"Phew, finally finished watching!"

Lin Yuqiao glanced at the time at the top of her phone screen; it was already 1:03 AM. Without realizing it, she had finished reading the entire novel on her phone.

The thought that the weekend was over and that tomorrow, or rather today, was Monday, and that she would have to go to work, made Lin Yuqiao feel heavier than if she were going to a funeral. Her enthusiasm for leaving a comment under the novel also vanished.

Anyway, the novel wasn't that good.

Lin Yuqiao tapped her phone screen to exit, but somehow she was redirected to the novel's homepage, where a huge article cover appeared: "Spring Breeze Fights Jintang".

This is a domestic drama novel by a mediocre writer, full of old tropes and plots with nothing new.

It tells the story of a villain with a low IQ, Li Jinhua, the second wife of a marquis, who is determined to overthrow the son born to the first wife and make her own son the heir. She fights against Jin Xiyan, the heir's wife who is her stepson's wife, but ends up wiping out herself and her son at the hands of the heir's wife.

In the middle of all this, there's the biased Marquis and his wife, the second wife He Qingfang who's determined to overthrow the stepmother Li Jinhua, and others who are also putting on a show in the chaotic Marquis's mansion.

The red cover with gold lettering was a bit too bright in the dark. Lin Yuqiao yawned and impatiently clicked to exit again.

"This phone is so slow. I'll replace it next year when I've saved enough for a down payment on a house."

Muttering complaints under her breath, Lin Yuqiao tossed her phone into the bed, patted the pillow against the headboard, and adjusted her position from half-lying down to lying down.

After dawn, it's a new day.

The villainous second wife in the novel, Li Jinhua, never expected that she would be reborn one day!

Li Jinhua sat in front of the mirror, carefully looking at her current appearance.

The person in the mirror was still in the prime of her youth, with delicate and smooth skin, and even the blurry bronze mirror could not hide the beauty of her eyebrows and eyes.

He had barely eaten anything for several days, only drinking a few mouthfuls of herbal medicine. His face was sallow and haggard, a sign of illness, and his eyes were red and swollen from constant tearing.

She's back, really back. Li Jinhua touched the fine lines at the corners of her eyes with trembling hands, only to find them damp. Her tearful eyes burned again.

After her rebirth, Li Jinhua finally broke free from the daze of the past few days and gained a real sense of existence.

Li Jinhua thought she had died in the desolate Guanyue Nunnery. Before she died, she was lying on the bed coughing up blood and was still worried about how her second son, who had been driven out by the Marquis, would survive in the future. Then she heard the people around her talking about the death of her youngest son, who had been sent to the western frontier to join the army. She breathed her last before she could spit out a mouthful of blood.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back to more than ten years ago, shortly after getting married. The past ten years seemed like Zhuangzi's dream of a butterfly, but the excruciating pain I experienced still left a mark on my heart.

Since waking up from her rebirth, Li Jinhua hadn't gotten out of bed, lying there weeping all day, lost in a daze, unable to escape the memories of her past life. The thought of her three sons all meeting tragic ends pained her, and all she could see were the events of her past life. This truly startled those who served her.

Wu, the old nanny who had served him since childhood, thought he was extremely angry and hurriedly called a doctor, serving him medicine every day.

Li Jinhua sat blankly in front of the mirror, tears streaming down her face, thinking about the current situation.

After waking up, Wu Mama's words of advice probably made Li Jinhua realize that it should be more than three months after the wedding.

Although she married Marquis Chen Liang as his second wife, Li Jinhua was quite confident when she entered the household because her father had just been promoted to the fifth rank of magistrate and had a better family background than the Marquis's first wife, Chen. She felt that the entire Marquis's mansion belonged to her.

In addition, she was pampered by her parents since childhood, and she was also exceptionally beautiful. After marriage, Chen Lianghou was gentle and refined, and the old lady Zhang was kind. All of this made Li Jinhua's already considerable ambition even more inflated. She found the young heir Lin Yuqi left behind by the first wife to be an eyesore and did not want her own son to be subordinate to others in the future.

Li Jinhua, who has always been pampered by her parents and relatives, thinks she is smart, but in fact she is not very cunning. She is like a glass cup that can be seen through at a glance.

Having ambition without the corresponding mindset and planning will only lead to tragedy.

With the intention of ruining Lin Yuqi so that she could pave the way for her own son, Li Jinhua couldn't hold back for long after her marriage and openly took the young prince, who was being raised by Zhang Shi, to her own courtyard.

