The stepmother had passed away. Hearing this news, Daiyu unknowingly found tears streaming down her face.

Chen Li consoled her for quite some time before finally getting her to drink calming tea and lie down to sleep.

Daiyu slept, but not peacefully. That night, she had a dream—a nightmare.

In the dream, her life was completely different from now.

The Lin family was also completely different.

Grandmother had passed away early. Father had not taken a daughter from a good family as concubine. There was no elder sister, no elder brother. The Lin family’s descendants were only her and the brother born to Concubine Chu who had died young.

Not long after her brother’s death, Mother fell ill and passed away. Soon after, she herself was sent to the Rong Manor, her maternal grandmother’s home.

Ostensibly to fulfill filial duties in Mother’s place, but actually one reason was that Father wished her to avoid the chaotic situation in Yangzhou. Another reason was the concern that none would marry a girl who had lost her mother. If she had her maternal grandmother’s upbringing, this easily criticized reason would no longer hold.

In the dream, she had enjoyed a period of happiness at that time. Unfortunately, terrible news soon arrived: Father had died at his post. She became an orphan girl dependent on the Jia family. The Lin family’s vast fortune all went to the Jia family. In the dream, her young self would even feel troubled when servants said that every needle and thread she used came from the Jia family.

This was just one aspect. There were many developments Daiyu could not accept, such as: she and Baoyu, one sleeping inside the gauze curtain, one outside, disregarding propriety between men and women;

Being deceived by servants who gossiped about her;

Her second aunt’s fault-finding and disdain for her…

Finally, hearing the happy news of Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai’s grand wedding, she died with tears exhausted.

“No, don’t…”

“It’s not like this!”

Daiyu knew she was dreaming, but why couldn’t she wake from this dream?

Chen Li heard the sound and woke. Seeing his pillow companion drenched in sweat, tears continuously sliding from the corners of her eyes, trapped in a nightmare, Chen Li softened his voice: “Yu’er, wake up, wake up. Don’t be afraid. You’re dreaming. Once you wake, everything will be fine.”

With his help, Daiyu finally opened her eyes. Her heart was racing so fast it made her head feel dizzy. Looking at her husband, feeling his warmth, her accelerated heartbeat gradually calmed down.

Chen Li patted her back: “What did you dream about? To be so frightened.”

Daiyu: “…A nightmare.”

She had been dreaming.

Yes, she had been dreaming.

But… was it really just a dream?

Those more than ten years in the dream—she could still recall them vividly now, as if they had truly happened.

After calming down, Daiyu couldn’t help but feel fortunate. No matter how clear that dream was, reality was essentially the opposite. This was a blessing.

Daiyu thought again of the stepmother who had passed away.

The current fate of the Lin family, and her own fate, were vastly different from the world in the dream. There were two crucial turning points: one was Grandmother, the other was Lady.

She thought carefully. If there had been no Grandmother and no Lady, the fate of the Lin family and herself truly could very likely have become as in the dream.

The Lin family would have no descendants, and the Jia family would not have fared well either.

Now the Lin family’s prestige was tremendous. The Jia family gained no advantage from the Lin family whatsoever. Moreover, compared to that ending of vast white desolation in the dream, although the Jia family had now declined, they had preserved their bloodline. Even the several sisters lived lives much better than in the dream world.

Thinking to this point, Daiyu slowly exhaled and rose: “I’m going to burn a stick of incense for Grandmother and Lady.”

No matter how clear the dream was, it had nothing to do with her, nothing to do with reality. But still, some unease remained in her heart.

Chen Li naturally had no objection: “I’ll accompany you.”

While Daiyu’s thoughts were in turmoil over a dream here, in the capital, Ying Yu was similarly distracted.

Lady’s funeral had been extremely honorable. It was now complete, but like her younger brother, she had not yet emerged from grief. For this reason, she often looked through things the elders, even the maternal grandmother and uncle from the Mei family bloodline, had left her as mementos. Today, among those items her actual uncle from the Mei family bloodline had sent her before her grandmother passed away, she discovered something unexpected.

It was said to be a scripture book that her maternal grandmother had loved dearly during her life.

She also loved it. Reciting scriptures could calm her emotions. But today, she inadvertently discovered something wrong with the cover.

Searching carefully, she found a letter hidden in the cover.

A letter sealed away, hidden from the world.

The Mei family were merchant folk. In the hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants ranked last. Wanting to climb upward was understandable—who wouldn’t want their life to improve step by step?

