Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 118 - 9: Sisters Reunited

Prince Rong and Duke Li grew up together and were relatives, sharing a very close relationship, but they fell out due to a certain incident as they grew older.

Ruan Qiniang hesitated to explain, but Susu understood—it was all because heroes cannot resist beautiful women. Both of them fell in love with the same woman, but Duke Li resorted to dishonorable means to marry the woman who adored Prince Rong, making her his original wife!

It was indeed a love triangle, and if it had stopped there, it would have been fine. Unfortunately, every story has a ’but’.

Duke Li perhaps felt guilty towards his brother, so he tried to match his own sister with the Second Prince, with Consort looking favorably upon the pairing. But who knew this lady, proud and high-minded, couldn’t accept the humble Second Prince, who only accepted him as a cousin because he was raised by an aunt. She instead became entangled with the Eldest Prince, born to Princess Consort Zhenzhen. At the time, the Eldest Prince had been conferred as Prince Liang and had a Main Wife. Yet, for this lady, he forced the Main Wife to retreat to a temple and soon she was gone.

Princess Consort Zhenzhen then beseeched the emperor to grant the marriage. This lady, originally meant to be the Second Prince’s Main Wife, became the Eldest Prince’s Consort, dreaming that when he ascended the throne, she would be the empress. Little did she know that the Second Prince, appearing kind, was narrow-minded, harboring deep resentment against Duke Li’s Mansion. Even Consort’s attitude towards Duke Li’s Mansion cooled significantly.

Afterward, the Second Prince also became a prince and married a noblewoman as his Main Wife, who is now Prince Ke’s mother.

As for the current emperor’s grudges with Duke Li, if you think it ended here, you’d be too naive. As it turns out, there’s no most melodramatic, only more melodramatic!

At that time, Duke Li was still the Princely Heir. Both the Heir’s wife and Princess Consort Rong were pregnant, one seven months along, the other five months. At the New Year palace banquet, the two pregnant women not only bumped into each other but also an accident occurred.

Duke Li’s Princely Heir and Prince Rong arrived simultaneously upon hearing the news. If each had scrambled to their own wife, nothing would have happened. But in their panic, both rushed to the same woman, and Prince Rong reached her first.

In full view of everyone, people were dumbfounded—Prince Rong was holding Duke Li’s Heir’s wife, while his own Princess Consort lay on the ground.

Though the next moment the Princely Heir seized his wife, and Prince Rong’s Chief Eunuch exclaimed, "The prince was flustered, didn’t see clearly," everyone had eyes and wasn’t blind! Princess Consort Rong and the Heir’s wife didn’t resemble each other at all, not even in clothing.

This farce ended before the late Emperor arrived, but the follow-up stories continued to unfold.

Both pregnant women gave birth prematurely. The Heir’s wife delivered a baby boy but hemorrhaged to death; Princess Consort Rong, though she survived, miscarried a fully-formed male fetus and was left injured, requiring four to five years to bear a legitimate son, Prince Ke. She herself succumbed to illness a few years later.

From that day, the Princely Heir and the current Emperor grew further and further apart. Duke Li’s Mansion fully allied with Prince Liang, thwarted several of the current Emperor’s affairs, and even once endangered the Emperor’s life.

By the time the current Emperor ascended the throne, it was expected that Duke Li’s Mansion would face strict management. Sadly, many women and children got dragged into the matter.

Hearing these many secrets also resolved the doubts in Susu’s heart.

"Thirteenth Lady, I saw you today to tell you these matters, just to let you know, you must live well. No matter how great the suffering, you must live well! I still have ways to help Tenth Sister, but you, Seventh Sister cannot openly acknowledge you. Even if our family restores its title in the future, we can’t acknowledge you. Do you understand?" Ruan Qiniang said, staring intently at Susu without blinking.

Susu nodded, "I didn’t understand at first, but later I did. Ruan Thirteenth Lady died from illness seven years ago; now there is only Susu!" To save herself, Mrs. Zhao sent Ruan Family’s Eleventh Lady, Twelfth Lady, who knew Susu, far away, and found some poor children in the suburb, along with Third Madam from Duke Zhen’s Mansion, to clean up, completely removing Susu from her past. In this life, I can only be Su He, never Ruan Weidan.

Even if the Ruan Family restores its title in the future, all the glory and wealth have nothing to do with Susu. This is the price of freedom!

"Seventh Sister, Old Madam Song already gave me the contract for selling oneself, erasing my slave status. Now I’m not only a commoner but also have two hundred acres of fertile land! In the future, the Old Madam will find me a good family to marry into, rest assured! If there’s a chance... please tell Sixth Brother that Susu is doing well!" Susu thought about not being able to reunite with her brother in the future and felt a pang of sadness. She remembered when she first arrived in this world, it was that young boy who gave her the courage and warmth to face a strange world!