Without even coming up with a decent excuse, when Li Jinhua went to Zhang's house to pay her respects in the morning, she said directly, "Now that my daughter-in-law is Qi Ge'er's mother, she should raise him properly and not continue to trouble the old lady to take care of him."

Hearing the lack of affection in Li Jinhua's stiff words for Lin Yuqi, how could Zhang Shi feel at ease letting her precious grandson be cared for by his stepmother? Therefore, she decisively refused and also expressed her concerns to Chen Lianghou.

Li Jinhua, who was already suspected by Zhang of having ulterior motives, was not discouraged by being rejected during the day. When the Marquis returned to his room that night, he said he wanted to move Lin Yuqi to her room, but was also coldly rejected by Marquis Chen Liang, who even stormed off without saying a word.

Li Jinhua, who had never been treated with such disdain before, couldn't take it anymore. She held her anger in and pretended to be sick when she got back, refusing to pay her respects.

Looking back now, Li Jinhua can't help but smile bitterly, realizing how thoughtless she was back then.

Every new bride should be careful and discreet when she enters the household. But she was foolish enough to think that because she was beautiful and came from a good family, both the Marquis and Madam Zhang would value her. She didn't even try to hide her ambitions and her behavior was so unseemly. It's hard not to be wary of her.

It seems that Lin Yuqi had been growing up by the old lady's side for more than ten years. When she grew up, she went to study at the academy and had little contact with him. This was probably when the seeds of their relationship were sown.

"Madam, why are you so angry? In my opinion, the young prince is not your biological son after all. No matter how well you raise him, there will still be a gap between you. You should hurry up and have a son of your own so that you can gain a foothold in the mansion."

Seeing Li Jinhua weeping again in front of the mirror, Granny Wu quickly stepped forward to comfort her, deeply worried about the lady's unusual behavior these past few days. It wasn't a big deal, really; the lady had only recently entered the family, and being a stepmother was inherently difficult. Even the slightest mistake would invite blame, so it was understandable that the old lady and the Marquis had refused to allow the lady to raise the young heir.

Now, the most important thing for the lady is to win over the Marquis, and to recover her health and raise a son so that she can have confidence. Why should she be so angry about this, even falling ill for several days, crying every day and refusing to eat or speak?

"Madam, you've just recovered from your illness. Let me help you back to lie down for a while."

Granny Qi and Cuihuan helped Li Jinhua up from either side and put her back on the bed.

Suddenly remembering something, Li Jinhua asked Granny Wu, "How many days have I been lying in bed?"

“You’ve been sick for about five days,” Granny Wu replied cautiously.

Haha, I've been sick for five days, and Chen Lianghou and Lin Zirong haven't come to see me even once. They're really heartless.

Li Jinhua couldn't help but resent the scene when Lin Zirong ultimately banished her second son, Lin Yufeng, to the estate, and her third son, Lin Yuning, to the Western Frontier military camp. Even if she had made mistakes, her children were still the Marquis's sons; why be so cruel to them!

With new and old grievances piling up, Li Jinhua felt another sharp pain in her heart.

Thinking that the lady was probably heartbroken that Marquis Chen hadn't visited her these past few days, Granny Wu advised, "The Marquis must have been busy with official duties these past few days, so he hasn't had time to come see you. Didn't he send someone to ask the doctor about your pulse and prescriptions before? It's clear that the Marquis still cares about you. You must take good care of yourself. Newlyweds are bound to have their ups and downs. There's a long road ahead, and the Marquis will eventually realize that you truly care about the young master and the Marquis's mansion."

Listening to Granny Wu's words of advice, Li Jinhua curled her lips. She recalled that at this time in her previous life, she had feigned illness to avoid paying her respects, and Marquis Chen Liang had kept his distance until she finally bowed her head.

She understood what Granny Wu meant and knew how anxious she was seeing her like this. In her past life, although she had brought disaster upon herself and her son, her only consolation was that the people serving her were all good.

They were all implicated along with her back then and none of them fared well. Especially Granny Wu, who had served her since childhood, but in the end, she didn't have a good ending.

In this life, Li Jinhua thought that even if it was just for the sake of those around her to have a good life, and for the sake of the children she would have in the future, she would live well, live better than anyone else, and never go down the same old path again.

Having suffered such a miserable fate in her past life, Li Jinhua felt that she was indeed at fault for harboring such great ambitions. However, she did not deserve to bear all the original sins.

Originally, she wasn't a ruthless person, nor did she have any scheming mind. At most, she just wanted to spoil Lin Yuqi. But later, she was determined to deal with Lin Yuqi, and even became the Crown Prince's wife. All of this was forced upon her.

