He Xiaolan 1

When Wen Qiushui woke in her new body, she was weaker than she had ever been. Even the frail Qiao Wanmian had been very healthy compared with her present body.

As no one happened to be disturbing her, Wen Qiushui began sorting through the body's memories.

After absorbing them, Wen Qiushui let out a long sigh. The identities she transmigrated into were getting more and more troublesome.

The body's original owner was named He Xiaolan, the second manor lord of the Heavenly Secret Manor. Her martial arts were unremarkable, but she was skilled in mechanisms. If not for the child now in her belly and the overly unusual identity of the child's biological father, Wen Qiushui might not even have known that the Heavenly Secret Manor had a second young lady.

After all, she had transmigrated several times, and Wen Qiushui knew some of this world's secrets like the back of her hand.

This He Xiaolan was the woman Shan Gudao had deceived in both body and heart, who later died after a difficult labor giving birth to Fang Duobing.

And by now, He Xiaolan had already broken up with Shan Gudao and was pregnant.

The ostensible reason the original owner had broken up with Shan Gudao was that he was devoted to his career and had no heart for romance, and she had wanted to part with him because she did not want to hold him back.

At first glance, the reason was much the same as Qiao Wanmian's back then.

But the real reason was that He Xiaolan had already noticed all sorts of things amiss with Shan Gudao.

As a woman who had been intimate with Shan Gudao and was exceptionally clever, she naturally discovered in time that he was not the heroic, righteous man, as pure as a clear breeze and a bright moon, that she had thought him to be.

Although he had nothing but praise for his master and fellow disciples whenever he mentioned them, the look that occasionally flashed through his eyes made even He Xiaolan's heart shudder.

And although he had a wide circle of friends, who all seemed to be chivalrous and righteous people, He Xiaolan had also inadvertently noticed, on several occasions, people of unknown identity who did not look like good people coming secretly to pay their respects to Shan Gudao.

They were said to be paying their respects because they were exceedingly respectful toward Shan Gudao, kneeling to greet him every time they saw him.

So Shan Gudao surely had a force hidden in the shadows. If there was nothing amiss with that force, why would Shan Gudao hide it?

His motives for approaching He Xiaolan were impure as well. After all, the more time they spent together, no matter how blinded by love He Xiaolan was, she could still tell that Shan Gudao had asked her many questions about mechanisms and was especially eager to meet her elder sister and brother-in-law.

When He Xiaolan became pregnant, Shan Gudao did not so much as go to the Heavenly Secret Manor to ask for her hand, as though her status were beneath his.

Yet he used visiting her as a pretext to come to the Heavenly Secret Manor frequently. He was rather indifferent to her, seemingly believing that once a woman bore a man's child, she would surely be devoted to him heart and soul. He was, however, quite attentive to her brother-in-law, who served at court.

He Xiaolan could bear it no longer. Afraid of bringing disaster upon the Heavenly Secret Manor, she found an excuse and wrote Shan Gudao a letter breaking up with him, severing their relationship completely.

And because she had worried excessively during her pregnancy, she had been bedridden by illness when she was only three months along.

He Xiaolan also used this as a reason to refuse Shan Gudao's visits.

Wen Qiushui, who was now He Xiaolan, touched her swollen belly and sighed again.

If she had not been so far along, she would certainly have aborted the child.

There was no other reason: she simply looked down on Shan Gudao. His aptitude, character, and talent were all utterly mediocre.

Even his looks were those of an ugly man.

The original owner had only just entered the jianghu when Shan Gudao deceived her with his tenderness and attentiveness. Otherwise, how could a young lady of the Heavenly Secret Manor have taken a fancy to him?

Thinking of Fang Duobing's appearance, He Xiaolan breathed a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had inherited his looks from the original owner.

Now that she had become He Xiaolan, she certainly would not let Shan Gudao live to offend her eyes. As for Fang Duobing in the future—no, she would not die, so the child would take her surname, He. And what would she do if He Duobing learned that she had killed his biological father with her own hands?

Nothing. If the child came to resent her, she did not care for him either.

Back then, it was not as if she had never had a child. Even without her love, had that child not grown up just fine?

Her experiences had taught her that in this world, no one was unable to live without someone else.

For a child she did not want, staying out of each other's lives was the greatest love she could give.

Although she had already begun thinking about how Shan Gudao would die, the most urgent matter now was still to nurse her body back to health.

He Xiaolan summoned a maid and casually wrote out a prescription, telling her to fetch the herbs and brew them for her to drink. She also took a body-nourishing pill from her space and swallowed it whole to replenish her body's vitality.

Fortunately, He Xiaolan had accumulated many medicinal herbs and pills in her space. To avoid exposing anything unusual about herself, she prescribed no miraculous remedies beyond the prescription she had just written.

She merely used it alongside the pills from her space to slowly mend her body.

She also used her spare time to begin studying medicine, creating a smokescreen for when she displayed her medical skills in the future.

After all, her body was weak and her martial arts were poor. For now, it was better to lie low and quietly nurse herself back to health.

Unlike the original owner, who had been afraid of causing trouble and had not dared tell her eldest sister He Xiaohui what was amiss with Shan Gudao, He Xiaolan now held nothing back.

When He Xiaohui came to visit her, the present He Xiaolan laid out all of the original owner's suspicions.

She had dealt with He Xiaohui a few times before. He Xiaohui was no ordinary woman, and the Heavenly Secret Manor's sound management was largely to her credit.

That was also why, even though He Xiaolan wanted to nurse her body back to health, she did not dare reveal too much of her medical skills.

Now that He Xiaohui knew something was amiss with Shan Gudao, she could naturally guard against him. And He Xiaolan's gradual recovery could be attributed to the lifting of her mental burden.

Fortunately, with the pills He Xiaolan had refined and the Heavenly Devil Instruction washing her sinews and cleansing her marrow, even though she had already been pregnant for a long time when she arrived, she managed to nurse the battered body nearly back to health just before giving birth.

At least there would be no danger during the birth, nor would it leave her with any lasting harm.

Three years passed, and He Xiaolan's body had fully recovered. Her Heavenly Devil Instruction had broken through to the second level.

Moreover, thanks to her efforts during this time, everyone at the Heavenly Secret Manor knew that He Xiaolan was exceptionally gifted: she had studied medicine for only a short time, yet had already become accomplished in it.

During this time, because He Xiaolan needed to recuperate, her child, He Duobing, had been left in He Xiaohui's care.

And this was also the year Shan Gudao's junior brother, Li Xiangyi, the future number one under heaven, came down from the mountain.

He Xiaolan's eyes turned. Killing Shan Gudao right before Li Xiangyi's eyes seemed as though it would be rather interesting.

So He Xiaolan sent out all the people she had recruited over the past few years to search for traces of Shan Gudao.