Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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As the story unfolded, Jiang Shining gave birth to a daughter four years later.
Chen Jiacheng was away fighting at the time of the birth and didn’t return for three months. Jiang Shining was happy to have some free time when he did not have to act.
After a nap, Jiang Shining opened her eyes and felt something firmly pressing down on the corner of the blanket near her feet. Looking down, she saw a small bundle curled up asleep in the corner. It was Chen Tanliang— her eldest son in this life, just over three years old.
It was said that children from poor families matured early, but Chen Tanliang, despite being the son of a warlord, had no arrogant personality at all. Even at such a young age, he knew not to disturb his mother. When he missed her, he would just quietly climb into bed and take a nap in the corner.
Jiang Shining’s gaze softened somewhat. She had a natural birth, but the little girl was petite and delicate, so she hadn’t suffered much during the delivery, though she was still feeling weak all over. If she had the strength, she would have definitely brought Chen Tanliang over to sleep.
“Tanliang…” she called softly.
Children could sleep soundly anywhere. Chen Tanliang heard someone calling him, and he groggily raised his head, instinctively calling out “Mom,” before crawling over and snuggling into her arms. The moment he touched Jiang Shining’s arm, the little boy fell asleep again.
Jiang Shining gazed quietly at her sleeping son’s face and couldn’t help but reach out and gently stroke his long eyelashes, then lightly pinch his cheek. Finally, the mother and son fell asleep again.
They awoke a second time because of the noise outside.
“…Second Madam, the doctor has just given birth and is still resting. You…” the maid Chun Mei whispered, trying to stop her.
“Oh, so even the First Madam’s maids are so arrogant now, daring to stop the Madam?” Sun Qinling’s sharp, sarcastic tone rang out. “I’ve come to visit the Madam, and who do you think you are? Judging from your attitude, do you want to become the Marshal’s third concubine, that’s why you dare to boss me around like this?”
“I, I didn’t…” The maid was young, and after Sun Qinling’s few words of provocation, Chun Mei’s voice was already trembling with sobs.
Chen Tanliang stirred in Jiang Shining’s arms, and Jiang Shining slowly opened her eyes, her gaze cold and indifferent.
“Chun Mei.” The two people entangled outside heard a faint voice, “Since the second concubine is here, let her in.”
Sun Qinling snorted, pushed the maid aside, and swayed her hips as she went inside.
Her original intention was to mock Jiang Yiru, thinking that a woman who had just given birth must look disheveled and weak. But as soon as she entered, she saw Jiang Yiru leaning against the bed, staring at her coldly, showing none of the fragility she had imagined. Under that gaze, Sun Qinling suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
“You—” Her voice was naturally high-pitched, and she had only uttered one syllable when she saw Jiang Yiru raise her hand to stop her.
“Keep your voice down, don’t wake my son,” Jiang Shining said coldly.
Sun Qinling bit her lower lip. She was initially unconvinced, but for some reason, she felt a little afraid. But having come this far, she would have to say something to avoid appearing cowardly. So she lowered her voice and mocked, “After all that effort, you only gave birth to a girl? I think the Marshal will be very disappointed when he finds out— he wanted two sons before.”
“What’s wrong with a girl?” Jiang Shining said calmly. “Aren’t you a girl yourself?”
“Stop trying to cover it up, Jiang Yiru— you’ve given birth to someone else’s wife, so if you’re unhappy about it, don’t be stubborn,” Sun Qinling said venomously. “You’re such a useless woman!”
Jiang Shining smiled.
“Just because you’re incompetent doesn’t mean all girls are incompetent,” she said coldly. “Don’t worry about my child. Rest assured, I will educate her well, at least to teach her self-respect and self-love, so she won’t become someone else’s concubine.”
“You–!”
Sun Qinling was furious, but Jiang Shining waved her hand dismissively.
“Go out and let your temper flare up. Don’t keep making noise in my room.”
Xu Lingxin and Sun Qinling left in a fit of rage. A few years ago, she wouldn’t have believed that the timid woman would dare speak to her like that.
She immediately went to find the third concubine, Xu Lingxin, and the two whispered that they planned to let Chen Jiacheng give her a good scolding when he returned.
Three days later, a grand procession resounded outside the Marshal’s Mansion, signaling that Chen Jiacheng had returned to the city after the battle.
Sun Qinling and Xu Lingxin waited in the inner courtyard for a long time before Chen Jiacheng finally entered. Seeing that he looked very well, it seemed he had won a great victory. The two greeted him warmly, asking after his well-being, until he sat down and calmed down for a while.
“Where is Madam?” he asked.
This was the moment they had been waiting for.
“My lord, you have no idea how difficult life has become for the two of us ever since you granted the First Madam all authority over the household…”
“Yes, we wanted to help Madam after she gave birth to her baby girl, but we don’t know what we did wrong, and she got angry and scolded us for a long time. Look, I even got hit by something…”
Chen Jiacheng really didn’t like meddling in women’s affairs, but he still sided with his two concubines. Besides, Jiang Yiru had indeed changed a bit in recent years; bullying others sounded like something she would do…
After all, the second and third concubines were jointly blaming Jiang Yiru. If Jiang Yiru really hadn’t done anything wrong, how could she have been accused by the two of them?
“Alright, I’ll go take a look.” Chen Jiacheng put down his hat and stepped into the inner room.
