no way that for her resumption of it she would use racing cars!

It was doctor Mckenna who received her. A mid-aged short and plump woman with large dark bags under her eyes screaming lack of sleep. Despite her clear weary state, she was actually exceptionally patient with Rhys while gently placating her about the man's state. He was stable now and the immediate danger has passed, and before letting her meet him, she proceeded to explain the details about the required surgery. At her place, Rhys was pretty sure that she would be irritable and snappy already, no way would she be having a conversation so calmly. Though she was polite, the doctor had a grave face and not even a hint of a smile to be seen. Not that it would have been welcomed considering the gravity of the circumstances that led them to meet. 

In short, what Rhys understood was, there were two majors problems with her man: first and foremost, he had a brain injury, and second, a spinal cord injury both needing immediate surgery. The words were heavy and weighed largely in her mind.

For the second one, the worst-case scenario in case of failure was the possibility of long-term disability but the first one wasn't it directly involving his very life? Barely had the doctor finished her explanations that she handed her the papers for signature; lengthening the time wouldn't be in the patient's favor at all, she reminded.

“May I… may I see him first?”

The doctor's lips twitched, a sign of annoyance, Rhys recognized. Nonetheless, the woman was still polite on the surface,

“Of course, if you would follow me," And Rhys tailed the woman until they stood in front of a window with drawn-up curtains, letting them see the lying man inside the room. 

"Is he going to wake up anytime soon?" asked Rhys with a hint of hope in her voice. Wouldn't it be easy then to toss the question about the surgeries to him? Whether to have it or not he was the best judge, right?

"We rather he doesn't" replied Dr Mckenna, dousing off her hopes, "He’s in an artificially induced coma for now, for there were no other ways to reduce the brain swellings,” briefly explained the doctor, “Make up your mind soon, please", she said, opening the door for Rhys and closing behind her. 

Rhys stood there, a little disoriented, in a small room with beeping sounds from machines and the male version of sleeping beauty.

Sighing, she went closer and took in the sight of the sleeping man. Quite handsome if she could say so though there were some wounds on his face due to the car accident he had some hours ago. With heavy feet, she sat on the chair next to him, her voice shaking lightly,

“Hi there... You must know me, right. You have to." She laughed a little bit, feeling silly "I'm the person who's going to decide whether you have your spinal cord surgery or not... They said that brain surgery is a must, but considering the toll the drugs would put on your body, they rather delayed the spinal cord's one... but said delaying could complicate things later... and will maybe, even led you to be unable to walk for life... but hey, at the very least you'd be alive right?... Life is the most important thing to secure right?... Right?... Say, would you rather face both surgeries at the same time? To maximize the chance to keep both your life and your feet? Though in my opinion, it sounds way more dangerous..." She started babbling to ease her nervousness but that didn't help much. She traced the contours of his face with her fingers, touching his eyebrows, his nose, his lips, " Say, how should I answer? Would you risk your life for your legs?”

Though she did ask so, she did have an idea about the kind of choice he would make: he would take the surgery no matter the cost. That’s the kind of person he was.

Truthfully said, Axel wasn’t a good person. He was an antagonist after all. The annoying kind too, who were full of themselves. He was a narrow-minded man who relished in the pleasure of knowing he took from the protagonist, his beloved woman, Rhys Miles.

This was a business-oriented book, thus Rhys hadn’t read it. Her friend had gushed about the details; she, this economic idiot was bored within the first five pages and instead asked her friend to summarize it since the woman wouldn’t shut up about the story. It started by introducing the world’s economy and the leading enterprises citing Novans Organization, explaining that its founder, Cullen Novans, didn’t start as a rich multi-billionaire but a pauper nobody. He comes from a poor family of a single mother. It went on to present the numerous setbacks in his life and all the tragedies he faced before raising to the top and being who he was now.

Rhys was one of those tragedies. She was his girlfriend at university and a couple of months after he started working. They went out together for three years, almost four before she cheated on him. The very next day after he proposed to her too! Since she didn’t read, the present Rhys couldn’t really understand the minds of the concerned people, but surely, the old Rhys must have loved this Novans guy right? You couldn’t just stay with a guy so long without any feelings. Just that in the end, her true love had been money. Thus, she couldn't see herself spending the rest of her life with Novans whom she deemed unable to rise up the fame and reach billions.

