After ten years of exhausting every scheme, Song Yutang had finally ascended the imperial throne with her young son in her arms.
Yet a lifetime of effort had drained her dry, and on the very night she moved to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, her lamp ran out of oil.
When she opened her eyes again, her head felt as though it would split apart.
"Song Yutang, don't be ungrateful. For a country bumpkin like you, marrying into the richest family is a blessing."
"Weiwei has fulfilled your duties as the Song Family's eldest daughter for all these years, and now you want to make her marry a vegetable? Have dogs eaten your conscience?"
Watching the two mouths open and close, Song Yutang slowly pieced together the situation before her.
She had transmigrated a thousand years into the future and become the eldest daughter of the Song Family of Cloud City.
The original owner's parents had divorced when she was five, and her mother had left with nothing, taking her back to the countryside.
The illegitimate daughter, Song Ruowei, had moved right in and naturally taken over her marriage arrangement as well.
Only after the fiancé became a vegetable in a car accident did the Song Family finally remember that the marriage belonged to Song Yutang. They had forcibly dragged her back and put her in a wedding dress.
During the struggle, Song Ruowei had deliberately tripped her, and her forehead had struck the corner of the coffee table...
"Sister, Grandma arranged this marriage with the Jiang Family for you in the first place. How can you turn your nose up at it? That's so unfilial."
Song Yutang looked up. Song Ruowei was sitting on the sofa opposite her.
Dressed in luxurious haute couture, she carried herself elegantly, like a true young heiress.
"I hear poor country girls come cheapest. Five yuan is enough to get them into bed with an old bachelor. You're so opposed to getting married-could it be that you don't dare?"
"Heh..." Song Yutang suddenly curved her lips and stood up with a smile.
"Sister, what are you laughing at? Oh, right. You've never had an aristocratic education, so of course you don't know what a true French lady-"
Smack!
Song Yutang suddenly raised her hand and slapped her across the face.
Song Ruowei was stunned. "You... you dare hit me..."
Wearing a perfectly proper smile, Song Yutang raised her hand for another slap. "I don't need to know what a true French lady is. Knowing Chinese propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame is enough. Just what I'd expect of a lowborn wretch born to a kept mistress-nothing but filthy language and barking."
Song Ruowei's mother's eyes reddened, her manner aggrieved. "Tangtang, I know you and your mother hate me. If you're angry, take it out on me, but please don't upset your father. He has a bad heart..."
Song Yutang backhanded that tearful face. "Concubine Sun, when the eldest young lady is speaking, what right does a kept mistress like you have to interrupt?"
The slap sent Sun Meifang staggering. "C-Concubine Sun?"
Father Song gaped. "What on earth did your mother teach you? This is a new age, yet your head is still full of feudal dregs."
Song Yutang sat elegantly on the sofa. "It certainly is a new age. Taking concubines isn't permitted. But when you and Concubine Sun had my concubine-born sister, you hadn't divorced my mother yet. I'm a well-bred person. If you dislike 'concubine' and 'concubine-born sister,' I can call them 'homewrecker' and 'bastard' instead."
She had the original owner's memories, so of course she knew the times had changed.
But propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame had not.
Sun Meifang had been a poor student receiving financial support, yet she had climbed into her benefactor's husband's bed and indirectly driven her to her death. She was utterly depraved.
The original owner and her mother had been easy to bully. Song Yutang was not.
She had to make them understand their place.
"You... you..." Unable to argue with her, Father Song turned livid. "Since you're so well-bred, you should know I'm your father. If I tell you to honor the engagement and marry into the Jiang Family, then you must marry."
Song Yutang gently set down her teacup. "I never said I wouldn't. It's just that, since ancient times, a woman has always needed a dowry when she marries."
Her full brother could no longer contain himself. "Song Yutang, your greed knows no bounds! Weiwei has fulfilled your duties as the Song Family's eldest daughter for years. What right do you have to steal her dowry too?"
Song Yutang gave him a casual glance. "My concubine-born brother, since you put it that way, why don't I find someone outside the family to come back and fulfill your duties as the Song Family's eldest son from now on?"
Song Mingzhe choked, then flew into a rage. "Song Yutang, have you gone mad? I'm your full brother! What the hell do you mean, concubine-born brother?"
Song Yutang smiled. "Haven't you spent all these years despising Mother for being incapable and acknowledging Concubine Sun as your own mother? Only Father, blinded by lust, would elevate a kept mistress who started as a foot-washing maid to the position of wife. Otherwise, you wouldn't even count as a concubine's son. You'd be a child of adultery, just like our concubine-born sister."
