Chapter 3: The Nemesis

Seeing that Gu Xingwan’s smile remained unchanged, Jian Aozhu initiated her brainwashing routine once more:

“Are you truly going to marry this wastrel? I cannot agree to it. You are my dearest sister; I cannot stand by and watch you jump into a pit of fire.”

Watching her put on this hypocritical act, Lu Lan felt a wave of nausea:

“Who the hell do you think you are? When this young master decides to take a wife, not even the King of Heaven can stand in my way.”

“You... you have tarnished Xingwan’s purity. I shall go to the palace and find the Grand Princess to have you punished!”

Lu Lan laughed with disdain: “Oh, oh, oh, the Grand Princess? Such a huge ego you have, trying to pressure me with the royal family. You think you’re the only one with connections? My aunt is a noble consort in the imperial court; just try touching me and see what happens.”

Jian Aozhu: “...”

Jian Aozhu’s fury reached its peak. The long sword in her hand let out a mournful hum, and she ached to run Lu Lan through.

However, she did not dare.

The Duke of Yu’s manor had been rooted in the capital for generations—did she really think they were pushovers?

Their background was terrifyingly formidable.

Lu Lan’s eldest brother, Lu Guanying, guarded the northern borders for a decade and died for his country, posthumously titled “Marquis of Jian’an.”

His second brother, Lu Cunxiao, guarded the East Sea for seven years and died for his country, posthumously titled “Marquis of Haining.”

His third brother, Lu Chongguang, led troops to wipe out twenty thousand bandits at Poison Snake Ridge and died for his country, posthumously titled “Marquis of Wucheng.”

The Duke of Yu’s manor truly possessed three heroes in one house, a glory unparalleled.

Even setting aside these deceased brothers, the Lu family still had Consort Dai, who currently enjoyed the Emperor’s favor like sweet honey.

As for Jian Aozhu, the daughter of a General of the Cloud-Flashing Cavalry—and a concubine-born daughter at that—she could wag her tongue all she liked, but taking action was something she would never dare to do.

“Besides, you woman surnamed Jian, with which dog eye did you see me tarnish Miss Xingwan’s purity? We are as thick as thieves and getting along perfectly well!”

Under Jian Aozhu’s gaze, Lu Lan took the initiative to hold Gu Xingwan’s delicate, onion-white hand. To her surprise, Gu Xingwan did not pull away, appearing entirely submissive and ready to be plucked.

The two looked like an old married couple of decades, intimate and tender with one another.

Jian Aozhu’s eyes were practically blinded. Was it not said that Lu Lan was heartless and cruel, casting aside any woman he played with like worn-out shoes?

Why was he protecting Gu Xingwan?

She had plotted for so long—was it all going to fall apart?

No, there had to be a way.

Right, the engagement.

Gu Xingwan was a hopeless romantic who cared most about Mei Xianghan.

If Mei Xianghan so much as furrowed his brow, she would whimper and fret for half a day.

“Xingwan, don’t you have an engagement with Master Mei? How can you marry Lu Lan? Are you muddled?”

Gu Xingwan no longer had any feelings for Mei Xianghan. She smiled calmly:

“After what has happened, do you think Mei Xianghan would still marry me?”

“How do you know unless you try? Master Mei is a man of benevolence and integrity; how could he leave you to your fate?”

“Heh, a man of benevolence and integrity?”

If he were so benevolent, would he have listened to your instigation and had the Mei family come to call off the engagement the very day after the petition drum was struck?

Mei Xianghan was the most venomous, narrow-minded, and heartless hypocrite in this world.

Jian Aozhu still wanted to proceed according to her predetermined plan, but Gu Xingwan refused to play along.

“Since he is so wonderful, you keep him for yourself. I will call off the engagement and let the two of you be.”

“I...” Jian Aozhu pretended to be extremely resistant. “Xingwan, what nonsense are you spattering? Master Mei was engaged to you first; how could I possibly wedge myself in? Besides, I am already betrothed to Zhang Yan.”

