Reborn: Revenge of the Concubine’s Daughter

At this time in He Danggui’s bedroom, Meng Xi was still transmitting internal energy to Meng Xuan. Trying to get rid of his jealousy, Meng Ying turned around and went to the living room. He stood by the window and stared at the moon to soothe the bitterness in his heart. Meng Ying and Meng Xuan were biological brothers who grew up together in the same environment. Why would Meng Xuan be so brilliant and able to settle everything? Why was always someone powerful there to help him when Meng Xuan was in trouble? However, Meng Ying was slightly inferior to him and less lucky all the time. He wanted to broaden his horizons by traveling around, but he got trapped by a schemer like Zhu Quan and had to be more and more involved in their business.

Meng Ying sighed at the moon. Would he be enslaved to Zhu Quan for the rest of his life and become a puppet? Seeing Meng Xuan’s determination to live and die with He Danggui, he couldn’t make repeat mistakes and destroy the only person to keep Meng Xuan alive even though he didn’t know He Danggui’s feelings for Meng Xuan.

The reason why Meng Ying agreed to help Duan Xiaolou and Zhu Quan was that he didn’t expect Meng Xuan was so obsessed with He Danggui that he even turned from a brilliant man into an idiot. What on earth was love? Why could it make a person utterly become another man? Meng Xuan had just known love for women for several years. Why would he promise to live and die with a woman so easily? When did he know He Danggui? How did he fall in love with her? What did it feel like to love someone?

“Hey, uh, Third Childe?” A ringing female voice sounded. Meng Ying knew it was from Liao Qing’er without turning around. “I want to know what has happened to Xiaoyi and how can I save her.”

Meng Ying frowned and looked into the bedroom. Sure enough, just after Liao Qing’er finished her words, Meng Xuan coughed and panted again. Meng Xi warned him, “Focus on Dantian. Keep your mind from distraction. Or even I can’t stop you from Qi Deviation. You will be paraplegic at least even if you can avoid general paralysis. Then, how will you be able to get the woman you love back?”

Meng Ying looked at the girl in front of him and showed his anger with a glare, which scared Liao Qing’er very much. She apologized immediately, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know Meng Xuan’s condition was so critical, but I’m very anxious since Xiaoyi left him alone here and got missing. She is always loving and tries her best to save animals. She would never ignore Meng Xuan’s injury. Was she hurt so severely that she even couldn’t save herself?”

Such an ominous guess made Meng Xuan in the bedroom flustered again and Meng Xi reminded him with serious warnings again. Thus, Meng Ying got furious at Liao Qing’er and dragged her out of the room by grabbing her arm. He didn’t stop until they stood in the peach grove which was very far from the bedroom. He loosened his hand and crossed his arms across the chest. Looking down at Liao Qing’er, he said, “Miss Liao, you shouldn’t stay here anymore. Just go. He Danggui isn’t in Tao Yao Yard. You shouldn’t waste your time here if you want to save her. You can get out of the city and go to Ten Mile Slope. He Danggui was poisoned and might be dead soon.”

Liao Qing’er was startled and cursed, “My goodness! You should’ve told me this earlier. I should’ve just let you commit suicide before!” She ran and began to think about it at the same time. Ten Mile Slope was one of Imperial Guards’ strongholds so those men had something to do with the poison in Xiaoyi’s body. And the person among imperial guards that had the most grudges against her was… Duan Xiaolou! How could it be possible? He couldn’t wait to take action as well?

Meng Ying stood still and stared at her figure silently. Then, he thought of again the peculiar and stupid dream he had three years ago. In that dream, regardless of the silly things he did, he only remembered the girl was Liao Qing’er and she looked a lot prettier than she was in the reality now. He had said “I didn’t expect Liao Zhiyuan’s younger sister was so ugly” before and it seemed to have irritated her right away. In fact, what he really wanted to say was “You’re very beautiful in my dream”.

Of course, Meng Ying had seen many women who were ten times prettier than her and he always had high expectations of women’s looks. He couldn’t believe he would say something shocking like “Liao Qing’er, I’ve been loving you secretly for four years. I’ll cut my belly open if you are still unwilling to marry me”. That was stupid. Although Liao Qing’er was special, he had a normal taste and preferred a traditional beauty like his mother… However, he felt it was so funny while thinking of how she gave a love letter to him… He seemed to have still kept that letter. Where was it…

The figure in the “oilpaper raincoat” was running farther and faster. Meng Ying couldn’t help calling her, “Miss Liao! Miss Liao! Miss Liao?” Was she ignoring him? “Liao Qing’er! Liao Qing’er! Miss Liao!”

Liao Qing’er still kept running. The only thing Meng Ying understood now was that he should never irritate women. She was so narrow-minded. He had just embarrassed her that time in Yinghui Academy and she was even still angry about it. Why couldn’t she stand in his shoes? Thirteen-year-old boys were not very interested in girls. When he received a love letter from a fifteen-year-old chubby girl, it was reasonable for him to be shocked instead of feeling proud, moved, or uh, heart-pounding.

However, three months after that matter happened, one day, Meng Ying suddenly heard his mother was discussing “serials” with other concubines of his father. It was said that was the “patent right” of a daughter of Liao’s Family which had been reported by her to the newly-set “Patent Department” in the government. If a theatrical troupe had performed a serial written by her, they would have needed to give her five percent of the profit. Even if they hadn’t done that but performed a long play by imitating the form of serials and advertised it in the name of serials, they would have had to give her two percent of the profit.