If only it had stopped there, that would be good, but not only did the girl cheat, but she also had to cheat on Novans with his enemy: the annoying rich second generation Axel Vance.

Now here she was, picking up other people's messes. All the things that shouldn’t have been done, had already been done. All the insults, mockeries, and her flaunting at her ex… she suddenly got a headache. Why was this pot so black!

The present situation was the moment when the protagonist started dealing with them. Hint: started, it was supposed to worsen with time! Under Cullen’s behind-the-scenes manipulations, Axel's companies went bankrupt. He tried to salvage things as much as he could, but what exactly could he really do when the author finally decided he was long overdue? He instead lost some brain cells, trusted the wrong people, got cheated of the money he was counting on to remake himself. The man later drank himself until wasted and tumbling on the road, he was mowed by a car.

Her character's ending? From the very moment 'she' heard about the bankruptcy, Rhys didn’t even stay. At this point, she was wiser than Axel and while the previous refused to believe that the one who was after his companies was that pauper man he looked down on, Rhys had always believed that it was him. She didn’t stay to confirm it though, lest he dealt with her next. So, the news of Axel’s accident didn’t even reach her before she fled outside the country with his remaining money, which was one of the causes of his disability –lack of funds for the numerous surgeries he had to undergo. Insurances refused to fund the operations.

She sighed softly. A little mockingly at her own self, so much for the lazy life she was hoping for! Now that she thought about it, those useless shares she had were from her fiancé's companies, eh. 

No wonder that upon waking up, everything was packed, not only the clothes but so were the jewels. She just thought that 'she' was a compulsive person who liked orders, but in reality, the woman was ready to flee! The cleaning lady and the cook were still coming every day, besides the order in which were her suitcases, there was just no other indication. Was 'Rhys' planning to just disappear without so much as a word to the people working for her?

Was the protagonist so scary?

Ah, she was starting to have a headache.

Since she didn’t leave, what should she do next? In any case, this guy was still her fiancé. Looking at the ring on her finger, her headache turned into a heartache. Look at the troubles you threw my way!

At any rate, the guy may be a bad fellow, but he was quite generous towards his woman, giving her everything she asked for. After all, most of the money in her bank cards must certainly come from this daddy right here. And so should the villa and two-sport cars, not forgetting the ridiculous amount of brand clothes, shoes, and those insane pieces of jewelry.

She couldn’t let him go disable in good conscience when she may be able to change his fate now, could she?

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ATF Prologue

 

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When the hospital called, it took Rhys completely unprepared and like the missing link that leads to the light, she finally pieced together everything down, and boy did her guessing completely shattered the beautiful future she was still dreaming of moments before. What to say, for five whole weeks now, she was jumping on a little cloud imagining herself a rich little lady, how to face the reality that she was about to be a penniless nobody?

Of course, the hospital didn't say anything about taking away her goods, but they may have very well said so; rather, they let her know that her fiancé, Axel Vance, had an accident and was undergoing surgery, she was on the list of people to call, long story short, they needed her signature.

Fiancé.

Axel Vance.

Now, to understand the crisis the young woman was undergoing, you must first understand that, a little more than a month ago, Rhys didn't have a fiancé. Hell, she was still a bachelorette, on the eve of her 35th birthday, but her life stopped short due to a pulmonary disease that took her away in just four days. Closing her eyes with the memory of suffocating to death, she opened them once again in a perfectly fine body and the little plus she was fiercely joyous about: she got ten years younger. Now that was fantastic. At the time, checking herself from head to toe and finding no physical difference besides growing young again, she simply thought she was in a parallel universe; That the Sky took pity upon her and let her enjoy life a little; if not, why else would she wake up in a luxurious villa with closets filled to the brim with haute couture, pricy jewelry in every drawer, fine makeup with names she never even dare dream to have! The diamond-encrusted engagement ring on her finger did take her aback and she worried for like five seconds before throwing caution to the wind and enjoyed the feeling of being in a stable enough relationship to be engaged instead. Back then, before her hospital stay, she was too busy to have a social life let alone a boyfriend. If sickness didn't kill her, maybe overwork would have done so in a couple more years. Thus, the last serious relationship she had was back in University, and even then, struggling with part-time jobs and her degree, she didn't have much time left for him and he simply dumped her! Laying on her deathbed, it had been one of the things she did regret. Never having a family of her own, no one to go back to, and sometimes, at the peak of exhaustion, she simply slept in her office. Anyway, her home for her was simply a place to sleep with no one waiting for her so it made no difference whether she went back or not.

