2 Bao Baiyu

Everyone in the Bao Manor noticed that the legitimate Eldest Miss has changed in her manner and behaviour rather drastically overnight. Gone were the days where her merry laughter that can be heard almost on a daily basis.

These days, she has been staying inside her room and did not venture out of her courtyard unless necessary. She only goes out to do the daily morning greetings to her grandparents, parents and her mother-concubines. Other than that short period amount of time of the day, the rest of the day she will just stay in her own courtyard and she even eats on her own. She no longer clings on her parents like she usually did, nor does she bother her mother-concubines with her endless demands.

Her changes are definitely odd but, if she changes for the better, it will be good on everyone else including her own parents. Or, so they thought... After all, a legitimate son is more important than a legitimate daughter as only a legitimate son can inherit the vast businesses and pass down the family name through generations.

That is the reason why none of Duke Bao Biming's concubines has any children to this very day. He wanted his only main wife, Duchess Fen Liling, to be the birth mother of his legitimate heir. After all, his main wife used to be the beloved and prized disciple of Manyue Sect. Her beauty and talent in cultivation are well known throughout the Kingdom. He feels so guilty that when she married him, she has been expelled from her Sect but, she is much more powerful than he is, so he appreciates that of her. Therefore, she is the one and only woman that he truly loves. The others are just necessities to gain more connection and power that he wanted all along.

But, when Bao Baiyu is born, he is quite disappointed upon seeing her rather ordinary appearance. As she grows, it has become clear as day that his daughter is not blessed with his wife's exemplary looks. But she is just a daughter, so it is acceptable. He just needs to focus on having a son now. Just the other day, his wife had told him that she is pregnant with their second child. This is why Bao Baiyu is no longer considered as a thorn in his flesh.

Hidden in her courtyard, Bao Baiyu already knows that her mother is pregnant around this time. After the disappointment of her 'failure', her parents immediately announced that they are expecting another child and completely convinced that he or she will not be another disappointment like their eldest born.

She sits under her favourite peach blossoms tree and takes a deep breath to inhale the refreshing fragrance as she closes her eyes. Knowing how unimportant her existence in her parents' eyes, she no longer bothers to hope something that is never meant to be hers from the very beginning.

Her parents never care about her then, even when they knew well that she was badly treated by her husband. They continue to live on their majestic life by being proud parents towards her younger brother and continue to flourish as one of the most powerful families in the Kingdom while she slowly withered in the Cold Palace being engulfed in extreme pain and sadness after losing her unborn son.

Her husband forced her to drink the abortive concoction immediately upon knowing that she was pregnant. She naively thought then that with her pregnancy, she will have a chance to finally get out from the Cold Palace. But her family abandoned her completely and only supported her half-sister, the enchantingly beautiful Bao Yaorao to enter the imperial palace and immediately becomes the most pampered female in the imperial harem for her beauty, talents and possesses fifth of the tenth levels of cultivation with a fire attribute. There was no longer a need for her husband to be civilized towards her especially when her enchantingly beautiful half-sister has become his beloved Imperial Noble Consort Bao. Hence, Empress Bao continues to wither alone in the Cold Palace.

They are just waiting for her to die pathetically inside the Cold Palace, alone. Her four loyal maidservants have long died after her husband decided to execute them once she stepped into the Cold Palace. Day by day, she sits outside the dilapidated sleeping chamber by staring blankly at the sky as she thinks about her life then.

All her life, she has tried her very best to please others. Her only mistake was that she thought that by being the legitimate daughter of Duke Bao Biming, that fact alone will secure her future for the rest of her life. She also thought that perhaps her husband might really love her because he used to treat her so kindly at the beginning of their marriage even with the glaring fact that she is a trash. Being a legitimate daughter means absolutely nothing due to the fact that she is trash.

This time, she will only care about herself and make sure that her loyal maidservants will not suffer the same horrible death as they did in the previous lifetime. Only one thing bothers her ever since her awakening... How did she die? She cannot seem to remember anything about the last moment of her life.

By now, she has decided to be heartless so that she will no longer be disappointed by others. She no longer wishes to live in such a sorry state. Being unloved is fine. As long as she can continue on to live till a ripe old age.