So when they came to her for some help, as long as it didn’t cross the line, she did what she could. Her maternal grandmother and uncle over there had treated her well.

But now, Ying Yu’s heart was filled with complex, indescribable feelings.

This scripture book was her grandmother’s beloved possession, originally meant to be left to her uncle. Her uncle had given it to her, and only inadvertently had the secret privately hidden within been exposed by chance.

Although Concubine had passed away long ago, Ying Yu still remembered that Concubine had once told her that she and Lady had been brought into the Lin family because a master called Zhiliao had given Grandmother a birth date and time, and Grandmother believed it. Following that birth date and time, she had found Concubine and Lady herself and brought them into the Lin family. But what was written in this letter was her grandmother’s confession: that Master Zhiliao was not some enlightened sage at all!

This was a scheme!

Her grandmother knew that Grandmother worried about the Lin family’s descendants and found a way to conspire with that false master Zhiliao. That birth date and time was specially prepared by her grandmother, so Concubine’s entry into the household was plotted by her grandmother!

This part went smoothly, but accidents also occurred. In her grandmother’s conception, there should have only been Concubine—Lady was not part of the plan.

After Lady also entered the household, her grandmother had originally wanted Zhiliao to appear again and increase Concubine’s weight. But the heavens are unpredictable. Zhiliao’s luck ran out. When traveling south by boat, he encountered river bandits and just like that, silently perished, incidentally burying this secret.

What made Ying Yu’s heart even heavier was that her grandmother had also written her speculation here.

The reason she had plotted for Concubine to enter the Lin family was because of a secret medicine. Concubine had indeed eaten that secret medicine, which was why she herself existed. And she speculated that her own years of childlessness were precisely because of this secret medicine!

Reading on, Ying Yu’s tears fell. Should she blame her?

If not for them, she would never have been born.

But not blame them?

Although she had long since accepted this reality, recalling all these years of grievances she had suffered both openly and covertly due to being childless, Ying Yu still felt heartbroken even now.

Ying Yu cried for quite some time before calming down. Looking at the letter again, she discovered there was a second page. Here her grandmother wrote her speculation: she suspected the Lin family possessed great fortune. Later events truly verified her suspicion. The Lin family’s daughter became Noble Consort. The prince she bore inherited the throne. The Lin family along with it enjoyed unlimited glory.

There was also Yun Shuyao, who by her own strength had actually improved grain varieties, greatly increasing food production. Who knew how many common people benefited from this? People throughout the realm praised her for it. If her grandmother hadn’t been certain that was a false master, she would have believed what that master said was true, because this birth date and time truly changed the Lin family’s destiny.

Ying Yu self-mockingly curved her lips, murmuring to herself: “Indeed, Lady brought many changes to the Lin family.”

It could even be called defying heaven to change fate.

Smiling and smiling, tears fell. Ying Yu suddenly felt her entire life seemed like a puppet on a stage.

Because she was needed, she was manipulated into being born. If unlucky, she would have been manipulated through her entire life.

She suddenly felt fortunate.

“Fortunately I was born female.”

“Fortunately Grandmother was there.”

“Fortunately Lady was a person of broad heart.”

Speaking and speaking, Ying Yu gradually became calm. Among her blood relatives, more people had cherished her. “My life, though not comparing favorably above, surpasses many below.” She was ultimately content with what she had.

Among the three sisters, the two younger sisters both had their own biological offspring. Only she was childless—regret was inevitable. But compared to other childless primary wives whose natal families were not strong, who could only retreat again and again before concubine-born sons, her life had not been lived in vain.

But at this moment, Ying Yu inevitably felt somewhat melancholy.

What had her grandmother schemed and plotted so painstakingly for?

Status.

She was of escaped slave origins, but her enslavement was due to being kidnapped and sold. At that time, to become a concubine in the Mei family with a clean status had already exhausted all her means.

But this was still not enough, so she continued plotting with her own daughter.

Men who wished to change their fate, even if servants, could join the military to fight external enemies and change their destiny. If commoners, they could still participate in the imperial examinations. But women?

There was simply no path to advancement!

Someone like Lady—one might not see such a person in a thousand years.

At this moment, Ying Yu couldn’t help but think of some overseas books she had read. They recorded much of the Western situation. In some countries there, women could also be nobles, even queens!

Ying Yu couldn’t help but secretly hope in her heart: if one day, women of the Qing Dynasty could also have such status, how wonderful that would be!