Chapter 1
After Marrying the Disabled Prince
Bright Moon Pearl / First published on Banxia Novels on October 1, 2025
1. Time travel
Gu Leyao opened her eyes groggily and found herself in an unfamiliar place. In front of her were memorial tablets, white candles dripping large waxes, and the dim light looked eerie.
She moved slightly and found that her body was very weak, feverish, and her stomach was making gurgling noises.
Gu Leyao was a little surprised. Wasn't she already dead? How could she still feel pain in her body?
She tried to struggle, but her whole body was too weak to move.
Gu Leyao stopped moving, quietly calming her heartbeat. She felt her strength returning, and a lot of information suddenly appeared in her mind.
Gu Leyao is dead in the real world. When she was a child, her mother became seriously ill and left her. Her father abandoned her at the gate of the orphanage in order to get married and have another son.
Gu Leyao grew up in a difficult environment at an orphanage, where she learned cooking skills from the head chef. When she first entered university, she caught the wave of the internet boom, working as a food blogger while studying, and successfully saved up a considerable amount of money.
Gu Leyao thought her wonderful life was about to begin, but unexpectedly, a sudden illness took away her young life.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself transmigrated into a novel about a real and a fake heiress, becoming the comparison between the fake heiress and the cannon fodder real heiress, Gu Leyao.
Gu Leyao had read this novel; it was recommended to her by her roommate, who said that the cannon fodder character, the real heiress, shared the same name as her, and that she absolutely had to memorize the entire story to avoid transmigrating into the book. [1]
Gu Leyao, on the strong recommendation of her roommate, picked a weekend and read through the novel.
The story is about a real heiress who was switched at birth and was only found at the age of sixteen. After returning home, compared to the fake heiress, she was disliked by her parents for being ill-mannered, her brother thought she was unsophisticated and refused to acknowledge her as his sister, and her betrothed preferred the well-behaved and sensible fake heiress.
The real heiress was despised by everyone and gradually turned to the dark side, becoming a villain who wanted to perish together with the fake heiress. However, she suffered the consequences of her own actions and ended up killing herself.
It has to be said that Gu Leyao felt a sense of unease when she saw the real heiress who shared the same name as her die such a tragic death.
How could the real heiress not turn evil? The fake heiress stole everything from the real heiress, and in the end, everyone sided with the fake heiress, blaming the real heiress.
Anyone would turn to the dark side if they were in that position.
She didn't understand why the author would write such a wicked fake heiress as the protagonist; the real heiress was clearly innocent!
Just because the fake heiress is the protagonist, does that mean the real heiress should be cannon fodder?
After reading the book, Gu Leyao threw it away. She felt that the book was written by the author for the newspaper and made her very angry.
She never expected that she would one day transmigrate into a book. If she had known, she would have listened to her roommate and read the book several times, trying to memorize the whole thing.
But it's too late to regret it now; Gu Leyao has become cannon fodder, the very embodiment of a true heiress.
At this point in time, the real daughter has been brought back to the Earl's mansion. The fake daughter is still occupying the best courtyard in the mansion, while the real daughter is living in the room where the servants used to live. She feels this is unfair and goes to her parents to argue with them. However, her parents lock her in the ancestral hall and make her kneel down to reflect on her actions, and she is not allowed to eat for three days.
Zhen Qianjin grew up in the countryside and was originally in good health, but even a healthy person will become weak if they don't eat or drink for three days.
In her weak, half-asleep state, Zhen Qianjin was reborn. She remembered her memories of her past life and, unwilling to live it again, pulled Gu Leyao, who had a strong will to live and a golden soul, to live a good life for her.
A golden soul signifies that this person is a good person, and Zhen Qianjin hopes to save a good person.
Gu Leyao could sense that the real daughter hadn't left yet; she was still deep in her consciousness, as if she had something to say.
Gu Leyao was very grateful to the real heiress for giving her the chance to live. If the real heiress's request wasn't difficult, she was willing to help her resolve it.
The real heiress seemed to hesitate for a moment before conveying her request.
She hoped that Gu Leyao could help her take good care of her maid Chuntao, who was the only person in her past life who had not betrayed her.
If possible, she hoped that Gu Leyao could ensure Chun Tao's smooth and peaceful life.
She hoped that Gu Leyao could stay away from the people in the Earl's Mansion and live her own life.
Gu Leyao thought about it carefully. She seemed to remember the maid Chuntao. She was a very small character in the book, but a very loyal girl. If Chuntao could live as well as before, she would be willing to take care of Chuntao in place of the real daughter.
As for staying away from the people in the Earl's Mansion, that was also her plan. These people in the Earl's Mansion were clearly not normal. She couldn't afford to offend them now, but at least she could avoid them.
However, the true heiress has just been reborn, and she's already giving up on life so easily? Does she really not want to live anymore? Life is so beautiful; it's not worth giving it up for anyone else...
She's still so young...
Zhen Qianjin seemed to sense Gu Leyao's consciousness. She gently floated to Gu Leyao's side, and Gu Leyao took her hand. A layer of milky white mist seemed to condense around her.
Gu Leyao witnessed the life of the real heiress.
The little girl was switched at birth, and her adoptive parents treated her badly, often beating and scolding her. She had to cook for her family when she was five or six years old, and also had to go to the river to wash clothes in the icy water. Her small frame meant she was almost swept away by the rushing river several times.
As she grew older, her adoptive parents planned to send her to a wealthy family to be a child bride. She knew that the wealthy family had a habit of abusing people. She had personally witnessed the corpse of a young child being carried out of the wealthy family's house in the middle of the night, the body covered in bruises and not a single piece of good flesh...
She was so scared that she ran away. She didn't dare go to her neighbor's house because her neighbor would take her home.