Thus, having a fiancé now was simply the icing on the cake! With God being so good to her, how could He have the heart to give her a lousy husband-to-be? The guy must certainly be fantastic! With that kind of crazy thinking, she started enjoying her newly gifted life. In other words, she started enjoying a lazy life filled with peaceful sleep. She was; for once; the own master of her time, waking up at ten and sleeping before nine. How wonderful! 

First things first though, digging around, she got some clues about her current identity. The ID card said Rhys Miles. The name was the same as hers, which was quite agreeable and comforted her in her thinking that she really got a second chance in a parallel universe. Her phone was unlocked by her face so it was easy to access. All kinds of social apps were installed here and apparently, 'she' liked chatting a lot. Nonsense though. Mostly talking to girlfriends about gossips, wealthy trips, clothes, bags, who sleeps with who, who is bitching about who… Nothing quite practical. There was no information about any kind of job she might be doing –if she was even working. Something that she truthfully doubted seeing the time of the messages: this person was forever on her phone! Even now she had thousands of unread messages!

She tried ordering the different groups and looking into some names that were repeatedly coming to criss-cross who she could keep as friends and who should just be ignored for now… But really, going by the conversations, no one would do… for now at least. Forget it, she would judge when they would meet in real life –if they ever did.

After a couple of lazy days, she did get a bit restless. After all, for someone so busy to suddenly have nothing to do, when the novelty of it wore off, it does let one bored. However, she just wanted something to occupy her, not being busy to the point she lost freedom -anyway, there was no reason to slave herself into a corporation for money anymore- thus, with the computer she found in the room, she tried one thing she used to do back in her high school days: writing. She didn’t plan on being a best-seller or anything, just a hobby was fine. There wasn’t any urgent need for money. After all, the four bank cards she found amounted to twelve million, and she even had some shares of various companies; even though it seemed that a few of the company’s shares she possessed were useless now for it appeared that one of those companies went bankrupt a couple months ago when she looked it up. That aside, her situation was OK. The other companies were doing fine.

It wasn't that she didn't try to contact her fiancé meanwhile, but the contact address on her phone was not explicit enough, there were only names, no distinction, quite impossible to know which one was her fiancé, there weren't even any "Mom", "dad" or something.  And there weren’t any intimate messages that could be interpreted as being part of lovers’ dialogues.

Being busy with her newfound hobby, she even forgot about it, until now, of course!

These days, some names on the TV did sound familiar, but she could never pinpoint from where. But with this call, everything just fell into place.

Damn.

It wasn’t that she transmigrate into a parallel universe, but rather into a freaking book! “Journey To Success” if memory served her right. Rhys Miles and Axel Vance. Weren’t these two annoying antagonists that refused to die like some kind of super cockroaches!

No kidding. What’s this rotten mess!

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After The Fall

Descriptions:

In every cliché success story, there must be a character like this: the greedy ex who left the poor protagonist for money, not forgetting to insult and trample on his self-esteem while doing so. There's nothing wrong with this trope, seeing the face slap some chapters later more than makeup for the anger the reader temporarily feels. And to be honest, Rhys likes these kinds of stories the most. However, it didn't mean that she was happy to have suddenly turned into her namesake from a book; and even more unsettling, that character just had to be the bitchy ex! The worst was yet to be said of course: it was already the end of the story, the ex and her new beau were about to be dealt with by the main protagonist!

Genres: Transmigration, Romance, Modern

Table Of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Long Awaited Fiancé

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Witch Chapter 1: Little Villain

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"Miss Anna... Anna... Anna!"

The man's voice was steady before increasing in tone sharply. Annabeth whose eyes were closed, opened suddenly only to hear a cold voice rebuked her,

"Are you sleeping while standing nowadays? I said you can leave, what are you still doing here?"

The man seemed genuinely annoyed by her presence. Anna bit her tongue and only glared, refraining from talking. That Isif had extracted her soul from her body, she was still aware, but the slun also had the ability to manipulate space and time to a certain degree. It was said that the old woman couldn't go back to the past, but only the future in short intervals. However, that was only on Freaus, who knew how her abilities worked on the other planes?

Connor hadn't seen the deathly glare he was given, having at once brought his gaze back to his folders. He was even unwilling to lift his eyes to meet that woman's, nowadays, with her blatant seduction, she was giving him a headache and he was nursing the idea of her transfer. He said coldly,

"Close the door behind you!"