The Marshal’s Mansion was very large, and there was another courtyard in the back where Jiang Shining lived. He walked through the corridor and pushed open the door to Jiang Shining’s house.
As soon as he entered, he saw Jiang Shining holding a baby in her arms, lying on her side with her hair down, gently playing with the child.
Chen Jiacheng was taken aback. Ever since Jiang Yiru began to change her appearance a few years ago, her temperament had completely changed. Although she was only considered pretty, now every move she made was as elegant and quiet as a lady from a respectable family.
In that instant, Chen Jiacheng thought, how could someone like this possibly bully others?
Jiang Shining raised her head, the slight smile still lingering on her lips.
“The commander is back?” Jiang Shining lowered her head, then hugged the child and smiled, “Look, Daddy’s back.”
Chen Jiacheng calmed down, walked over, sat down by the bed, and took the child.
“Thank you for your hard work,” he said.
Jiang Shining leaned against the bedside and sighed softly.
“I’m not worried about the hardship, but I’m afraid it will be hard on the children,” she said. “Tanliang is alright, he’s a boy, so he won’t be bad. But she… is a girl.”
“What’s wrong with a girl? She’s still my, Chen Jiacheng’s daughter,” Chen Jiacheng sneered. “Who would dare let my daughter suffer?”
“I just gave birth a few days ago, and your second concubine came to bother me. She even said my daughter is useless.” Jiang Shining said calmly, “Jiacheng, I know they always try to find ways to complain to you. You can give them an order to stop coming to me to cause trouble. Let’s see who is twisting the truth. I didn’t care before, but I will absolutely not allow them to say bad things about my child.”
Chen Jiacheng had a bit of a headache. Then he thought about it. Jiang Yiru had never spoken ill of anyone in front of him, but the second and third concubines were always talking nonsense.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “You take good care of yourself. I’ll tell them to watch their words and actions. By the way, have you named the baby yet?”
“That’s why we were waiting for you to come back.”
Chen Jiacheng sat there thinking for a long time.
“Her name is Chen Ruozhi.” After a long pause, he said, “Those with names like ‘Zhi’ are all great writers and authors. I hope she will study hard in the future and become more cultured.”
This surprised Jiang Shining. She hadn’t held much hope for Chen Jiacheng, but the fact that this bandit-like man had such awareness was indeed beyond her expectations— in her eyes, this warlord of Dongcheng and the surrounding area was actually just a bandit leader.
The next two years passed peacefully and quietly.
Chen Tanliang was now grown up, a carefree five-year-old boy who was pampered by everyone. If it weren’t for Jiang Shining keeping an eye on him, the child would probably have been spoiled by the maids and servants in the courtyard and developed a spoiled attitude.
Sometimes, seeing Chen Tanliang so happy, she couldn’t help but think of Jing Yuan. The world of the imperial harem was too cruel; even the children matured early— it was a cannibalistic world.
However, the difficulties in these two worlds were different. In the palace intrigue world, it was hard to survive to the end, while in this world, too many forces were involved, making it impossible for her to manage everything alone. She could only try to prevent Chen Jiacheng from forcibly marrying the female lead and ending up being executed. If he doesn’t die, Dongcheng won’t descend into chaos.
The other three men entangled with the female lead were a business tycoon and a young master from a powerful family. The young master could be ignored for now, but the business tycoon and the other male lead, who also commanded an army, required more attention.
The important thing was to prevent the three of them from getting into conflict; reducing one conflict was better than none.
However, the plot hadn’t reached the point where the female lead had appeared yet.
The two concubines were preoccupied with Chen Jiacheng, but Jiang Shining didn’t care whether he came home or not. She stayed in her own courtyard every day, while the maids and wet nurses coaxed the infant Chen Ruozhi. Jiang Shining had a table and two chairs placed under the tree in the courtyard to teach Chen Tanliang to read and write.
Over time, the maids were all quite surprised.
“Madam, how come your handwriting is so good?”
“I practiced it in my spare time.”
Actually, it was trained in the last world.
Chen Tanliang was at a lively and active age. Except when he was in front of Jiang Shining, he was always a little more restrained. Even the teachers they hired couldn’t control him— who would dare to really criticize the warlord’s son? So Jiang Shining had to accompany him to every class.
However, to everyone’s relief, although Chen Tanliang was mischievous, he was very intelligent. He just didn’t like studying; he preferred playing fighting games with the soldiers. Jiang Shining, fearing he would become a little bandit, kept an even closer eye on him.
One day, Jiang Shining was not with Chen Tanliang when he was studying because she was not feeling well. Unexpectedly, after returning from class, Chen Tanliang seemed to have become a different person and studied very hard.
When Jiang Shining asked him about it, he replied, “My teacher said that if I study hard, I can teach my younger sister in the future.”
Jiang Shining felt gratified.
Chen Ruozhi was at her cutest when she was two years old. The little girl had big eyes and a slightly upturned nose, and she was naturally optimistic, always giggling. Everyone in the backyard loved her. Even the two concubines liked her and secretly gave her toys to play with.
Seven-year-old Chen Tanliang was beginning to resemble a young boy, spending every day with his younger sister, playing with her, protecting her, and earnestly teaching her to recognize words and objects. He also taught Chen Ruozhi to be obedient and not to run around, as she might fall.
The maids and Jiang Shining couldn’t help but laugh at his serious expression.
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