Zhang Yan, to whom she was betrothed, was a petty officer of the Eastern Depot’s Imperial Blade Guards, a seventh-rank martial official.

Gu Xingwan looked at her with eyes that could see through everything:

“So you do remember! Then why did you go to meet Mei Xianghan to view the moon by the edge of Little Mirror Lake last night?”

Jian Aozhu’s entire body stiffened.

The original owner of the body had written a letter for Jian Aozhu to deliver to Mei Xianghan. Since both families had already discussed the marriage and were merely waiting for Mei Xianghan to finish the spring examinations, meeting him was supposed to be normal.

But Jian Aozhu had returned claiming that Mei Xianghan needed to study through the night and could not attend the lantern festival.

The naive original owner had thought nothing of it, assuming he was merely diligent.

Little did she know that Jian Aozhu had secretly arranged to meet him, viewing the moon by the lake, and that this had happened after the original owner had been abducted by Lu Lan.

This sister was not just plastic; she was reeking of formaldehyde.

“How could you possibly know that?” Jian Aozhu was incredulous.

“You, you always think you are smarter than everyone else, but in reality, you are full of holes. I never had any interest in Mei Xianghan; if you wanted him, you could have told me sooner. Why the need to steal? We are such close sisters, it would have been so much better if I had just graciously let you have him!”

Having her facade torn away, Jian Aozhu stood there, stunned.

She didn’t love Mei Xianghan either; “true love” was far too childish a concept for her.

Raised in the Jian household, tormented by her stepmother and legitimate sister since childhood, her heart had long ago been tempered to be harder than pig iron.

She had set the trap for Gu Xingwan because she was bound to a system called [The Pursuit of Fame and Fortune].

It allowed her to steal the “prestige” of men to elevate her own wealth and status.

The system’s rules were simple: she only needed to increase her intimacy with a target male to siphon his prestige.

Before entering the capital, she had constantly stolen prestige from men, allowing General Jian to rise from a border battalion commander to a third-rank General of the Cloud-Flashing Cavalry, and Jian Aozhu’s life had gradually improved.

But ever since the Jian family moved to the capital and encountered Gu Xingwan, their good luck had vanished.

General Jian hadn’t been promoted in two years.

Jian Aozhu also discovered that any man of status would become obsessed with Gu Xingwan’s beauty and talent, some even defying the system’s instructions just to ignore her.

At first, she couldn’t understand why, only feeling that Gu Xingwan was the bane of her existence.

It wasn’t until her stolen prestige reached a certain threshold and she unlocked the skill “Check Others’ Prestige” that the secret was revealed.

It turned out that an ordinary person’s prestige was only 200 or 300 points, while a noble scion might have around 1,000.

But Gu Xingwan’s prestige was a staggering 9,900 points; she was destined to enjoy endless glory and wealth her entire life.

How unfair!

Some were born in Rome, while others were born as beasts of burden.

Jian Aozhu refused to accept it!

But the system specified that she could only steal prestige from men, so Jian Aozhu was helpless against Gu Xingwan.

If this continued, Gu Xingwan would steal away every man of status around her.

Unwilling to give up, she hatched a poisonous scheme: find a wastrel to ruin Gu Xingwan’s purity and push her into the abyss.

Her reason for snatching Mei Xianghan was simple and brutal: his prestige was 8,500 points, the highest she had ever seen.

Zhang Yan’s prestige had once been 2,300 points—a destiny that could lead to becoming a great general—but after Jian Aozhu siphoned it, he was left with a pathetic 330.

But... Gu Xingwan was truly acting strange today.

“Xingwan, putting other things aside, if I have done wrong, I will take responsibility, but at least my presence here today was entirely for your own good! Lu Lan is no good!”

Jian Aozhu tried one last desperate struggle, lunging forward to shake Gu Xingwan’s shoulders.

