Chapter 2: 002 重生14岁

It was an indescribable feeling. Duan Yaoyao knew she was dying, but in her final moments, she could no longer distinguish whether the eldest young lady of the Prince Gong Mansion of Southern Liang, Shangguan Erya, or the Republican-era female warlord, Duan Yaoyao, was her true self.

At this moment, she was being scorched by a myriad of hatreds surging in her heart, ready to burst from her chest at any moment, wanting to vent all the injustices!

In a state between dreaming and waking, Duan Yaoyao felt dizzy and heavy-headed, and her surroundings felt somewhat strange. Someone was walking on tiptoe, followed by the sound of a door closing softly. Her heart stirred, and she snapped her eyes open. What met her eyes was a blur, yet it already filled her with uncontrollable joy—she could actually... she could actually see!

Not only that, but her body and her tongue were both perfectly intact!

Duan Yaoyao sat up. As her vision gradually cleared, she realized she was in an ancient and elegant room. Everything around her was both strange and familiar. Before she could recall exactly where she was, she heard the person standing at the door whisper, "The Eldest Young Lady is already drunk and resting in the guest room. I will go and invite the Second Young Master Ning immediately. I'll have to trouble Sister Du Juan to go and report this."

The woman named Du Juan gave an "mm" in response. "Qinghua, are you certain the Eldest Young Lady won't wake up?"

The girl named Qinghua hurriedly said, "Rest assured, Sister. The Eldest Young Lady drank specially brewed wine; even a grown man would pass out from a single cup. She won't be waking up for a while!"

Du Juan nodded. "Then, once the matter is successful, if the Eldest Young Lady notices anything wrong, have you thought of an excuse?"

Qinghua quickly replied, "This servant will absolutely not say a word. Moreover, I will properly persuade the Eldest Young Lady. Although Second Young Master Ning was born of a concubine, he is the most beloved by the Duke of Fu. Not to mention..."

She lowered her voice, "Not to mention the Heir of the Duke of Fu is a sickly man who hasn't been loved by the Duke since childhood, and his biological mother passed away early. Who else could protect him? He is someone who will pass away sooner or later. Won't the position of Heir fall into Second Young Master Ning's pocket? By following him, the Eldest Young Lady will only enjoy endless wealth and honor. I am actually doing her a great favor; she should be grateful to me, not think I'm harming her!"

Du Juan finally broke into a smile. "Truly sharp-tongued. The Princess Consort will reward you handsomely."

Hearing of the reward, Qinghua thanked her repeatedly. Watching Du Juan leave, she peeked into the room through the crack in the door. Seeing the Eldest Young Lady sleeping soundly on the bed, she couldn't help but smile as she closed the door and headed toward the front courtyard.

After she left, the person on the bed suddenly sat up. The woman, who should have been heavily intoxicated, had a cold gaze in her eyes. No wonder her head felt like it was splitting; it was because she had been force-fed strong liquor. Duan Yaoyao couldn't help but rub her brow as the memories in her mind gradually became clear. She hadn't heard the words spoken by those two maids just now, but the people they mentioned left a deep impression on her memory!

The 27th year of Longwu in the Southern Liang Kingdom. On the day of the Grand Dowager of the Duke of Fu's sixtieth birthday banquet, Shangguan Erya was framed by her legal mother to have an affair with the Duke's illegitimate son, Second Young Master Ning. She was forced into an engagement and married him right after her coming-of-age ceremony the following year.

In fact, those two maids were correct. Only half a year after the marriage, the sickly Heir of the Duke of Fu indeed passed away, and not long after, Ning Lei was appointed Heir by the newly ascended Emperor.

However, what awaited Shangguan Erya was not endless wealth and honor or her husband's affection. Quite the opposite—seeing Ning Lei become the Heir in a single stroke, her own younger sister, Shangguan Yunzhu, developed the desire to snatch it all. Not only did she secretly involve herself with him, but the two of them conspired together to poison Shangguan Erya, locking her in a sunless dungeon and using all sorts of cruel methods to torture her!

Just as Shangguan Yunzhu had said, she didn't just want to sleep with her sister's man; she wanted to seize everything belonging to Shangguan Erya.

Shangguan Yunzhu's so-called desire to snatch and occupy was merely a pretext of greed. The true masterminds behind the scenes were her legal mother, who instigated the sisters to kill each other; her ungrateful father; her cowardly and philandering husband; and that nameless, cold-blooded man!

Duan Yaoyao could never forget the chilling tone of that man before she died, when he said that dying was a kind of blessing!

She had said that if she were Shangguan Erya, she would never allow these people to bully her even slightly, and she would make those who harmed her pay back a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times over!

Duan Yaoyao's eyes turned bloodshot with rage. At some point, her clenched fists slammed violently into the bed, causing it to collapse with a loud crash. The surging fury made her mind even clearer—this meant she had returned to Shangguan Erya's fourteenth year, to the Grand Dowager's birthday banquet where the framing was about to take place!

Suddenly, a crescent-shaped smile curled at the corner of Duan Yaoyao's mouth, and a sharp glint flashed in her eyes. She didn't know if she could ever be Duan Yaoyao again, but from this moment on, inhabiting this body, she could be a brand new Shangguan Erya, changing her fate and living her own brilliant life!

In the past, Shangguan Erya's misfortune began at this very moment. From now on, the misfortune would belong to those who sought to harm her!