In the winter of Kangxing the Second Year of the Great Xia Dynasty, a disheveled old woman stumbled towards the Prime Minister's mansion.
As she neared the entrance, she tripped and fell, her face landing in the snow, scattering flakes everywhere. Her fall quickly caught the attention of the gatekeeper.
He looked at the woman before him, her hair unkempt and her clothes shabby. Her exposed hands and face were covered in frostbite, and his heart filled with pity. He took out a paper-wrapped package from his embrace and handed it to the old woman.
"There are two meat buns in here, take them quickly and eat. After you're done, hurry back home. Today is the day our Prime Minister's third grandniece returns for a visit. If you accidentally offend a distinguished guest, no one will be able to help you."
Bai Rantang wanted to reprimand the gatekeeper, but as she opened her mouth, no sound came out. She touched her aged face and walked away forlornly into the street corner.
She was no longer the fourth daughter of the Prime Minister's mansion, just a country bumpkin whom no one cared about. She felt a pang of resentment and hid in a corner to observe.
At this moment, the grand gates of the Prime Minister's mansion swung open, and familiar faces appeared one after another, waiting expectantly outside the gates. A luxurious carriage gradually came into her view.
Servants rushed forward to place the footboard, and a tall, handsome man alighted from the carriage.
A maidservant beside him lifted the carriage curtain, and a fair wrist adorned with a jade bracelet emerged from the carriage. Her fingers were slender and long, plump and fair, her nails painted with the finest vermilion polish.
The man carefully and solicitously offered his support. The person was all too familiar to Bai Rantang. It was her legitimate elder sister, Bai Jingshu, the third daughter of the Bai family, Prime Minister Bai's beloved darling.
Now around thirty years old, she was still as beautiful as she was at seventeen or eighteen, her attire exquisite. It seemed her brother-in-law treated her exceptionally well, and she hadn't suffered any grievances at her in-laws' home. Bai Rantang glanced at her own rough hands, and a surge of resentment welled up in her heart.
She could bear it no longer and fled the scene in disarray. Her legitimate sister's life and hers were worlds apart. Why? Why was it that they were both daughters of the Prime Minister's mansion?
Her tears seemed to have all run dry, unable to fall any further. Bai Rantang sat by the lake, reflecting on her life. She felt it had all been in vain: her father's favoritism, her mother's early death, and her own misplaced trust.
She could only wish that in her next life, she could be a high-born legitimate daughter like her elder sister. Then, she could have a life like her elder sister's. No, she would live even better than her elder sister. Definitely!
With this thought, she threw herself into the icy lake. When she opened her eyes again, everything had changed. She had returned to the year she was fourteen, awaiting marriage. This time, she was determined to rise above her circumstances.
She would ditch the scumbag, marry a prince, and become the most honored woman in the Great Xia Dynasty. Any obstacle—the Crown Prince, the Duke of Zhenguo, her favoritism-showing scumbag father—would be dealt with.
Jun Jiuli: "And then what? Did she succeed? Eating melon jpg."
Water Baby: "Of course she succeeded."
"She didn't have a cheat, but she was reborn with a brain!"
"Just keep listening, don't interrupt!"
After Bai Rantang's rebirth, while out on a lake excursion, she saved the young master of the Xia Kingdom's most prominent royal family. The young master immediately gave her a token, promising to fulfill one request for her in the future.
Then, she sought out and formed an alliance with the Second Prince Zhao Yunyi, offering as proof of her sincerity the fact that the Second Prince's maternal grandfather, the Minister of Revenue, was corrupt and had been investigated by the Prime Minister. All that was needed was concrete evidence to convict him.
She urged the Second Prince's faction to quickly cover their tracks and relocate. In her previous life, this case was handled by the Prime Minister, and Bai Rantang had accidentally seen the key witness. Before the incident, the Second Prince had eliminated all of them.
The next day, the Prime Minister indeed arrived with his men. This led the Second Prince to begin trusting Bai Rantang. Following this, a plague broke out in Xingcheng, and Bai Rantang gave the Second Prince a prescription that the Imperial Academy had spent considerable time researching.