Gu Xingwan dodged her easily: “Forget it. Breaking up a couple in the name of doing what’s best for them—people like you, I need to stay far away from, lest I get struck by lightning when the heavens decide to punish you.”

Jian Aozhu’s face stiffened. This was not the outcome she wanted; where exactly had things gone wrong?

Gu Xingwan curled her lips slightly and turned to bow to Lu Lan:

“Young Master, when will you come to propose? I need to go back and discuss calling off the engagement with my parents and elders.”

Lu Lan’s eyes were filled with doting affection: “Ten days from now, I will come to propose.”

Gu Xingwan would soon be carrying his child; this matter could not be delayed.

“Very well, then I shall take my leave, Xingwan.”

“I will see you out!”

The two walked out together, and Jian Aozhu followed behind like a lost soul.

Outside the Qingfeng Pavilion, Gu Xingwan watched Jian Aozhu’s retreating figure, wishing she could be rid of her once and for all.

But with the system’s protection, it was like holding two kings and four twos in a game of cards—a guaranteed winning hand.

How difficult it would be to eliminate her!!

Never mind. Since she was so infatuated with Mei Xianghan, Gu Xingwan’s current attitude was one of respect, blessing, and locking them together.

Once she saw Mei Xianghan’s true face, she would understand what it meant to be disgusted once the filters shattered.

She would let her taste the bitterness of being reviled by the world and hated to the bone by the one she held dearest.

...

Lu Lan returned at lightning speed to the Duke of Yu’s manor.

Jiuqu Pavilion.

As soon as he entered, the Duke of Yu, Lu Yanbei, and the Lady of Qiao, Yan Shiyue, were eating breakfast. The two elders looked up in surprise at their son.

Ever since they bought him the Qingfeng Pavilion a few years ago, this rebellious son had barely been home.

“You wretch, where have you been fooling around this time?” Lu Yanbei scolded.

Lu Lan sat down to eat as if nothing were wrong, picking up a bowl of fish soup congee:

“Found myself a woman.”

“Finding women again, you degenerate! I see you’ll die on a woman’s belly sooner or later.”

Yan Shiyue, feeling sorry for her son, patted Lu Yanbei to stop him from scolding, fearing he would chase their son away again.

“Eat, eat. You two start bickering the moment you see each other.”

After finishing a bowl, a maid refilled it for Lu Lan. He looked at Lu Yanbei and Yan Shiyue with clear eyes:

“Father, Mother, I want to get married.”

Pfft!

Lu Yanbei was a military man and reacted quickly, but the words “get married” were too lethal; he sprayed out the mouthful of fish soup congee he had just taken.

Yan Shiyue was a beat slower.

“Oh, marriage is good, after marriage... ah!”

Yan Shiyue jumped up as if startled by a mouse, knocking over her bowl and chopsticks.

“Fourth Son, you... what did you just say?”

“I said I want to get married and find you two old folks a daughter-in-law. Let you hold your grandchildren and continue the incense for our Duke of Yu’s manor.”

In his previous life, his mistakes had led to the slaughter of his entire family and the execution of his nine clans.

Trapped in a dungeon for twenty years, there wasn’t a day he didn’t regret it.

Now that he had a fresh start, he didn’t want to be the “rebellious son” his parents spoke of anymore.

He wanted to revitalize the Duke of Yu’s manor.

Lu Lan was quite serious about it.

But his parents’ reaction was a bit off-center.

The couple clapped and cheered, jumping up and down in a way that seemed quite abnormal.

Lu Yanbei laughed heartily: “Which living bodhisattva is the saintly soul willing to marry you?”

Lu Lan squinted: “The daughter of Minister Gu of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.”

“Ah... hahahaha! The Gu family is good, the Gu family is a family of scholarly tradition.”

The couple hugged each other tightly, spinning around, while the surrounding maids and nannies covered their mouths to hide their smiles.

It had been a long time since they had seen the Master and Mistress laugh so heartily.