Anna wouldn't stay in a place she was so unwelcome, so, locating the door, she made way to leave, only to stumble, surprised by the high heels she was wearing. She was someone who liked to feel next to the ground, thank you very much. However, her body seemed to remember how to walk with those and she unhurriedly closed the door behind her like asked.

She was met with the sight of another office with no one in here. Away from stranger's eyes, she let her sight roamed to her body. She was wearing a tight black skirt which barely reached her mid-thigh with a white long sleeve shirt with the first three buttons unbuttoned showing a full-bodied chest. Orange-red hair was styled and braided on the right side of her neck, she was used to having her hair held in a messy ponytail, this braid on her neck now felt slightly itchy. The watch on her right hand was showing two p.m. Anna swayed a bit, refusing to believe in what she actually understood. No way! But Isif's words came to mind: "Go and look clearly and then tell me if it's a lie or not!"  

That old geezer really transported her soul all the way to this plane!

She suddenly felt faint and hurried to sit behind the desk in the empty office. The arrangement seemed familiar. She closed her eyes, trying to feel her powers. Though she didn't manipulate space and time, but with her powers, she could still hope to go back to her own world. With growing fears, she realized that she couldn't feel anything. She sat there in that position, eyes closed for half an hour before she felt the glimmer of something and the woman breathed a sigh of relief, before collapsing on the desk. Cursed sensitive old woman! Letting her in this predicament just for some simple words uttered in the privacy of her own home, that was managing too much! What happened to freedom of speech that she had fought for in that previous war!

The more exhausting phase was passed and her heartbeats calmed down. Her powers weren't complete it seemed, either because her soul didn't completely integrate with this body or maybe Isif deliberately didn't transfer the whole of her soul. Sitting straight, the young slun closed her eyes again, trying to see if she could make that glimmer expand. Theoretically, doppelgangers were supposed to be the same person but just on different planes. This body's soul was supposed to resonate with hers and since there wasn't any rejection, she supposed it was really her doppelganger... But seriously, this was hard to swallow... How could she be this person...

The great Annabeth Breegrit, to actually be, in this plane... A mere little villain. Her heart really wasn't comfortable with this idea! 

She refused!

Annabeth Leighman. In the story, she read, 'Reborn to shine' this woman was actually a side villain who keeps on seeking death. The second male lead, Connor's PA. In that story, the female lead, Juliana, was an actress in a reborn story. Actually, Juliana was a doctor in her last life, following her parents' wishes. However, she had been betrayed by her companion for insurance money after complications issued with his companies and the tragic woman ended up dying without an intact corpse, vowing to avenge herself. Who knew that Isif was nearby and wanted to let this woman her chance at revenge. The old meddlesome slun put the woman's soul in the body of a just dead actress with the same name. With a new identity, Juliana thrived for great ends to accomplish her promise. Aid by her previous medical skills, she saved the male lead's life, Morgan, a famous CEO. In the course of the story, she would meet the second male lead, Connor, who was Morgan's business rival. In the grand scheme of things, Annabeth was just a little villain who presented herself just to get face slapped which was why the slun Anna couldn't identify herself as this person. This Anna was jealous and annoyed with the special attention her boss was giving to another woman while ignoring her, who had been aiming for him for years now.

The reason why Anna could irritate this cold person for years but still get away with this was that Anna was the friend of his sister, Elise, thus Connor couldn't help but be lenient towards her in consideration of his beloved sister. That only made the woman grown conceited and when she would finally go overboard, she would lose Elise's friendship and protection, she would get kicked out of the enterprise, her CV would be blackened making it impossible to find work anywhere. The last passage about her only said that she left the city. Up to where Annabeth got to read anyway, before that crazy old woman barge in her domain.

Annabeth wondered a bit if things really happened like this, then at which exact moment had she been thrust in time? She could deduce that the office she just left was Connor's and from his tone, he was already quite exasperated with her... But looking around, it seemed that this was her office, so she had yet to lose her job.

This was really inconvenient. She had to hurry and find a way to merge this body's memory with her soul and find a way to go back home!

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Witch Prologue

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That day had nothing special about it. Anna’s days were seldom specials anyway and she saw nothing wrong with it. The slun liked her monotonous life just fine. Thus, like any other one, she was standing in the middle of her garden, the trees closer to her extended their branches into a makeshift chair. With a smile, she thanked them, sitting down. 