If the theatrical troupe refused to give her the money, it would be illegal. According to the new set of Patent Law, the theatrical troupe would commit the crime of piracy and be subject to a double fine. The maximum penalty would be ten percent of the profit and it would be enforced by local government officials. What was the most amazing was that the “patent right” was valid for life and hereditary. Not only she but also her descendants could get such dividends. If the theatrical troupe refused to pay that, they couldn’t perform the most popular serials now! If they wanted to pay less, they couldn’t perform the authorized version of The Legend of White Snake. They could only create a piratical version named A Snake Fell in Love with a Scholar with their own scarce wisdom!

Liao Qing’er’s first pot of gold in this dynasty was earned by her idea and promotion of serials. Of course, to make the Patent Law legal, she kept urging her elder brother at home who requested people in Imperial Guards later. After having worked for it for three years, she finally realized her dream. “Serials were created by Liao Qing’er.” Only those ladies who loved watching serials knew this, but it gradually became one of the reasons why Liao Qing’er turned into a famous figure in the capital.

Liao Qing’er had lived in the capital for several years. Except for making her famous for her “ugliness”, her peculiar behaviors also helped her become a celebrity. Some ignorant ladies even began to imitate the strange conduct of Liao Qing’er.

There were lots of examples about it. Liao Qing’er often tied high ponytails and shook them with great strength. She thought she was so cool and carefree that she could ride horses. She took off the covers of oilpaper umbrellas and wore them. She said they were raincoats lighter than straw rain capes and more convenient than umbrellas. She bravely rejected all “the arranged marriages under the feudal system” decided by her parents because they had presbyopia and outdated tastes so that they always picked men like a fuddy-duddy. She never read sentimental poems usually liked by young ladies but wrote scripts of serials assiduously in her room. She wanted to create the love stories she preferred and let men see the feminism of a new era. She often used strange self-created words. When seeing others getting confused, she would call herself a female scholar complacently and say while pretending to be melancholy, “I have already been wiser than anyone in the world. Don’t admire me. I’m a legend now.”

All these behaviors could explain why Liao Qing’er became a celebrity, but she thought they were symptoms of “Rejection of Adapting the Ancient Life”, which was a disease she had. She believed she had been suffering from a serious illness that wouldn’t be cured since she had the time travel to the Ming Dynasty.

Actually, she wasn’t very fashionable and didn’t often talk about popular words when she was still in the modern world. She just sat in her dark bedroom and read books after finishing her work in the laboratory most of the time. Fashion had long since forgotten her. At that time, ancient romance novels were her favorite. She thought in ancient times when there was no phone and it took about half a month to deliver letters, falling in love must have been an unprecedented good thing that was both romantic and melancholic.

She had imagined this. Without mobile phones, men could never send ambiguous texts to other women secretly. They wouldn’t be able to have soul infidelities with other women in the name of “friends”. In ancient times, as long as women could keep an eye on their husbands, men would be faithful both mentally and physically. And for a woman like Liao Qing’er, it would be very easy for her to live well in the Ming Dynasty as long as she had a pretty look, wisdom, brilliance, and charm of personality as all people having had time travels did.

She didn’t like modern times or talking to others including her family before. She even had dreams occasionally about time travels. She believed she lived in ancient times in her previous life so she liked the word “ancient” very much and felt fluttered every time she thought about it.

In fact, she had hidden much from He Danggui about how she time-traveled to this world. First, her father’s illegitimate daughter robbed her of her fiance, but she immediately comforted herself that there were still lots of good men in the world and her ex-fiance was just lousy. Thus, she didn’t feel upset at all. Second, she got hit on her knee by a bicycle going in the wrong direction on a one-way street. She was bleeding but no one came to help her. She comforted herself again today was Friday and the 13th of the month and everyone would get unlucky. Finally, she got a call from a hospital and it said her mother had suffered from an asthma attack and didn’t make it and died halfway even though an ambulance was called to help her.

Then, walking into the public toilet in a park nearby, she began to wail. She always immersed herself in her own spiritual world and seldom talked to her mother. She usually put on her earphones and turned up the volume to the maximum because she was tired of her mother’s complaints as a dissatisfied housewife. She never knew her mother had asthma and the grievous news came to her as soon as she heard of it. Thinking about all of these things, she wailed harder and got out of breath gradually. It was like she was a fish that was about to be drowned. There was inexhaustible free air around her but she just couldn’t inhale it to sustain her life.

She wondered in shock whether there was a familial-hereditary sudden asthma attack in her family. And today was Friday and the 13th of the month. God was angry and even a strong man like Shuichi Akai got in trouble. It could be seen that today was an ominous day and her family was the most unlucky one so two members of it would die! She began to exclaim in her heart, “God! Other families always passed antique vases as heirlooms. Why would my family pass asthma? God! Since I’m destined to die young, why didn’t you make it happen before I needed to review for the College Entrance Exam? Why did you make me suffer a lot before?

God! You bully the weak and fear the strong. You’re also good at making use of opportunities! God! You can’t distinguish the kind and the vicious! You mistake the smart for the silly!” Alas, she could just shed tears alone.

She kept accusing God in grievances in her heart. Around her wrist, there was a string of prayers beads strung together by a red thread, which was bought on a stall outside the Potala Palace. It was said that those beads had been consecrated by an eminent monk and they could guide souls. Although she wore it as if she knew its value, she never believed it. There were only four small beads on the thread but suddenly, they caused an amazing burst of blue laser light which surrounded her entirely while she was having an asthma attack.

Then, thinking about “An alien is going to abduct me and do experiments on me”, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw the man who hit her with a bicycle before and he was wearing an ancient costume. He asked while smiling foolishly, “Qing’er, are you okay? Do you still feel pain in your head? I bought you Fried Flour Pieces Wrapped in Syrup. Could you just not tell the parents that I took you to climb trees?”

Thus, she realized she had time travel. Judging from the various antiques in the house, she knew this family was a lot wealthier than her family in modern times.