The resentment in her heart had accumulated over time, and it was Chen Lianghou and Zhang Shi who kindled it up, one fire after another.

After Li Jinhua entered the family, Chen Lianghou would silently get drunk every year on the anniversary of Chen's death, and take Lin Yuqi to the ancestral hall to remember Chen. After that, he would stay in the study for several days and would not appear in front of her.

Moreover, Lin Zirong had been married to Chen for three years without having any concubines or maids. After marrying Chen, Chen took in two concubines, who had given birth to a son and a daughter, which made Lin Zirong extremely resentful.

Furthermore, from childhood, her eldest son Lin Yucheng and the heir Lin Yuqi were always treated differently by the old lady Zhang of the Marquis's mansion. Not only was Zhang always colder to Lin Yucheng, but Lin Yucheng was also always the one who was punished when they quarreled.

As for Lin Yuqi, the Marquis personally taught him from a young age and paid close attention to his studies almost every day. When he grew up and went to study at the academy, no matter how busy he was with official duties, he would call him to the study to inquire about his well-being.

As for Lin Yucheng, and later Lin Yufeng and Lin Yuning, just like with the illegitimate son Lin Yubai, they would only ask a couple of questions when they remembered.

Even worse, after the heir apparent's wife entered the household, Zhang directly seized her management power. All the hard work she had put into managing the Marquis's mansion had not only yielded no benefits, but had also amounted to nothing.

All injustices in the world stem from an unjust heart. As the saying goes, it is not scarcity that is a cause for concern, but inequality. Both sons are treated differently simply because they are born to a second wife. How can anyone accept this with equanimity?

What Li Jinhua and Lin Yucheng found hardest to accept was probably that year.

That winter in Kyoto was exceptionally cold, and many people froze to death outside. Lin Yucheng and Lin Yuqi also caught a cold and had a persistent high fever, and the medicine prescribed by the doctor was ineffective.

Finally, the imperial physicians were summoned, and one of the ingredients in their prescription was blood ginseng. Blood ginseng is ginseng that has been nourished with human blood immediately after being harvested, and then peeled off after three to five years. This process is extremely painful, which is why it is rarely seen on the market and is extremely valuable.

After much searching, Chen Lianghou finally managed to buy half a bottle from an old friend in Jiangnan. Regardless of how much it cost, he used it all on Lin Yuqi.

Lin Yucheng was younger than Lin Yuqi and was more seriously ill, but Chen Lianghou was only concerned about Lin Yuqi. Fearing that the blood ginseng would not be effective if it was split in two, he gave it all to Lin Yuqi.

Li Jinhua learned this from her sister-in-law He Qingfang, who was the wife of the second master, Lin Zi'an. For some reason, He Qingfang had always disliked Li Jinhua after she entered the family and often secretly tripped her up.

When Lin Yucheng's fever finally subsided and he was about to recover, He Qingfang told him about the blood ginseng in front of him, and that night Lin Yucheng's fever returned.

Fortunately, Lin Yucheng pulled through in the end, but after such a long fever, his body was weak, and he was not as good at his studies as Lin Yuqi. As a result, Lin Yucheng was even more neglected by the Marquis and Madam Zhang in the Marquis's mansion. Even the servants in the mansion treated him differently and often made him suffer in secret, which made Lin Yucheng's personality more and more gloomy.

From then on, Li Jinhua hated He Qingfang to the core.

Because of these things, Li Jinhua always thought that if she didn't fight for herself, she would never have a chance to rise in the world. Although she hated Chen Lianghou and Zhang Shi's favoritism, she naively believed that only if Lin Yuqi fell would she and her children be taken seriously.

It was this idea that made her increasingly obsessed, and afterwards, not only herself, but also her children, all went further and further astray.

Lying alone in bed after extinguishing the candles at night, Li Jinhua began to think about the mistakes she had made, the losses she had suffered, and the lessons she had learned in her past life. Her fingers clenched into fists so tightly that she didn't even notice her nails scratching her palms.

In this life, she will surely forge a new path. She will make her husband and wife prosperous, and her children and grandchildren numerous. She will ensure that her children from her previous life are wealthy and successful, and live even better lives than Prince Lin Yuqi.

Having lived a second life, Li Jinhua realized that simply hoping for something that doesn't belong to you to one day become yours is too far-fetched and only makes you neglect the present. Only what you hold in your hands truly belongs to you. If she properly educates her sons, they will all be successful and have countless paths to take in life. Why limit herself to the mere confinement of the Marquis's mansion?