Annabeth Breengrit. She lived alone on one side of the green mountain -the mountain called so for the peculiar color of its soil. Her domain was actually the whole mountain itself, but she was kind enough to let travelers use the other sides when they would come by, though seldom do. 

Annabeth had the hair, the color of a setting sun, orange-red and the eyes the color of a sunny sky. Her floral green dress wrinkled as she found a comfortable position, opening the thick book she was holding. It was reading time after all. The book was twice as thick as the branches of the surrounding trees and as of now, she was already in the middle of it. The day had just started, the sun had yet to reach over here and with the clouds over the perimeter, she should be fine without the need of glasses, but the trees still dutifully extended their foliage, the half-shadow formed protected their mistress from the eventual rays.

Annabeth was a slun whose specialties were earth and liquid. As such, she could command anything that takes root on earth or any form of liquid. The times were peaceful, so there wasn't much to do, but just take it easy. Her way of doing so was by communicating with her friends. Though they couldn't read, they understood things just fine thus she was the one in charge of finding books and reading it to them.

They had, together, tried all kinds of books. Recently, they were infatuated with Isif's books. Isif was an old but powerful slun. Her biography said that she participated in the war of old which took place five centuries ago, so the woman was quite notorious. Anna wasn't interested in that aspect of her though but in her writer's talent. 

Isif's books had a peculiarity: they were renown for being the retelling of real-life events. Isif's specialties were space, time and soul. The woman's self-written biography -for Anna actually read that in a previous reading session- liked to boast that she'd visited more planes than they had hair on their heads and that all her books were real-life events of those people. An even more attractive point was that, the writer would pinpoint some sluns who where the replica of some characters, their doppelganger on another plan. The trees wanted to hear about Anna's doppelganger's life and so did Anna herself. In the beginning, anyway... But the more she read on, the less she believed. Even if the trees around liked it very much, Anna couldn't quite help herself but rolled her eyes a great number of times as she read along. Not able to refrain anymore, she couldn't quite help the exclamation,

"This thing was definitely not worth my money! Real-life event my foot! There is no way any person could behave like this."

'Isn't it because your doppelganger's end is too tragic.'

'Really, mistress how could you do this!'

'So shameless.'

'Not being able to marry isn't the end of the world you say, now you behave like that... tsk, tsk'

Anna's face turned red, "Who are you talking about, I did nothing! And this person isn't me. Definitely not my doppelganger either!"

As Anna went on trying to make her friends understand just why this was too strange to be possibly real, an angry voice hurled over her head,

"How dare you!" The cry was hoarse yet piercing and before Anna's defense mechanisms could set, the intruder appeared right in front of her.

The plants darted in that person's direction, the end of their branches turning into pointy spears, but before touching her, they disappeared into nothingness.

The one in front of Annabeth had white hair and a pale blue robe. Having seen her photo on the cover of the book she was reading many times before, it was easy to recognize this person: Isif! Anna's lips twitched, remembering that her biography described this woman as a grudge holder. With a wave of her hands, she calmed her remaining plants who were ready to attack yet again. She wouldn't fool herself into believing she stood a chance to win.

"Elder. What brings you here?" She tried diplomacy.

What brings her here! Isif came here in a good mood, wishing to talk to a new reader who had sent a letter to personally ask about one of her doppelgangers in other dimensions. It has been a time since Isif accepted a commission, but she did so since she had quite liked the politeness of the lass in the letter. Who knew that upon making a special trip some days after to ask about her impression, the lass, not only was not grateful, but daring enough to doubt the authenticity of what was written! Wasn't this calling her old bones a liar?

Could she read minds, Anna would try and appeal that, she absolutely didn't mean to say that Isif was a liar. Her words exceeded her thoughts, so to speak. Either way, she was talking to her plants! In her own domain! Privacy!

It was a pity that Isif was a hot-headed one and before Anna could sweet-talk her way out of her predicament, her soul had been collected by the intruder and before it completely left her body, she heard the angry woman say,

"Go and look clearly and then tell me if it's a lie or not!"  

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A witch in modern times

Description: By this world’s standard, Anna was a witch, though, on her own, she’s called a slun. After pissing off a slun who had affinities with space, time and soul, poor little Anna found herself inside the book she just criticized, with no idea how to go back home. The worst part being that her powers were so low that she couldn’t even hear the voices of her beloved plants anymore or the singing of the water. How was she supposed to stock enough energy to go back then?