Lu Lan shoveled a few more spoonfuls of congee into his mouth, his tone indifferent:

“Don’t be happy too soon. It’s not the legitimate daughter, Gu Yingying, but the concubine-born daughter, Gu Xingwan.”

In ancient times, the status gap between legitimate and concubine-born children was vast, as was the support they received.

The legitimate daughter was the apple of one’s eye, while a concubine-born daughter’s lot depended on her luck in reincarnation.

If born into an extremely snobbish family, they lived only slightly better than servants.

Gu Xingwan’s life in her previous one had been so miserable; her family must have been truly ruthless.

Lu Yanbei’s mouth twisted into a grin: “Legitimate or concubine-born, who cares? With your foul reputation in the capital, every girl is scared off by you. We’d be happy even if you brought home a female beggar.”

Lu Lan: “...”

The two elders weren’t being picky; they had no choice.

For the current Duke of Yu’s manor, a fifth-rank official in the capital was indeed a downgrade.

But because his son Lu Lan was indiscreet and notorious, no one would marry him unless they were a family eager to push their daughter into a fire pit.

For the sake of his marriage, Lu Lan’s parents had been worried sick, lowering their standards time and again—as long as she wasn’t a courtesan, even a clean beggar woman would have sufficed.

Yan Shiyue seemed to recognize the name, her eyes shimmering with the glow of a mother-in-law:

“Gu Xingwan? The name sounds familiar. Could it be the one who is renowned for her literary talent, the leader of both the ‘List of Talented Scholars’ and the ‘List of Beauties’ in the capital?”

Lu Lan wore a doting smile: “That’s her.”

Yan Shiyue still couldn’t quite believe it and had Nanny Fan bring out her private collection of portraits. She had collected several large chests of portraits of the capital’s young noblewomen.

Nanny Fan quickly retrieved Gu Xingwan’s portrait to the flower hall.

“Fourth Son, take a look and see if this is her, don’t make a mistake!”

Lu Yanbei still had some sense of propriety and tactfully lowered his head to drink tea.

Lu Lan stared at the portrait for a moment, his eyes quickly narrowing: “Where did this come from?”

“Bought at the Qiaoyan Shop, ten silver taels each. Mother has collected over a hundred of them.” Yan Shiyue said with a haughty air.

Lu Yanbei cursed her for a spendthrift under his breath.

The more Lu Lan looked, the more annoyed he became: “Are that painter’s eyes just for show? What kind of ghost is this?”

“What’s wrong? Is it not her?”

“I can only say, if you break down the facial features, every one of them matches, but when put together, it’s not the same thing at all.”

It was mostly the spirit and temperament; the ethereal, immortal-like quality that Gu Xingwan possessed was not captured in the slightest. Perhaps the painter had only seen her from afar, or heard it described by others.

To call this painting Gu Xingwan was practically a blasphemy.

“Oh! My Fourth Son is truly brilliant.”

Yan Shiyue was overjoyed. As long as it was her, that was all that mattered! This was a portrait she had kept at the bottom of her chest! She cradled Lu Lan’s cheeks with her palms, full of doting love, but soon grew suspicious:

“Eh? Didn’t I hear she was being considered by the Mei family, the Minister of Works?”

The flower hall suddenly fell silent.

Though the capital was vast, secrets could not be hidden. The marriage of a Minister’s son was naturally a matter of great public attention.

Lu Yanbei realized he had been happy for nothing and spoke bluntly:

“That Mei Xianghan is a top-ranking scholar of the provincial exams and a son of the Minister’s manor. He is upright in character and has a widely spread virtuous reputation. He is walking the straight and narrow path.”

Mei Xianghan was the “child of someone else” his parents always talked about.

How could his own rebellious son compare to him?

Unless...

Lu Yanbei pointed at Lu Lan as if he were having a fit: “You wretch, you haven’t gone and...”

After having his fill, Lu Lan set down his bowl and chopsticks, his expression showing no pressure at all.

“That’s right. I’ve already broken through that layer of window paper with her. She is mine now, and I am going to marry her.”