She fled into the mountains, thinking that even if she starved to death or was eaten by wild animals, she would never go home.
She had seen how other parents treated their children, and it was nothing like how her family treated hers.
When she was starving to death, she met a grumpy old man with a white beard in the mountains. He was carrying a medicine box and collecting herbs. He was a doctor and gave her a piece of cake.
After eating, she regained her strength and followed the old man. The old man urged her to leave, and she dared not chase after him too closely, only daring to lag far behind.
The old man ate his pancake, and she watched, her mouth watering uncontrollably.
The old man couldn't bear to see her like this, so he gave her another piece of bread, which she wolfed down.
When she choked on her food and coughed uncontrollably, the old man handed her a water bottle.
She took a big gulp of her drink and finished the meal. After that, the old man let her follow him and didn't chase her away anymore.
The old man was a village doctor, and he was quite old. He took her back to the village, but the old doctor's family had all passed away. From then on, she became the old doctor's little apprentice.
The old man named her Leyao, hoping she would be happy and carefree like an immortal. Unfortunately, the old man didn't know many characters. He wrote Leyao correctly, but he wrote Yaoyao instead of Yaoyao.
But she still liked the name very much. After all, she was called San Niang at home. There were many San Niangs in the neighborhood. Any girl who was the third child could be called San Niang.
There is only one Le Yao.
When she was fifteen, the old doctor passed away. She buried him on the small, desolate hill where they first met, and planned to be buried there after she died.
At that time, she had already learned some medical skills and took over from the old doctor to treat the villagers. But her parents somehow got wind of this and came with a group of people to arrest her and forcibly put her in a bridal sedan chair.
It turns out that they somehow got wind of her and planned to capture her and sell her to raise money for their son's wedding.
She fought back fiercely, but to no avail. She had a knife hidden in her hand, intending to fight the mermaid to the death when necessary.
But to her surprise, a handsome young man descended from the sky and saved her halfway there.
This person not only saved her, but also told her that she was the daughter of a wealthy family in the capital, but had been switched by this wicked couple, which is why she ended up in the countryside.
She followed him back to the capital. When she entered the Earl's mansion, she learned that his name was Huo Pingyuan and that he was her betrothed since childhood.
She fell in love with him without realizing it, but she knew that Huo Pingyuan didn't like her; he liked the fake heiress.
The girl who took her place was named Gu Baozhu. Baozhu means that she was the apple of the eye of the Gu family.
She understood him well, because her parents and brother all preferred Gu Baozhu.
She silently kept this affection hidden in her heart.
But later, Huo Pingyuan's family fell into decline, and Gu Baozhu married a son of a wealthy family.
She thought, "I want to marry him."
So she did marry Huo Pingyuan.
She accompanied him to the northern frontier, where he achieved great feats, rising from a lowly centurion to a powerful general. She stayed with him for fifteen years.
Later, he took her back to the capital. When he left, no one cared, but when he returned, he was full of glory.
At this time, Gu Baozhu had been widowed for three years. Dressed in mourning clothes, she was frail and delicate, yet her charm was even greater than before.
She still remembers that it was a snowy night with wind and snow, when he told her that he wanted to marry Gu Baozhu as his second wife.
She was preparing to light the lamp when she burned her finger without even realizing it.
He asked her if she could grant him his request.
She finally nodded; she had accommodated him her whole life, and this time would be no exception.
On the day Gu Baozhu entered the house, she quietly left behind the divorce papers and took Chun Tao back to her hometown.
She hated her adoptive parents, but she wanted to come back and see the old man.
She didn't have much time left. Fifteen years of hardship in the northern frontier had ruined her health. She was a skilled doctor and knew she wouldn't live more than six months.
She didn't want to tell him because she was afraid of hurting his feelings.
But now, he probably won't be sad anymore.
Honestly, she wanted to kill Gu Baozhu countless times.
Gu Baozhu stole everything from her: her identity, status, family, and love.
But she gave up. She chose to return to the place she knew best. She felt she was about to die and wanted to be buried next to the old man on that small, desolate mountain.
He was her only relative, and he definitely wouldn't like Gu Baozhu because he was such a stubborn old man who would never change his mind once he made up his mind about someone.
In the end, she could no longer see. The heavy snow in northern Xinjiang had damaged her eyes, and her vision was already blurred.
As spring was approaching, she collapsed into Chun Tao's arms and heard Chun Tao's suppressed sobs.
She longed to pat Chuntao's head and tell her not to cry, that death was a relief for her.
Chuntao should be happy for her.
But she could no longer lift her hand.
...
After reading about the true heiress's life, Gu Leyao finally understood why the true heiress had given up her hard-won life. She had long lost all will to live, the people who loved her had already left, and the person she loved had betrayed her.
For her, death was a relief.
Gu Leyao only understood after reading the real heiress's memories that the real heiress had never harmed the fake heiress. She had been seriously ill for a long time and her condition was beyond repair, which is why she passed away.
Therefore, the death of the real heiress was not a case of reaping what she sowed.
Gu Leyao felt she needed to be cautious. What was written in the book might not be accurate, and in this unfamiliar ancient world, she still had to be careful.
Zhen Qianjin was a very kind person. She told Gu Leyao everything she knew, and then let her soul gradually dissipate into the air.
She really didn't want to live anymore.
Gu Leyao felt her body and soul merge, and she regained some strength. Ignoring her grief over Zhen Qianjin's departure, she forced herself to get up and smashed a group of memorial tablets in front of her.
There was no other way; if no one came soon, she would die from a high fever.
A series of crackling sounds startled the old woman outside.
The old woman cursed loudly as she hurried in from outside.
Seeing the grumbling old woman enter the door, Gu Leyao smiled.
Someone came; she could finally survive.
very nice.
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