Chapter 1 The Foolish and Overbearing Ye Xinyan

People often say that if you don't court trouble, you won't die.

This phrase was vividly embodied in Ye Xinyan's experience. No, that's not entirely fair to say, to be more precise, an otherworldly woman also named Ye Xinyan acted too rashly, inevitably dragging the modern Ye Xinyan down with her.

Ye Xinyan seemed to be dreaming, witnessing an extraordinary play in this unusual dream, with an immersive sensation.

In the dream, she roamed unimpeded through the layers of courtyards in a luxurious mansion on an autumn day, amidst a birthday banquet of unprecedented scale and a ceaseless stream of guests.

She wasn't the least bit concerned about how strange the omnipresent god-like perspective seemed. She was too busy observing the antics of the ancient woman who shared her name, who was foolish, ruthless, and reckless in her use of a series of tactics to plot against her half-sister during their grandfather's grand sixtieth birthday feast.

Ye Xinyan couldn't understand, even if legitimate elder sisters and half-sisters didn't get along, they were both already married and didn't have to see each other every day. If they were distasteful to each other, why couldn't they just look the other way? Was a fight to the death really necessary?

Yet the two sisters were bent on a fight to the death. With no interactions on normal days and no convenient opportunities, they chose their grandfather's birthday banquet. They both had to come back for the ancestral feast, and the chaos of the crowded event made it easier to execute their plans.

Unfortunately, there was a mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. The half-sister Ye Xinyi was smart, and with the assistance of her favored mother, Maternal Aunt Liu, the one who was plotted against turned out to be herself.

Ye Xinyan with the god-like view followed and saw the woman, who shared her name, stagger into a room.

Ye Xinyan knew that on the big bed in that room, a young man lay sprawled. This man was the one the woman had prepared for her half-sister Ye Xinyi.

The young man's sumptuous clothes were already scattered haphazardly, and his eyes were red with lust.

As the woman, not quite lucid, stepped into the room, the maid who led her there quietly closed the door and locked it.

The man in the room seemed on the verge of collapse. Hearing the footsteps at the door, his bloodshot eyes suddenly looked up.

And the woman walking in remained blissfully unaware.

It wasn't until the man with bloodshot eyes pounced towards her that she saw him and panicked, trembling as she turned to rush to the door, hoping to get out. But she found that the door had already been locked from the outside. The wooden door, with its ornate grilles, only shook symbolically under her forceful impact, then remained motionless.

The obviously delirious man lunged at her, while she dodged and screamed desperately, "Help! Murder! Murder!"

She circled around the table, evading the man's several attempts to embrace her. Originally, with the table as a barrier and having regained her composure, her chances of avoiding a delirious person were pretty good. However, her luxurious gown severely hindered her movement.

Outside, everything was proceeding smoothly according to the plans of her half-sister Ye Xinyi and Maternal Aunt Liu. When cries for help were heard, the nearby noble female relatives naturally came to spectate.

So, when the door opened, what everyone saw was Ye Xinyan, the Legitimate Granddaughter of Duke An's Mansion, disheveled and pressed under a nearly naked man, struggling and grappling.

As a group of women, dressed in ancient attire, appeared startled at the door, the modern woman Ye Xinyan's head buzzed, she blacked out, and knew no more.

And the dream she thought she was having, even after losing the god-like perspective, continued...

The main agents of this event, Maternal Aunt Liu and Ye Xinyi, were not among this group of women.

Ye Xinyi was leisurely sitting in the Flower Hall, chatting with a few esteemed young ladies of the upper classes. Her demeanor, speech, and actions clearly displayed her excellent upbringing and manners. Her delicate beauty revealed her current joyful mood.

Having just received a report from a maid, she knew that her legitimate elder sister had successfully entered that room. What followed next didn't need to be mentioned, as it certainly went according to the plan.

This foolish elder sister had only been tolerated by her mother, who had thought of promoting her at the expense of others, which ultimately led her to develop an arrogant and domineering temperament, resulting in a scandal today that could ruin her entire life.

It was Maternal Aunt Liu who was truly cunning. Hence, after her sister's marriage, everything went unfavorably for her, and this misfortune would continue, leading her down the path to her own demise.

And Maternal Aunt Liu, as a Concubine of the heir of Duke An, naturally did not have the right to attend Duke An's birthday banquet.

