Lu Ying was both brave and resourceful… and had breasts. She was actually a girl.

Lu Ying cleverly utilized the rules—best of three matches on the arena. She deliberately placed stick fighting and blade techniques in the first two matches, because the final round was close-quarters hand-to-hand combat.

With Wang Daxia’s decent physical condition and his cunning, persistent fighting style, when the two engaged in physical combat, they would inevitably end up wrestling and grappling closely together.

Lu Ying was eighty percent confident of winning the final battle.

However, no matter how tightly she bound her chest, in close-quarters combat, Wang Daxia would very likely feel (touch) and discover her secret.

Moreover, based on Lu Ying’s understanding of Wang Daxia’s lazy personality, after losing two matches in a row, even if he was confident of defeating Lu Ying in the third round of hand-to-hand combat to at least win one match and save some face, he would be too lazy to bother.

Because Wang Daxia simply had no shame.

Most martial artists have strong pride—after losing two out of three matches, they would fight desperately in the third round to salvage some dignity, at least to earn respect. Better to lose with honor than lose face entirely.

Wang Daxia was not an ordinary person. For someone as lazy as him, comfort was more important than face. If he could sit, he would never stand; if he could lie down, he would never sit. After losing two matches and knowing the outcome in advance, he simply wouldn’t consider fighting a third match to regain face.

Facts proved that Lu Ying’s scheme was flawless—she had grasped Wang Daxia’s weakness perfectly.

After losing two matches in a row, Wang Daxia indeed immediately lay down flat and conceded defeat, refusing to fight the final hand-to-hand combat round. This way, her female identity remained unexposed!

However, despite all her calculations, Lu Ying had missed one thing—though she was formidable, she was still made of flesh and blood. Her chest was bound with white cloth, which was already hot, plus the outer robe buttoned to her neck, the summer’s scorching sun, and the physical exhaustion from fighting two consecutive matches—even an iron body couldn’t withstand such strain.

So Lu Ying suffered from heatstroke and collapsed after her victory.

Lu Ying was carried to Wei Caiwei’s room. Wei Caiwei, citing the excuse that too many people made the air stale, waved her walking stick and drove all the Embroidered Uniform Guards out.

Only Wang Daxia stuck there like a stubborn plaster, refusing to leave.

Wei Caiwei waved her walking stick to drive them away. The other Embroidered Uniform Guards scattered in all directions, afraid of being hit, but he alone stood like a reef in water, unmovable.

“Didn’t you hear me? Leave quickly, don’t delay my treatment of Commander Lu,” Wei Caiwei said.

Wang Daxia’s vows were like hot air—just last night he had sworn not to speak to her again, but immediately broke his promise, saying: “If I leave, you two will be alone in a room together, a man and woman—what kind of propriety is that? If I stay, I can help with undressing and wiping her body.”

Wei Caiwei saw Lu Ying’s lips pale as paper and felt great urgency. She opened the window and called to the guards: “Quickly drag him away, don’t delay Commander Lu’s condition.”

“You…” Wang Daxia had suffered two consecutive defeats today and was now being driven away by Wei Caiwei—three heavy blows in a row.

She only wanted to be alone with Lu Ying, making Wang Daxia instantly feel like a pot of pickled fish soup: sour, pathetic, and utterly superfluous.

Wang Daxia’s heart turned ashen. Four guards came in and lifted his limbs respectively, like tearing off stubborn plaster from four directions, finally managing to peel him away.

The room had a water tank piled high with ice blocks, immediately cooling the air.

Wei Caiwei undressed Lu Ying and unwound her breast bindings, covering her with only a thin cotton sheet, then dissolved a heat-relieving Agastache Pill and fed it to Lu Ying.

Even in her unconscious state, Lu Ying’s survival instinct remained strong—she instinctively swallowed it, with only a tiny bit leaking from the corner of her lips.

Wei Caiwei wiped her body to relieve the heat, mixed salt and sugar in water, and continued feeding her. After one bowl, someone knocked at the door: “Doctor Wei, open up.”

It was actually Lu Bing’s voice!

He could already stand up to see his daughter so quickly? His recovery was remarkably fast!

Others didn’t know Lu Ying was actually a woman, but her father Lu Bing couldn’t possibly be unaware.