Genre: transmigration, romance, witch, power, 

Table Of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1: Little Villain

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

.

Simple Life Chapter 5: Zhang Shen

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The crown princess married over for a year now, almost two years actually, which meant that, for the moment, the young master Zhang was still vice general. He had yet to rise in rank. Thus, there was still some time before the male lead ascended the dragon throne. Two years again… or maybe three. In those years, the now vice general Zhang Shen would become general.

Though Lane had yet to see him to determine how he looked, the author's description of him floated to her mind. He was supposed to be quite scary, having been surnamed the red demon due to his fame for his killing spree on the battlefield. Rumors had it that he would be covered from head to toe with his enemy's blood. He sported a scary-looking scar on his face that he had received on the battlefield which led him to his title of general. So, for the time being, he shouldn't have that.

Some said he liked danger. Fierceless and ruthless, but not mindless. However, no matter the amount of precaution one could take, life or death was never guaranteed in the battlefield. Having only this one son, the madam was quite worried about him. He may never come back after all, at that time… that was something she forced herself not to think too much about. His father, on the other hand, wasn’t all that moody and rather basked in the well-known reputation of his legitimate son. The man was indeed quite satisfied with the distinctions and the prestige won by this child of his, boasting to who cared enough to listen that he was indeed worthy of being his heir.

This father Zhang who was an old scholar, had three other sons, concubines’ sons. They followed the scholars' routes like himself, so he was a bit closer with them, though, he didn’t dare neglect neither his wife nor his legitimate daughter, lest it angered the first son.

That was how renown Zhang Shen was, capable of making his own father break in sweat with his unforgiving gaze.

Zhang Shen was described as having a distinguishable presence, most of the time he was thirsting for someone's blood. There were very little passages written where he wasn't emitting bloodlust. Most of those passages were when he was with his family members that he approved of, meaning his mother and his sister. His future scar would run along his right eye up to his lower lip, accompanied by other scars all over his body, having been tortured once by the country’s enemies. It was after that when he would free himself and come back with victory, that the old emperor would raise his rank, making him a general of the first rank, after his upcoming victory against the barbaric tribes at the East. The protagonist had vouched for him and praised him heavily. In another two years though, that same protagonist would feel threatened by his power and would want the military seal back, killing the whole family in the process. In the end, his wife concubine cheating on him had been God-given chance or rather, the plot working in his favor.

Fu Bin wouldn’t want to dwell on the right or wrong of this, palace and power balances were a whacking mess and immoral, she really didn’t want to lose some brain cells. One couldn’t be an Emperor with a soft heart but in the end, those who died, she could only consider them pitiful. They just had the misfortune of not being the protagonists’ friends or trusted allies.

Standing in the middle of a passage and truthfully lost, she was quite upset now that this villain family was just sided characters else wouldn't she know her way with the authors' love of places description? She was certain actually that she could find her way in the imperial palace right now if someone dumped her there but here, tsk, tsk. Let's try going back on her track.

While walking, she kept on thinking. The book really didn’t dwell too much on this family, explaining them only in passings. However, being inside the manor, she was privy to the hearsays of the servants.

The first son, Zhang Shen, until now, had yet to touch a woman. Others’ sons were introduced to this since their teen days, sometimes even having an official wive at fourteen, but this one son, no matter what the main wife did, refuse to take a concubine, he didn’t want a concubine-servant either. 

He was already nineteen this year and considering his line of work, his mother was even more anxious than other women to let him settle down. He absolutely showed no sign of being interested in the fairer sex, no matter how much she pushed the women to him, no matter how beautiful they were. He was simply, unwilling. 

The web novel never talked about any concubines nor bedwarmers, but then again he was no main character, so Fu Bin couldn’t be sure how this would turn out. The story wasn’t, after all, focused on him so that they didn’t mention him having concubines didn’t mean he didn’t have, maybe he would end up yielding to taking bed warmers like his mom wanted, maybe no. For now, she was trying to ingratiate herself and become a good servant in case they were planning to chase her out, better be useful now. After all, these days weren’t good for those who had nowhere to go and certainly not for someone who had yet to grasp the common sense of this time.

So, bitterly, Lane held onto the full basket of clothes she was carrying and thought not for the first time today, just where the hell, where the laundries room again?

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