At this moment, Ye Xinyan was sitting comfortably in her small, exquisitely designed courtyard, enjoying the latest news from her rival's quarters delivered incessantly by her maids. She felt an uncontrollable sense of satisfaction and contentment.

What of being the wife of the heir apparent? She's still suffocating under my shadow, isn't she? What can the Legitimate Granddaughter do? In the end, is she not heading for a dead end?

......

Ye Xinyan thought her dream should have ended by now.

But when she woke up groggily, facing the beautifully carved tester bed, the curtains soft as flowing water, lustrous and embroidered with exquisite patterns, and the sight of a maid in ancient garb standing beside the bed, Ye Xinyan was startled.

Wasn't this the room of that foolish woman from ancient times? Could it be she was still not fully awake?

She closed her eyes tightly once again, turned over, and lay facing inward, motionless. She hoped to fall asleep again, and upon waking, to see her sparsely decorated studio apartment, to continue striving for her future in the era she was familiar with.

Her wishes were bound to be in vain. No sooner had she turned over than the ancient garbed maid shrieked, "The Young Miss is awake, the Young Miss is awake!"

Immediately, a cacophony of footsteps rushed in.

"Ah Yan, Ah Yan, what's wrong with you? Open your eyes and look at Mother, don't scare me," a woman's voice struck her ear.

Ye Xinyan kept her eyes tightly shut, telling herself that this was a dream, an illusion, not real. As long as she fell asleep, she would return to her own room upon waking up, back to her simple apartment filled with computers, information, and the internet.

The wife of the heir of Duke An saw Ye Xinyan lying on the bed with her back turned, motionless, and couldn't help feeling suspicious. She turned to the maids and angrily asked, "Chun Yan! How have you been watching? Is the Young Miss truly awake or not? Why is she still not moving?"

Chun Yan glanced at the silhouette of Ye Xinyan. The Young Miss did indeed wake up just now. How could she have turned over and then became motionless again?

Her voice trembling, she said, "Wife of the Duke's Heir Apparent, the Young Miss woke up just now. You see, the Young Miss even turned over. Since she came back yesterday, she has been lying on her back all the time."

The wife of the heir apparent immediately understood. It was her excessive worry for her daughter that had made her forget such an evident fact. Ah Yan had indeed been lying on her back all along, and in just a little while, she had indeed shifted to lying on her side.

The wife of the heir apparent leaned in to see that her daughter's tightly closed eyes looked very unnatural and seemed extremely tense.

A surge of sorrow filled her heart. What happened yesterday must have terrified her daughter. To have so many people witness such a scene, the kind of life she would have to face in the future was unthinkable. No wonder her daughter wasn't willing to wake up.

"Ah Yan, don't be afraid, Mother will never let you stay in the ancestral temple for a lifetime. You'll attend the temple to fulfill the rituals, just to make an appearance. After a month or two, Mother will figure out a way to secretly bring you out."

Ancestral temple? Are they planning to send her to the ancestral temple?

Although Ye Xinyan resisted the reality of her situation and stubbornly refused to accept the fact that she had come to this place without reason, and insisted that she was not that arrogant and foolish Ye Xinyan, her understanding of the ancestral temple was nonetheless clear. Moreover, though she had not turned around, merely by listening to the voice, the image of the woman behind her materialized in her mind.

The woman behind her was the mother of this other-dimensional Ye Xinyan, Madam Yin, the wife of the heir of Duke An.

Such clear information made Ye Xinyan even more panicked. Could it be that she had truly come here and couldn't return?

The wife of the heir apparent gently patted her shoulder, her words seething with anger as she continued, "This isn't your fault; it's those spineless servants to blame. Those two maids and Nanny Jin who accompanied you, they all deserve to die. Mother has already sent them to the punishment room; they'll be executed to vent your anger."

Executed? These words brought both the memories of her predecessor and Ye Xinyan's own consciousness flooding back.

She could lie there no longer and suddenly sat up, staring straight at the wife of the heir apparent, her voice trembling as she asked, "Executed? Executed?"

The wife of the heir apparent saw Ye Xinyan sit up and hastily went to support her, continuing bitterly, "Yes, executed! These servants, if they had properly accompanied and protected you, how could such an incident have happened..." her voice choked with sobs, "They've ruined your life forever. Even if we grind their bones to dust and scatter their ashes, it will not compensate you, my child."