Wei Caiwei opened the door and saw Lu Bing sitting in a wheelchair outside, pushed by his personal guard. The courtyard’s noisy Embroidered Uniform Guards, including Wang Daxia, had all been driven away—it was very quiet.

It turned out that when Lu Bing learned that Lu Ying had fainted and Wei Caiwei had taken Lu Ying alone to her room for treatment, Lu Bing knew that Wei Caiwei had discovered his daughter’s little secret.

So he immediately ordered his guards to drive away all the idle onlookers—his condition was classified, and absolutely no one could see his weakened state in the wheelchair.

Lu Bing asked: “How is she?”

Lu Bing actually cared deeply for his daughter, but after his stroke, his facial expressions hadn’t recovered, making him seem emotionless like a wooden puppet.

Wei Caiwei said: “Let me push Lord Lu inside to visit Commander Lu.”

The personal guard was a man, and the unconscious Lu Ying was barely clothed above the waist, covered only by a thin cotton sheet.

Lu Bing nodded, allowing Wei Caiwei to push his wheelchair.

Wei Caiwei mixed another bowl of salt-sugar water and continued feeding Lu Ying: “She sweated profusely, her clothes were soaked through. If we had delayed, the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

Lu Bing quietly watched Wei Caiwei feed Lu Ying water until the bowl was empty before saying: “I have seven children in total. She’s the most similar to me in personality—once she decides to do something, she never looks back, enduring any hardship or exhaustion.”

When Wei Caiwei was feeding the fourth bowl, Lu Ying regained consciousness. She first felt her chest, then saw Wei Caiwei and her father in the wheelchair, immediately understanding that her female identity had been exposed.

Wei Caiwei said: “Don’t worry, only I know.”

Wei Caiwei now understood why last night Lu Ying had gone from the initially businesslike “three-party interrogation” to later forgiving her for pretending to be a widow to make a living.

It turned out Lu Ying was also pretending—disguised as a man, feeling sympathy for Wei Caiwei. As women, she understood too well the desperation behind such deception.

Unable to continue hiding from Wei Caiwei, Lu Ying said: “My name is Lu Ying, ying as in silk tassels, not ying as in hero… I’m the Fourth Miss of the Lu family.”

Lu Bing had a hard fate—he had married four wives in succession: one original wife and three remarriages, all of whom died, not one surviving.

His wives had borne him four sons. The eldest and second sons died young, while the third son Lu Yi and fourth son Lu Cai survived.

Lu Bing had caused the death of four wives, but his only concubine, Lady Li, lived well and bore him five daughters in succession, all of whom survived. Lu Ying was the most favored Fourth Miss.

So after causing the death of his last wife, Lady Zhao, Lu Bing didn’t want to harm any more daughters from noble families. He simply made his concubine Lady Li manage the household affairs and gave up the idea of remarrying.

Lu Ying looked most like her father—long legs, slender waist, walking like a crane. From childhood, she preferred martial arts to feminine pursuits. Deeply favored by her father Lu Bing, he agreed to let her practice martial arts from a young age. When Lu Ying grew up, she was no longer satisfied with practicing at home behind closed doors. She hoped to follow in her father’s footsteps and make her mark in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Originally, certain special missions in the Embroidered Uniform Guard could be handled by women, such as informants, secret agents, and scouts stationed in foreign countries.

However, due to societal views, no female Embroidered Uniform Guards appeared in public. Even with her father Lu Bing’s protection, Lu Ying had to conform to worldly expectations and present herself as a man.

Fortunately, her father was Lu Bing, who could use his power and influence to fulfill his precious daughter’s wish. After greeting Emperor Jiajing and reporting the matter, he changed Lu Ying’s name to Lu Ying and arranged for her to serve in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Emperor Jiajing himself hadn’t attended court for over thirty years and wasn’t someone who cared about rules. Of course, he satisfied his milk brother’s request to indulge his daughter, treating it as amusing a junior.

Lu Bing thought that keeping his daughter under his watchful eye while she served would make it convenient to guide and protect her—surely nothing would go wrong.

But accidents still happened. Lu Ying was strong-willed and eager to subdue Wang Daxia, challenging him to arena combat.

