Chapter 1: Chrysanthemum Appreciation Banquet: Using all possible means to survive.
In early September, autumn is in the air and a thin layer of frost covers the entire Shangjing City. Li Siye of the Imperial College invites guests to a banquet at home to appreciate chrysanthemums.
The male guests stayed in Yuancui Pavilion in the front yard, while the female guests gathered in Pinfang Tower in the back yard.
As the sun rose higher, lunch began. Amid the gentle sound of the pipa, the atmosphere in Pinfang Tower was a little subtle. Almost all the ladies' eyes were secretly cast on the girl in pink on the left, and they were whispering to each other.
"The one across from me is the second Miss Chu, Chu Yufu, who is negotiating a marriage with the young master of the Li family?"
"Tsk, that's her. She's pretty, but her taste..."
A young girl sat on a chair beside the mahogany table, picked up a piece of raw rabbit meat from the white porcelain plate, and put it into the small brass pot filled with boiling water in front of her. Her watery almond eyes stared intently at the curled piece of meat in the water.
Behind her, a round-faced maid in a dark green round-necked robe whispered, "Miss, I want to eat chrysanthemum cake."
The girl put down her chopsticks, picked up the chrysanthemum cake on her right hand, and secretly covered it with her sleeve before passing it to her back.
The actions of the master and servant were seen clearly by Miss Chu who was sitting nearby. Feeling the contemptuous looks from all directions and looking at the ignorant and stupid look of her half sister, Chu Jinhe felt like sitting on pins and needles.
She knew her second sister had always been clueless, but she had no idea when she had become so clueless. She knew she was here to be seen, yet she still dressed so gaudy. What on earth had her deceased mother taught her?
She was wearing a sandalwood colored blouse, a plum blossom-shaped chest-length silk skirt, and a pink brothel look. I wonder how eye-catching she was among a group of elegantly dressed noble ladies!
It was not enough to insert a silver comb in the middle of her bun, she also wore a silver hairpin on the left side, and the only space on the right side was filled with two teardrop jade hairpins, making her look like a jewelry box that had become a spirit, and even she, the eldest sister, looked like a joke.
Eat, eat, eat, just eat!
Chu Jinhe took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Second sister, did you take out all the jewelry in the box and put them on?"
Chu Yufu turned her head to look at her, her eyes curved into crescents, revealing a shy smile: "Sister, how did you know..."
As she spoke, she reached out and touched her hairpin, half lowering her eyes. "The day before yesterday, my mother came to tell me to dress well for the banquet. Unfortunately, I don't have many jewelry or clothes, so it took me a long time to choose and put them together."
Idiot, a hopeless idiot.
Chu Jinhe's chest rose and fell. After a long pause, she forced out a cold expression, "...very pretty."
Chu Yufu turned her head away, preparing to take out the cooked meat from the small pot, but before she could pick up her chopsticks, her name was called.
Her stepmother, Wu, who was sitting on her left, called her, "Fu girl, come here."
Chu Yufu paused, put down her chopsticks, stood up, straightened her skirt, and walked closer. She bowed to her stepmother, then to Madam Li, who was sitting at the head of the table, and spoke crisply, "Mother, Madam Li."
There is a small skylight on the roof of Pinfang Building, inlaid with transparent glazed tiles.
The autumn sun slanted down from the skylight, half falling on Miss Chu Er's fair face, and the other half falling on her high buns.
On the bun, jade hairpins and silver combs overlapped each other, making it look so gorgeous that it was a little funny.
Under the bun, her oval face is white and tender, her big eyes are watery, as clear and bright as purple grapes, her pupils are big and there is little white in her eyes. When she looks at people seriously, she looks particularly lovely, like a porcelain doll.
Madam Li's eyes swept over her hair, covered in jewels, and she stared at her pretty face for a few moments, her satisfaction rising to five points. Her family background and appearance were acceptable, and a little stupidity wasn't a big deal, as long as she was obedient. Thinking of this, a smile spread across her face.
"He's a handsome child."
Seeing this, Mrs. Wu also smiled, raised her eyelashes and swept them, suppressing the slight unhappiness between her brows, pulled her hand, and said to Mrs. Li angrily.
