The main kitchen had just delivered lunch, and before Susu could start eating, another maid, Cui Lu, rushed in flustered. Cui Jin frowned, "Why the panic? Where are your manners?"
Cui Lu hurriedly said, "When the girls were dismissed from school, the Fifth Miss and the Eighth Miss from the second wife got into a fight. During the scuffle, Miss Ten was pushed into the garden's lotus pond. It's said..." Susu immediately asked, "Said what?"
"Said she has no breath left!"
With a crash, the teacup in Susu's hand fell to the ground. She recalled the girl laughing merrily just this morning, barely ten years old.
Susu stood up abruptly, "Where was Sister Ten taken? Hurry and take me to see her!" Cui Lu quickly said, "Miss Ten was taken back to Aunt Li's Brocade Pavilion."
When Susu arrived, the Brocade Pavilion was surprisingly quiet despite the coming and going of people. From outside, she could hear the thunderous cries of Miss Ten's birth mother, Aunt Li. Susu's legs gave way, but fortunately, she was supported by Cui Jin and Cui Lu on either side.
Just before entering the door, Madam Qin was heard reprimanding, "Stop crying. The household doctor said the girl only choked on water and lost consciousness temporarily. She will be fine and wake up soon."
A young maid lifted the curtain for Susu. Seeing Susu enter, Madam Qin waved her over, "Thirteenth Lady is here. Rest assured, your Sister Ten is fine."
Ruan Qiniang stood beside Qin, while Aunt Li sat by the bed sobbing uncontrollably. On the bed, Thirteenth Lady's face was somewhat pale, still unconscious.
As autumn came, the lake water must be cold. Miss Ten's personal maid boiled the medicine prescribed by the household doctor and fed it to her little by little. Since she knew how to swallow, it seemed there was no serious issue.
Susu secretly glared at Cui Lu. What did she mean by 'no breath left'? It was pure nonsense that scared people to death! Cui Lu shrank her neck back, "I only heard it from someone else."
Before half the bowl of medicine was fed, Miss Ten opened her eyes, looked around at everyone, and then uttered, "Who are you people? Where is this?"
No matter what expression others had after hearing this, Susu's face turned pale instantly, and even her body felt weak as memories came flooding in.
No wonder she felt that some scenes and people in this world were very familiar! Susu took a step back and shakily asked Cui Jin, "What is Sister Ten's maiden name?"
Cui Jin gave her own lady a puzzled look but still replied, "Miss Ten's maiden name is Wei Hua!"
The incident of Ruan Shiniang falling into the water was finally deemed accidental, not causing any major stir. Now, what the servants of the Duke Mansion discussed was how timid the Thirteenth Miss was; while the fallen Miss Ten was fine, the visiting Thirteenth Miss had been frightened sick.
The Thirteenth Miss, who was the subject of the discussion, was lying in bed with a wry smile. Wasn't she indeed frightened?
After all, who wouldn't be scared if they suddenly found themselves transmigrated into a book as a character who wasn't even a supporting character, a mere bystander, about to face confiscation of family assets, degradation to an official slave, and becoming cannon fodder?
No wonder she always found Duke Li's Mansion so familiar, with the Great Chu Dynasty, Prince Liang, etc. This was clearly the novel Susu had just read before transmigrating, a story about the struggles of an illegitimate daughter protagonist.
Susu had transmigrated too, and she was an illegitimate daughter. The tragedy was she was not the protagonist; the protagonist was Miss Ten, who had transmigrated after falling into the water. As for herself, she was merely an anonymous bystander who appeared just once at the beginning, only known as Thirteenth Lady.
That novel was very well written, featuring not only household strife but also palace intrigues, with turbulent and intricate plot developments and a classical writing style. Susu had finished it in one sitting back then, finding it extremely fascinating. Now, she just wanted to curse the heavens.
The author, with a penchant for being a stepmother, mainly emphasized the theme of struggle in the novel, so half a month after the protagonist's transmigration, the Duke Mansion took the wrong side in the succession struggle, got its title revoked, and its assets confiscated by the new emperor, with all adult males executed. Although the lives of boys under fifteen were spared due to an imperial decree, they were also exiled to the northwest for military service, and the women were all made official slaves without the right to redemption.
The protagonist was sent by the officials to the recently titled Fourth Prince, now Prince Ke's residence, beginning her journey from a young maid to a maid, to a concubine, and finally climbing ranks to become Consort, Imperial Consort, Empress, and Empress Dowager.
Ruan Susu wasn't worried about not being the protagonist; what troubled her was that in half a month, the Duke Mansion would be destroyed. Having just transformed from a female loser to a rich and beautiful woman, she was finding it increasingly difficult, about to be made an official slave.
Susu lay in bed for two days, during which she was visited by many, even the amnesiac transmigrated Miss Ten coming to see her shocked daughter. Thinking back to the protagonist's journey of struggles, she couldn't help but sigh. No wonder she was the protagonist, and she was just cannon fodder; their intelligence and emotional quotients were on entirely different levels.