After three days in this world and three days of hunger, Jian Ruonan finally learned from the trash system what happened to her in this novel-
Back then, Madam Zhou and the mistress of the household, Min, had given birth to daughters at the same time. After Min delivered, four senior maids and four junior maids had attended her during her confinement, while her daughter had three wet nurses.
Madam Zhou had only one young maid whose face still bore the softness of childhood, and she had to nurse her daughter herself.
Their treatment had been worlds apart.
Craving something tasty, Madam Zhou had sent the little maid to sneak over the chicken soup Min could not finish. When they were discovered, Min's maids and serving women had thoroughly humiliated her.
Resentment had taken root in Madam Zhou's heart. One day, when a fire broke out at the Marquis's Estate, she had switched the two baby girls.
After switching the babies, Madam Zhou had bribed a wandering monk to declare that the infant Jian Ruonan brought misfortune upon her family. As the old madam happened to fall seriously ill around that time, Jian Ruonan had been sent to the Farm Estate to be raised.
Less than two years later, Madam Zhou had also been sent to the Farm Estate as punishment for a transgression.
Although Jian Ruonan was a concubine's daughter, she still counted as something of a mistress at the Farm Estate.
After Madam Zhou arrived, Jian Ruonan's life had become a nightmare. Taking advantage of her status as a concubine mother, Madam Zhou had seized Jian Ruonan's allowance and made her do some of the work assigned to Madam Zhou herself.
Seeing that the Marquis's Estate did not intervene, the Farm Estate servants had joined in tormenting the original owner of this body. That was why her life had been so miserable.
Three years later, Min had learned the truth by chance and sent people to find Jian Ruonan. By then, Jian Ruonan had already spent three years as someone's concubine.
After returning to the Marquis's Estate, Jian Ruonan could not read a single word and knew nothing of music, chess, calligraphy, or painting. Even her marriage prospects had consisted only of the men Madam Zhou's daughter, Jian Chuxue, had passed over.
Meanwhile, Jian Chuxue had been raised to be dignified and virtuous, with a reputation for goodness that spread throughout the Capital City.
Resenting this, Jian Ruonan had undermined Jian Chuxue at every turn, only to become a stepping stone on Jian Chuxue's path to success.
That was right. Jian Chuxue was the original novel's heroine.
After learning the plot, Jian Ruonan thought the system was even more useless.
[Why did it take three whole days after I arrived to learn something this important? Aren't you supposed to be the legendary combat system?]
System: [Host, please trust my professionalism. This is not an information delay. Relevant plot details can only be triggered once key characters appear.]
Jian Ruonan had no time to waste arguing with the system. She had no intention of being sold. She had to find a way to save herself.
Ever since entering the room, the matchmaker had been staring at Jian Ruonan's face. She had seen Jian Ruonan before, so how had she never noticed how fresh and pretty the girl was?
Those large, obsidian-black eyes were especially lively, as though stars had fallen into them.
One glance was enough for the matchmaker to decide that Master Zhang would certainly be pleased.
The matchmaker gave Madam Zhou a sidelong look. Taking the hint, Madam Zhou said, "Nannan, sit here for a bit. Mother will go arrange a carriage. If we ride there, we can buy more of the pastries you love."
With that, Madam Zhou linked arms with the matchmaker and walked out.
As soon as they stepped outside, Madam Zhou's expression changed. "You've seen her. She's so pretty that ten taels really won't do. Fifteen at the very least."
The matchmaker clicked her tongue and lowered her voice. "She's a young lady from the Marquis's Estate. You think you can just sell her? If they hold me accountable later, I won't be able to bear the consequences. I think we'd better forget it."
The matchmaker flicked her handkerchief and turned to leave. Madam Zhou snorted and cursed, "You scheming old woman! Twelve taels, not a copper less."
Sure enough, the matchmaker stopped.
Swaying her hips, Madam Zhou stepped forward and took the matchmaker's arm. "Don't worry. That girl brings misfortune upon her family. The Marquis's Estate wouldn't dare take her back. They left her here to fend for herself ages ago. They haven't asked after her in all these years. What are you worried about? Even if something happens, I'll take the blame."
Thinking of her five-tael commission, the matchmaker flicked her handkerchief at Madam Zhou. "Then let's be clear. If anything goes wrong, don't pin it on me."
"What could possibly go wrong? Hurry up and get the carriage." Madam Zhou added, "And the carriage fare is on you."
They agreed to take Jian Ruonan shopping in town, then deliver her straight to Master Zhang's house. Perhaps he would be so delighted when he saw her that he would even give them a reward.
While Madam Zhou and the matchmaker were talking, Jian Ruonan crawled through a hole at the back of her rain-leaking room and slipped into Madam Zhou's room.
Madam Zhou's room was clean and tidy, furnished entirely with solid wood. Though the wood was not expensive, it was still far better than Jian Ruonan's room, which was riddled with holes.
Jian Ruonan found a redwood box beneath the bed. It was locked, so she picked up a stool and smashed the lock with a clang.
System: [Nan Nan, what are you doing?]
Inside were quite a few pieces of silver and several banknotes, all squeezed out of Jian Ruonan by Madam Zhou over the years.
