3 Chapter 3

"Mei Li! come and collect food for your mistress!" Her tranquil morning was disturbed by a high pitched voice that carried a certain level of arrogance as the little girl ran out to collect the food, Liu Jilian took note of her servant girl's name, she had been calling her 'little girl' since she had transmigrated because she was unsure of her name and thought it would be too obvious to ask.

She saw a familiar face, one of her sister's closest maids carrying a tray with some bowls covered up and a teapot with a few cups, looking at it she felt that she wasn't treated too badly considering she still had an adequate amount of maids and was fed three times a day.

After all, even if she was born with a disease like asthma she was the first daughter of the prime minister, but she was still unsure about her status, whether or not she was born of a concubine was unknown to her, whether or not her name was Liu Jilian was also unknown to her, no one had addressed her by her name so she could only use her old name subconsciously.

"First miss is awake? Good! My miss ordered me to bring you your dinner since you reported to the master that you were not feeling well last night! " The tray was placed in front of her and Liu Jilian stared at the contents with a strange expression, something didn't seem right.

It didn't make sense for her sister to send something like this out of goodwill, was this another sister? But this maid clearly belonged to that beautiful child she saw yesterday.

"You, what's your name?"

The maid scoffed, why was she acting like she was so dignified that she couldn't bother remembering her name? "Answering first miss, this slave's name is Chun Hua!"

"I'll remember, you can go!" seeing the disdain in the maid's eyes she smiled to herself, she was not confident in her ability to scheme but she was confident in her ability to sniff out bullshit and act shamelessly.

"Throw it out," she said sharply shocking Mei li who quickly did as she was told. "After that take the jewellery from yesterday and sell it for a few banknotes, bring it back here, be quick!"

She wasn't sure of anything, it was better if they could fund their own foods from now on so she wouldn't fall into someone's trap accidentally. She didn't kid herself into believing she was good at recognizing when she was poisoned, she was a normal person - if she wasn't careful she wouldn't even know how she died again.

"First young miss, the mistress has called all the young misses to her court!" Liu Jilian nodded before allowing mei li to put a light cloak on her and a veil to stop the pollen from infiltrating her poor respiratory system, it was a fifteen-minute walk to the mistresses quarters, when mei li had told her about the summon she noticed a sort of indifferent tone which suggests that the current woman of the house was not her mother.

When Liu Jilian walked in there were already two girls waiting for her with one being her third sister and the slightly older one she suspected was her second younger sister, her father was also there with his cold expression of a veteran. "Paying respects to Misstress!" Liu Jilian said bowing to the woman who was wearing a beautiful red dress that signified her status as the main wife.

"This child, how many times have I told you to call me mother? It's only right that I take you under my wing since your mother died," she said helping Liu Jilian to stand up, her eyes kept glancing at her husband who's expression lightened when he saw that she was treating his first daughter amicably. Liu Lian was quick to realize this woman was her mother's replacement, and couldn't help but feel that her so-called concern was somewhat forced.

Her smile seemed stiff and did not reflect in her clear eyes, instead, all she could feel was coldness radiating from this mother of hers, how cruel.

"Yes, mother..."

"This child is very obedient! Husband, her marriage... we must decide carefully as not to let down my older sister!" Her father nodded agreeing with her words, Liu Lian also picked up another piece of information, this 'mother' of hers was her aunt! What sort of complex family line is this?

"Father... I'm still very young..." Liu Lilian said blushing slightly, she really was not expecting her marriage to become a topic for this mother and father pair, she was not even 18! This culture was really hard to accept!

Towards this father of hers, she did not have any feelings, she was also unsure about his relationship with this body, it did not seem too close but not too far, this kind of lukewarm relationship was hard to understand. "She's still young, no need to rush, I will sort it out" Her 'mother's' mouth twitched slightly and it did not escape Liu Jilian's eyes.

"I called the three of you today to discuss the upcoming competition between our Zhou kingdom and the Xiang kingdom."