"My second daughter is very straightforward. Look, I told her to wear something bright the other day, but she came here dressed like this today. She's such a simple-minded child."
Madam Li smiled, leaning back slightly, and responded repeatedly, "Be more straightforward, be more straightforward. I like straightforward people! My third son is also a simple-minded person. Did you meet him before the banquet? They are a perfect match."
"Those two juniors are destined to be together..."
The two of them chatted and laughed. Chu Yufu stood beside the table with her head slightly lowered. The smile on her face remained, and her hands were clenched secretly under her sleeves. It was not until half an incense stick of time passed that she saw Wu waving at her, indicating her to go back.
She turned around and returned to her seat, took out the meat slices from the boiling water and put them into her mouth.
The rabbit meat had been overcooked and could not be chewed even after a long time. The girl frowned and swallowed the meat whole.
The lunch banquet finally ended after an hour or so. The girls and ladies in the banquet hall gathered in groups of three or four to drink tea and chat. Chu Yufu had no intention of joining in the fun, so she led her maid Lan Zhu to a secluded little garden.
After passing through the corridor, the two walked into the garden and stopped in front of the moon-shaped gate made of water-milled bricks. There was no one around. The smile on Miss Chu's face that she had been wearing all the way turned cold, and she raised her foot to crush the dead leaves on the edge of her skirt into pieces.
"Miss, is that what Madam Li just said? Has the marriage changed?"
Lan Zhu was a little confused looking at her daughter's tense little face. During the banquet, she saw the two ladies talking and laughing with the daughter from afar, and there was nothing unusual.
"It's because there's no change that makes me upset." Chu Yufu gritted her teeth and stretched out her fingers to unconsciously scratch the water-ground bricks in front of her.
"Why is that?"
Why?
Chu Yufu's words were on the tip of her tongue for a while, but she hadn't figured out how to say it.
How can this be explained?
Just tell her directly that Mr. Li San looks elegant, but is actually a scumbag with a glamorous appearance, promiscuous and addicted to gambling. In the end, the Li family will offend the prince and be exiled. Marrying him is like jumping into a fire pit, and she will be offline before the end?
Then Lan Zhu might ask, "Miss, how do you know this?" She couldn't tell her that the original Second Miss Chu died of illness three days ago, and that she was now a book-crosser from the present, so she knew the future plot.
Chu Yufu hooked her finger and asked Lan Zhu to come closer to speak: "Silly girl, think about it, the Li family is rich and powerful, and the third son of the Li family is a legitimate son. If his character and appearance are as good as he appears to be, how could it be my turn? You know, my sister hasn't even arranged a marriage yet."
Lan Zhu suddenly realized, but then became a little confused: "But, Miss, what if? What if the lady softened her heart because of your dedicated service?"
She snorted softly, "Next year, my third brother will be thirteen, the perfect age for taking the entrance exams, and Father Li is the current Dean of the Imperial College. How could this be such a coincidence?"
The Chu family's mistress, Madam Wu, had two biological children: the eldest, Chu Jinhe, and the third, Chu Junze. Everyone in the mansion knew that the third, Chu Junze, was a restless, uninterested student who simply didn't care about his studies. He was a hopeless case, yet Madam Wu refused to give up and pushed him to study and achieve academic success.
Lan Zhu opened her eyes wide and took a deep breath: "Madam wants to use your marriage to exchange for the future of my third brother!"
"Shh!"
Chu Yufu raised a finger to her lips, signaling her to speak quietly. Although there was no one around, it would be bad if someone on the other side of the wall heard it.
After explaining to Lanzhu, she sighed slightly.
Three days ago, she was a doctor working in a community hospital. On her way home from get off work, she was involved in a car accident. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a book and had become the cannon fodder female supporting role with the same name and surname in the ancient Chinese novel "Madam Hou".
In the book, she is the heroine's cousin, a fool with only beautiful looks. After her biological mother passed away, she took refuge with her stepmother. After her stepmother promised her a good marriage, she became even more obedient, actively becoming her stepmother's follower, helping her to snatch the heroine's man.