Furthermore, before the plague even erupted, she had the Second Prince's men stockpile a large quantity of grain. In the time of crisis, some were sold at exorbitant prices, while some were distributed for free to Xingcheng, boosting the Second Prince's reputation. The common people were made to remember the Second Prince who was always thinking of them.
The Second Prince was completely convinced of Bai Rantang's capabilities. During their time together, he gradually fell in love with this extraordinary woman. He knelt outside the Emperor's study for an entire day and night.
He requested to betroth Bai Rantang, the Prime Minister's concubine-born daughter, as his official consort. This infuriated Noble Consort De, who couldn't eat for days, and the Emperor even smashed several tea sets in his study.
From the name the Emperor gave the Second Prince, it was evident that the Emperor intended for him to be a prince of leisure, thus his official consort would not be of exceptionally high status.
However, it was still an insult to royal dignity for her to be a concubine-born daughter. But in the end, the Emperor's heart ached for his son, and he acquiesced to the arrangement.
Bai Rantang, from a concubine-born daughter, leaped to become the Second Prince's Consort, an advancement that could be described as a hundred-level jump in life. After all, marrying into royalty required a dowry that could not be too shabby. The Prime Minister's wife also painstakingly prepared a dowry of ten miles of celebratory carriages and gifts for her.
In the 22nd year of Yuankang, the Great Xia Dynasty suffered a severe drought. Crops failed completely, and irrigation projects lagged behind, causing great distress to the citizens of Great Xia. At this time, the Second Prince's Consort, Bai Rantang, went to a royal temple to pray for rain for the people.
She knelt for three days, and on the fourth day, heavenly dew descended. Everyone praised the Second Prince's Consort as a reincarnated goddess who blessed the ten thousand people of Great Xia.
Although the phrase "blessed the ten thousand people" displeased the Emperor somewhat, it did bring rain. He greatly rewarded the Second Prince's Consort.
At this point, many people in Great Xia only recognized the Second Prince Zhao Yunyi and were unaware of the Crown Prince Zhao Xiaolin.
In the 23rd year of Yuankang, the Tujue tribes invaded. The Second Prince's faction nominated the Heir Apparent of the Duke of Zhenguo, Xu Zisheng, to lead the troops. He did not disappoint and returned victorious.
However, on his return, he encountered an ambush by "mountain bandits" and fell off a cliff, his body never to be fully recovered. The generals brought back his remains. Duke Zheng had only this one son.
The original host, who was pregnant, could not bear the shock and lost her child.
The title of Duke's mansion could no longer be inherited. The current Empress was the biological sister of the Duke of Zheng, and thus the Crown Prince lost his maternal support.
In the winter of the 23rd year of Yuankang, the Emperor fell gravely ill, his ailment inexplicable. Despite prolonged treatment, he did not recover. He appointed the Crown Prince as the regent.
On the 14th day of winter, the Second Prince led men to storm the Eastern Palace and discovered voodoo dolls with the Emperor's birth date. He immediately dispatched guards to confine the Crown Prince.
He then proceeded to the Emperor's sleeping quarters to report the matter. Unexpectedly, the Emperor, angered by the Crown Prince's actions, died of a broken heart.
He left behind an oral decree for the Second Prince to succeed him. The Second Prince ascended the throne, banished the former Crown Prince Zhao Xiaolin to guard the imperial mausoleum, and changed the reign title to Yongxing.
In the second year of Yongxing, Prime Minister Bai colluded with foreign enemies in an attempt to rebel. The Imperial Guards discovered dragon robes and a large quantity of silver in a hidden compartment in Prime Minister Bai's study.
He was originally to be sentenced to extermination of his entire clan. However, out of consideration for the Empress, all members of the Bai family aged sixteen and above were sentenced to be strangled, with collateral family members also implicated.
Those aged fifteen and below, along with their wives and daughters, were demoted to slave status, their entire property confiscated. Married daughters were not affected.