Kill That Transmigrator Woman - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Actually, She Was Very Envious

The next day, the snow had gotten even heavier, so much so that even stepping outside became a problem.

Cui Wanwan pushed open a small crack in the window, and the pure white snow turned into sharp, biting blades, slicing into her cheeks with a sting.

She had woken up later than usual today, and it was other maidservants who came to help her wash and dress.

Miaomiao was a diligent person and always kept Cui Wanwan’s instructions in mind. It took her only half a day to dig up the details of that matter.

When Miaomiao came rushing back, covered in dust from the journey, Cui Wanwan quickly shoved a warm handwarmer into her hands and pulled her to sit beside the brazier.

“That matter isn’t urgent. The wind and snow outside are so harsh, yet you still went running around. Aren’t you afraid of freezing into something dreadful?” Cui Wanwan felt a bit guilty. She took off her thick cloak and draped it over Miaomiao’s shoulders.

When Miaomiao had left, she’d only said she was going out to buy some items, so Cui Wanwan assumed that was all she was doing. At the time, she’d even teased her, saying if she wanted any jewelry or trinkets, anything her mistress had, she could simply give it to her.

Miaomiao shook her head with a shy smile. “This servant just wanted to quickly finish the task Second Miss gave me.”

“That wasn’t something urgent…” It had been so long since someone had cared about her so sincerely. A faint sourness welled up in Cui Wanwan’s nose. She wrapped the cloak more tightly around Miaomiao, then turned and brought over a bowl of freshly heated corn and pork rib soup.
“Drink some hot soup to warm yourself.”

Miaomiao was a maidservant she had taken in while wandering the jianghu. Now, she was her personal maid.

Back when they roamed the martial world, they often shared the same bed and declared to outsiders that they were sisters.

Miaomiao had always been deeply grateful for this.

To her, even if she were to die for Second Miss someday, she would have no complaints. Her Second Miss was nothing like Wei Qingyu. Though Wei Qingyu also treated the maids and servants around her with kindness on the surface and often talked about “equality for all” and “we’re all one family,” when it came down to actually showing leniency to the servants, she would never do it.

The trusted maids at Wei Qingyu’s side didn’t have a patch of unbruised skin on their arms. When asked why, they refused to say a word.

Later, Miaomiao witnessed it herself: whenever Wei Qingyu was unhappy, especially when she was angry, she would pinch and twist her personal maids’ arms with full force.

Long sleeves covered their arms, so outsiders couldn’t see what was hidden beneath. But those pinches would leave bruises, swelling, or even peeled skin—and no one else would ever know.

After drinking half a bowl of hot soup, Miaomiao rubbed her frostbitten-red hands and said, “Second Miss, this servant has found out. The Young General returns to the capital once every two years. He usually stays for two or three days before hurrying back to the border. On the first day of his return this time, a maidservant in the usually empty General’s Manor developed feelings of longing for her master. Wanting to seize the chance to rise in status in one leap, she boldly volunteered to become the Young General’s concubine-in-waiting.”

She hadn’t even managed to take off her clothes, only revealing a pair of fair jade-like shoulders, when the Young General, with a cold expression, slowly reached out and caressed her slender neck.

The next moment, the maidservant’s neck was snapped in the Young General’s hand.

The Shen family was different from many high-ranking officials and noble families in the capital. For generations, the Shen family had strictly forbidden taking concubines. The official wife was always the one and only wife. If any descendant was caught consorting with women outside, or secretly keeping a mistress, they would be immediately removed from the family genealogy and henceforth severed from the Shen clan.

The Great General Shen had loved Lady Shen deeply all his life, and even after her death, he never took another wife.

Some years ago, it was heard that a few ministers wanted to curry favor with the Great General Shen. They searched across the entire land for women whose appearance or temperament closely resembled the late Lady Shen, hoping to offer them to him.

Among these beauties, there was even one who bore a nine-part resemblance to Lady Shen.

Everyone thought the Great General Shen would surely accept this beauty as a substitute for his late wife, after all, the resemblance was uncanny.

Even if she were kept just as a remembrance, that would have made sense.

But the outcome shocked everyone.

Those stunningly beautiful women, General Shen did not take a single one. To him, seeking a lookalike after Lady Shen’s death was the greatest insult to the one he loved.

A treasure is a treasure precisely because it is irreplaceable. No one else would do—even someone identical would still be a counterfeit.

People all said that the Great General Shen was a man of deep affection, while the Young General Shen Jingzhou was a block of wood, entirely uninterested in women.

After hearing Miaomiao’s words, Cui Wanwan rested her chin on one hand and tapped the table absentmindedly with the other.

Then why had Shen Jingzhou in her previous life chosen to become a monk?

She had always thought it was because Shen Jingzhou had been heartbroken, seen through the dust of the mortal world, and thus chose to renounce the world and take up monastic life.

But now, it seemed, how could someone so cold and heartless possibly be moved by a girl?

She recalled that pair of eyes the young man had, so compassionate toward all beings, and suddenly felt that perhaps he had become a monk not out of heartbreak, but because at a certain age, he had simply awakened a desire to save the world.

As the heavy snow deepened and the New Year approached, the entire capital was filled with joy and bustle. People began preparing for the coming celebration.

The Cui Mansion was no exception.

The couplets for the household were always written personally by her father and elder brother. Each year, they would write many extra sets, and then reward them to the household servants so everyone could paste them outside their own quarters.

The Cui household never mistreated their servants or guards. As the year-end approached, except for the indentured servants with no family or place to return to, most of the attendants and maids were given ten days off to go home.

Her father, as the head of the household and wielder of its power, was also very generous.

Before the servants went home, each one would even be given some silver, so they could enjoy a good New Year.

Before New Year’s Eve even arrived, Wei Qingyu had already begun fiddling with all sorts of strange things.

After hearing the report, Cui Wanwan wasn’t surprised at all.

As expected, with the help of the system, Wei Qingyu was probably creating fireworks and firecrackers that flew higher and looked more beautiful than ordinary ones.

Around this time in the previous life, Wei Qingyu had made firecrackers called “Hundred Blossoms.”

Cui Wanwan had seen those fireworks in her past life—they were the most beautiful and the largest she had ever witnessed over the years, dazzling and radiant.

They flew higher than ordinary fireworks and had more colors too. It had to be said, Wei Qingyu was capable of producing many impressive and bizarre items, each one astonishing.

In that respect, Cui Wanwan truly admired her, and she also envied the otherworldly Wei Qingyu.

If possible, Cui Wanwan really, really wanted to see just how shocking the world Wei Qingyu came from truly was.

In her past life, she had heard the name of that era, something like the twenty-first century…

According to Wei Qingyu, that world was grander and more beautiful than the one they lived in.

Wei Qingyu’s mocking words from back then were still vivid in Cui Wanwan’s memory:

“You’re nothing more than a native of a backward era, do you even know what my world is like? People can ride airplanes, do you know what an airplane is? Of course you don’t. It’s something that can carry many people flying through the sky, where you can eat and sleep inside. An airplane can take us thousands of miles away and get there within a single day.”

“And there are mobile phones. You, a narrow-minded bumpkin, are doomed to never lay eyes on a phone in this lifetime. You’ll never understand what a magnificent invention it is.”

“You were born a woman of a feudal age, destined to be trapped in this suffocating cage for your entire life. Not like me, I’m a transmigrated woman, nothing like you, lowly and dull.”

Cui Wanwan hated Wei Qingyu, yet at the same time, she envied the world she came from.