The more obedient she was, the gentler her stepmother treated her. She was very happy and her methods of dealing with the heroine became more and more vicious. In the end, she almost drowned the heroine.
But after getting married, she discovered that her husband was a scumbag. Her stepmother deliberately made her marry into the Li family and used her marriage to exchange for her brother's future. She had never been sincere to her and only treated her as a tool. On the contrary, the heroine was the one who treated her sincerely and had reminded her that there might be problems with her marriage.
By the time she realized it, it was already too late. The heroine was completely offended by her, so much so that she stood on the wrong side during the Li family's factional struggle and was sentenced to exile. She could have stayed in Beijing, but because of the hero's revenge, she was exiled with him and eventually died on the way.
The time when Chu Yufu traveled through time was just before she started discussing marriage with the scumbag.
She was a bit confused on the first day after her transmigration, but on the second day she calmed down, reviewed her original memories, and began to think of a countermeasure. Since the original Miss Chu Er wasn't particularly bright, she came up with the plan of dressing gaudily, hoping to 'scare' the other party off with her idiotic appearance, but she didn't expect it to backfire.
Madam Li seemed to be very anxious to get her son married. As long as the girl was from a noble family of equal status, she didn't care if she was a little stupid. And the third son of the Li family was even more amazing. Although he had a bit of disdain on his face when he saw her, his eyes were fixed on her.
The four words "a bad start" weighed heavily on her heart.
A cold wind swirled through the courtyard, rustling the yellow leaves on the branches. The girl's red lips were pressed into a line, her brows furrowed, and her whole body, from her hair to the hem of her skirt, exuded a sense of desolation.
At this time, there were faint sounds of footsteps coming from the other side of the moon-shaped door, as if someone was coming. She gathered her clothes and prepared to find a deserted corner to calm down and make plans. Just as she raised her foot, she heard a pleasant female voice.
"Prince Zhao."
Prince Zhao? Chu Yufu paused, sending a hushed look to Lan Zhu. She quietly leaned against the moon-shaped door, half of her body sticking out.
Behind the cave entrance, beneath the ginkgo tree, a man and a woman stood facing each other. The man was as tall as jade, with a refined and elegant demeanor. His dark hair was bound atop a jade crown. Just looking at his profile, one could tell he was a handsome man.
The woman was wearing a light green dress and a hibiscus hairpin in her hair, and she had a bright and lively smile.
"Miss Lu, please call me Brother Chunheng. It will make you feel more comfortable." The man's voice was gentle and mellow, and his words were full of smiles.
The woman's earlobes flushed, but she didn't respond. "We left Fengling in such a hurry that I didn't have time to thank the prince. Thank you so much for saving me..."
Upon hearing this, Chu Yufu's mind raced as she recalled the plot in the book - a surprise reunion at the chrysanthemum viewing banquet.
She was so familiar with the two people under the tree. They were the male and female protagonists in the book, her cousin Lu Jiaan and the prince of Mingxuan, Zhao Chunheng.
Lu Jia'an grew up in Mijiang County. His father, the county magistrate, was ordered to return to Beijing years ago for promotion to the position of Secretary Supervisor due to his outstanding political achievements.
Thinking that there would be many banquets in Beijing in the second half of the year, Lu's parents asked their daughter to return to Beijing first and stay at her uncle's house, the Chu family, so that her aunt could take her to participate in the banquets and make preparations for future marriage talks.
Unexpectedly, they encountered bandits on the road and were rescued by Prince Zhao, who was using the alias Zhou Chunheng. The two hurriedly parted ways before going to Beijing, but unexpectedly met again at the Li family banquet and fell in love with each other. After going through various obstructions from the villains and supporting characters, they finally became a couple.
And I am one of the villain supporting characters.
Cousin Lu and Prince Zhao were still talking under the ginkgo tree. Chu Yufu picked up the hem of her skirt and quietly retreated with Lan Zhu.
As early as the first day she came here, she had determined the guideline for future actions - to try her best to survive by all means and not to go back to the old ways and offend the protagonist.
In a book, the protagonist has his own way of living, and the supporting character has his own way of living. It is always right to avoid getting too involved with the protagonist. She doesn't want to die again.
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