MTL - My Stepmother is Soft and Charming - Chapter 654 Small fight big

Shen Yansheng always thought that she didn’t like Lu Jingce until one day she heard that a certain group boss intended to marry his daughter to Lu Jingce. She was so angry that she couldn’t eat anything that night and locked herself in the room after returning home. When Lu Jingce came back in the evening, he took the key from the study, opened the door and entered her bedroom. He sat beside the bed, leaned over and kissed her to wake her from her sleep. She looked at him angrily, but he smiled happily and asked, “Jealous?”

Shen Yansheng and Lu Jingce have been falling in love all the time, mainly because she hadn’t figured out how to explain their relationship to her parents, which caused her parents to always think she was single, so they took the initiative to trick her into going on a blind date. But someone happened to have a dinner in that restaurant that day, and saw her and her blind date sitting at a table for dinner from a distance. She felt a gaze looking at her from behind, and when she turned her head, she met someone’s handsome face that was half-smiling. That night, as soon as Shen Yansheng came home, she threw herself on someone, raised her hand and swore, “I can explain it!” Someone still had that half-smile and pinched her cheek, “The explanation is invalid.”

- Description from Novelupdates

Every little girl's fantasy is to live a wonderful life full of riches and luxuries. This was the future she imagined, and she was willing to go to any length to obtain it.She was spoiled, pampered, and doted on by her family, and she was proud of herself. She knew she deserved the best, and she went for it. This, however, is where the nightmare began.Wanting to leave the clutches of poverty wasn't as simple as she believed, given the things she had to give up, the humiliation she had to endure, and the numerous things she had to lose. It was not worthwhile.When she thought she had it all, she was slapped in the face with the cold, hard truth: she was only a SUBSTITUTE.And when two of her closest companions turned on her and betrayed her, she was shoved aside and got humiliated by people she used to know.With nothing and no one to lean on, she was forced to make decisions. Decisions that gradually resulted in something breathtakingly amazing.[DING! SIGN IN! THE HOST HAS BEEN REWARDED WITH ******]

The story begins as our female lead wakes up in a strange room and an unfamiliar body. She realizes that she has travelled back in time and her twenty-two year old spirit is now trapped in the body of a six year old girl. This girl child is the third daughter of Ning Guo’s Prime Minister Li and his seventh wife. Her name is Li Qing Luo and because her mother was originally from an entertainment house, Prime Minister Li and his other six wives treated them badly.

Her first day in that world, the whole family gathers to test the talent of the three daughters. Qing Lei, the eldest, is talented at playing the zither while Qing Fei’s calligraphy is incomparable. Everyone anticipates A’Luo’s failure as she had not exhibited any talent before, but that six year old child recites a famous Tang poem. The entire family is surprised that Qing Luo is able to write such a profound poem and her mother later tells her that Prime Minister Li is so harsh on his daughters because he needs to rely on them marrying well to secure his future. Qing Luo begins to study qin, qi, shu, hua (zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting) but hides her skill because she does not want to be sold in marriage to some prince or court official.

Six years later, A’Luo is now twelve and leaves the estate for the first time to participate at a flower viewing banquet. This is a special banquet because the Five Most Eligible Bachlors of Feng Cheng will be in attendance (there’s actually a more elegant name for them). These young men are: Crown Prince Liu Jian, Fourth Prince Liu Fei, the young An Qing Wang Liu Jue, the son of Prime Minister Gu Gu Tian Xiang, and the top scorer of the Imperial Examinations Cheng Si Yue. A’Luo sneaks off and almost falls into a river, but is saved by a handsome young man. Because he glanced at her bare legs a moment too long, A’Luo calls him a pervert, tries to push him into the river and runs off. The young man only laughs and vows to find her again.

- Description from Novelupdates