Wang Daxia: How is this my fault?

As Lu Ying recounted her background, Wei Caiwei listened and silently pitied her.

Because in the previous life, Fourth Miss Lu had the worst fate among the five Lu daughters.

Lu Bing was a loving father who arranged his children’s life-long affairs clearly, protecting the Lu family children’s futures like an iron bucket.

He married his eldest daughter to Zhu Shitai, heir of the old noble Duke of Chengguo. The eldest daughter later became the Duchess of Chengguo, her son successfully inherited the title, and her descendants remained dukes for generations.

The second daughter married Yan Shaoting, grandson of Chief Minister Yan Song and son of Yan Shifan.

The third daughter married Xu Ying, son of Chief Minister Xu Jie.

As everyone knew, Xu Jie and Yan Song had conflicting political views and frequent clashes, being leaders of two major court factions who constantly schemed against each other. Lu Bing married two daughters to these political enemies respectively. This way, no matter which side won in the future, the Lu family would have at least one daughter who could protect her maternal family.

Later events proved that Lu Bing’s method of balancing his daughters’ marriages was brilliant. This strategy later helped the Lu family survive a great catastrophe, using his daughters’ connections to protect the Lu family through their darkest hour until the family recovered.

The first three daughters were political marriages to stabilize the Lu family. For his most beloved fourth daughter, Lu Bing carefully selected Sun Xiang, youngest son of Sun Sheng, Minister of Rites in Nanjing.

The Sun family was a prestigious clan from Yuyao, supremely noble with excellent family traditions. Sun Sheng was a second-place scholar, and his elder brother was the military examination champion. Sun Sheng had five sons, all excellent at studies—four later passed the imperial examinations, and three of them eventually became ministers.

Such a family had deep roots and would never fall. Lu Bing’s choice for Lu Ying’s future could be said to be the most secure.

But Lu Bing’s only miscalculation was that his chosen Sun Xiang was too short-lived. He died of illness before even taking the imperial examination—the only one of the Sun sons who never passed the examination. Lu Ying became a widow the very year she married!

Lu Ying later entered a nunnery, spending her life with Buddhist lamps and ancient scriptures.

Fate was cruel. Lu Bing’s most beloved daughter received the most desolate ending. Everyone in the palace gossiped about it, so Wei Caiwei knew about Fourth Miss Lu’s tragic fate and remembered it clearly.

In this life, Wei Caiwei had met the legendary Fourth Miss Lu. She found it hard to imagine that such an independent, brave, resourceful, and beautiful woman—blooming like a radiant rose—would later become a wife, then a widow, quickly wither and fade, see through worldly affairs, enter a nunnery, become material for others’ regrets, and leave no trace in the world.

Starting over in this life wasn’t just to prevent Wang Daxia from castrating himself. Could I do more, prevent more people from walking toward tragedy and reverse their fates?

Author’s Note:

Good morning! Early readers get red envelopes—this chapter gives away 100 red envelopes, first come, first served!

Lu Bing’s political mind was absolutely brilliant. He had already planned everything for his children and descendants, breaking the curse that Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander families never end well. Especially the sophisticated operation of marrying two daughters to the Yan and Xu families respectively—playing risk hedging, he won.

Caiwei: Rebirth should be satisfying! If I’m not satisfied with the first draft of the script, I’ll tear it up and write my own. Repay kindness with kindness, repay enmity with enmity, never feel wronged. Whoever dares provoke me, I’ll destroy them. Protect “Little Wang Xia” and incidentally change the tragic life of a brave, resourceful, and busty girl. Just enjoy it! If you can’t enjoy yourself even with the script in hand, what’s the point of being reborn?

In this life, Lu Ying will have a new romantic partner, and that person has already appeared. Wei Caiwei, this butterfly, has already started creating effects with her wing beats. Here’s a hint for everyone—Romeo and Juliet.

Seeing everyone’s comments, new readers misunderstood that there would be a second female lead competing with the female protagonist for one man. Everyone can rest assured—Lanzhou has written ten books and never had such plots. My second female leads are basically career-minded with their own romantic storylines, and they usually pamper the female protagonist even more than the male protagonist does. Veteran readers can help explain the lovely second female leads in my works.