"You unfilial wretch..." Father Song had never been humiliated like this before. Furious, he raised his hand to strike her.
"Father, the richest family's wedding convoy will be here any moment. If the bride has a slap mark on her face, is it really me you're slapping, or the Jiang Family?" Song Yutang was clearly smiling, yet she gave Father Song an uncanny sense of dread.
He froze for a long moment before lowering his hand resentfully. "Since you know that, get in the car obediently and marry him."
Song Yutang smiled. "I'm a well-bred person who understands propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame. So I know that, according to traditional etiquette, a daughter must be given a dowry when she marries."
Father Song was about to retort when deafening firecrackers erupted outside.
The Jiang Family's wedding convoy had arrived.
He took a deep breath to suppress his anger, reluctantly scribbled out a check, and tossed it in front of Song Yutang.
Song Yutang picked it up and looked. One million.
Not enough to buy a single one of Song Ruowei's earrings.
Song Yutang smiled and shook her head, leisurely tearing up the check and scattering it into the air. "Father, I'm your eldest legitimate daughter. You'd better have some fucking sense of what that means."
Father Song's face alternated between green and white as he glared viciously at her. "Song Yutang, cut the snide remarks. For a country bumpkin raised in the sticks like you, a million-yuan dowry is already a favor to the Jiang Family. Keep disobeying me, and I'll have you tied up and put in the wedding car."
Song Yutang gave a soft laugh. "Suit yourself. But... if you dare tie me up and put me in that car, I'll kill the Jiang Family's eldest son and say you ordered me to."
Father Song sucked in a sharp breath.
He looked at her as though he had seen a ghost.
Song Yutang had grown up in the countryside. She was nothing but an uncouth girl who had never seen the world.
How could she have such nerve?
Tapping her fingertips lightly on the table, Song Yutang smiled and spoke gently. "Don't worry, Father. I'm a well-bred person. Why would I do something like that unless I had absolutely no choice? Ten million. You have ten seconds to think about it. One, two, three, four..."
Her counting mingled with the commotion outside, making Father Song's scalp prickle.
Seeing that the front door had already been pushed open, he could only steel himself and hastily write another check. "Take it."
Song Yutang accepted the check, but she was not satisfied.
She looked around, then simply fetched a stool and took down the oil painting hanging in the center of the living room. She also scooped up several decorative vases and jars, cradling them in her arms as she smiled at Father Song. "Though an old thing like you knows nothing of etiquette, Father, I'm a well-bred lady. Even if I can't have ten miles of red bridal finery, I can't go empty-handed. These will serve as my dowry."
The painting seemed to be some famous foreign work, worth over ten million.
Those vases and jars were all works by masters as well.
The Song Family's resources were limited. Afraid Father Song might simply smash the cracked pot and refuse to give her a penny, she had only asked for ten million in cash.
She had to make up the difference elsewhere.
"You... you..." Father Song pointed at her, so furious he could barely speak.
Song Yutang seized the opportunity to step forward and strip the Rolex from his wrist. "Thank you for adding to my dowry, Father."
"Song Yutang, you-"
"Thank you for adding to your sister's dowry, my concubine-born brother." Song Mingzhe's diamond cuff links were stripped away too.
"Sister, how can you upset Dad like this..." Song Ruowei fanned the flames.
Song Yutang yanked the jade pendant from her neck. "Since you insist on giving it to me, my concubine-born sister, I, your legitimate elder sister, will reluctantly accept."
Frightened, Sun Meifang hurriedly backed away.
Father Song was just about to erupt when the butler urged from outside, "Eldest young lady, please get into the wedding car."
Finally satisfied, Song Yutang tucked the check into an inner pocket and bowed with dignity to each of them. "Your daughter Yutang marries today. I bid farewell to Father, to my concubine-born elder brother, and to my concubine-born younger sister."
When her gaze fell on Sun Meifang, her expression changed at once, and she said coldly, "Concubine Sun, with your origins, you would never have been allowed through our Song Family's doors. But since Father has been blinded by lust, there's little I, as his daughter, can say. Remember your place at all times, take good care of Father and my concubine-born siblings, and never go outside and disgrace us."
Sun Meifang gaped again. "I... I..."
Without giving her another glance, Song Yutang turned and left.
Unable to swallow her anger, Song Ruowei sneered behind her, "Sister, you don't think marrying into the Jiang Family means you'll have a good life, do you? Being the richest family's daughter-in-law isn't that easy."