[I'm going to find my family. I need traveling money.] The Marquis's Estate in the Capital City was so far from the Farm Estate that she would naturally have to hire a carriage. Was she supposed to walk?
She certainly would not make herself suffer.
System: [Host, according to the plot, you can't reunite with your family for another three years!]
Jian Ruonan: [Just shut up.] five.
Jian Ruonan took the loose silver and noticed a sheet of paper at the bottom of the box. She picked it up and discovered that it was Madam Zhou's bond of servitude.
Jian Ruonan was delighted. Who would be selling whom was still up in the air.
She tucked Madam Zhou's bond of servitude securely against her body and secretly crawled back into the rain-leaking room. Madam Zhou knew nothing and was still keeping watch at the door.
Once the matchmaker had arranged the carriage and returned to fetch them, Jian Ruonan lay down on the bed. "My stomach hurts. I can't walk."
Madam Zhou glared and snatched up the rattan switch from the floor, ready to beat her. Then she thought better of it. If she damaged the girl and could not sell her, wouldn't that be a terrible loss?
With the matchmaker there, Madam Zhou did not dare go too far either. She coaxed, "We'll have a Physician in town take a look."
Jian Ruonan looked at Madam Zhou. "Carry me on your back."
For the sake of the silver she was about to receive, Madam Zhou swallowed her anger.
Madam Zhou carried her to the carriage and settled her inside, then shot her a vicious glare. You're about to become some decrepit old man's concubine. Just you wait and see how you suffer!
The three first went to a pastry shop and bought plenty of mung bean cakes, butterfly pastries, peach blossom pastries, and hibiscus cakes. Then Madam Zhou insisted on going to the silk shop to buy fabric.
After spending the morning shopping, the three went to a restaurant for a meal.
While the others were ordering, Jian Ruonan pretended that her stomach hurt and said she needed the privy. She left the restaurant and slipped into the brokerage next door.
Seeing a little girl come in, the human broker asked, "What do you want?"
Jian Ruonan took out Madam Zhou's bond of servitude. "A twenty-eight-year-old woman who's given birth and still has some looks left. Are you buying?"
It was the broker's first time seeing a little girl sell someone. Puzzled, he asked, "What's your relationship to her?"
Jian Ruonan said, "I'm her mistress. If you don't believe me, ask the coachman outside."
The coachman had personally seen Madam Zhou carry Jian Ruonan into the carriage. Usually, only a household maid would carry a young lady like that, so when the broker asked, the coachman nodded in confirmation.
Jian Ruonan tossed the coachman two-tenths of a tael of silver. "Take the broker to the restaurant to inspect her."
The coachman only earned five hundred copper coins per trip. Receiving the silver, he could barely contain his delight.
She really was a young lady-so generous with her money.
The coachman eagerly led the broker to the restaurant.
After returning from inspecting Madam Zhou, the broker began bargaining with Jian Ruonan. She could not be bothered to haggle. As long as she got paid, she would sell. She sold Madam Zhou dirt cheap for one tael of silver.
Once the paperwork was signed, the broker took his men to the restaurant and tied Madam Zhou up.
Madam Zhou was eating meat when someone suddenly bound her with a rope, leaving her utterly bewildered. Upon learning the reason, she began spewing curses before she had even swallowed. "You heartless, rotten little wretch! I'm your mother! You'll die a horrible death for selling me!"
Jian Ruonan spat at her. "You're a servant. Since when did you become my mother?"
The household's concubine-born daughters and sons could only address the principal wife as Mother. A concubine mother was little more than a servant.
Madam Zhou had only dared call herself Jian Ruonan's mother because heaven was high and the emperor far away, with no one supervising the Farm Estate. Had she been at the Marquis's Estate, Madam Zhou would have been beaten to death long ago.
Jian Ruonan possessed Madam Zhou's bond of servitude. If she wanted to sell her, even the matchmaker could not interfere.
After the broker took the bound Madam Zhou away, Jian Ruonan sat down to eat.
On the table sat a plate of crispy chicken, a plate of cold dressed pig ears, two side dishes, and two taels' weight of wine.
Jian Ruonan looked at the matchmaker. "Pay for the meal, or I'll go to the county office and report you."
The silver almost within her grasp had flown away, and now she had to cover the carriage fare too. Deeply annoyed, the matchmaker spat. "Go on, then! If you're going to report me, do it now. I run a legitimate business. You think I'm afraid of you?!"
Perhaps once they reached the county office, she could accuse the girl of slander instead. If the officials detained her, the matchmaker could send her to Master Zhang's residence without spending a single copper.
Jian Ruonan said, "I'm not reporting you to the officials. I'm going to tell the county commandant's wife that you're having an affair with him."
Thanks to the system feeding her gossip every day, she knew that the matchmaker was sleeping with the county commandant.
The county commandant had married the county magistrate's daughter, and his wife was a famously fearsome lioness of Hedong. If she learned of their affair, the commandant would lose a layer of skin, and the matchmaker would fare no better.
The county commandant especially loved the mole at the corner of the matchmaker's mouth. Whenever they met for a tryst, he had to suck on that mole a few times first.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a fetish.
Before you continue