Lu Zhaozhao died.
As the grand master of the Cultivation World, in order to save the world and all living beings, she sacrificed her spiritual soul.
When she opened her eyes again, she seemed to be soaking in warm water, with a faint glimmer of light ahead.
In her ears, she could vaguely hear, "Inhale... Exhale..."
"Madam, push harder. We can almost see the baby's head."
Before Lu Zhaozhao could react, she was washed out along with the warm water. A flash of white light blinded her, causing her to squint involuntarily.
As soon as she was born, Lu Zhaozhao moved her small mouth, only to find that her throat was being choked.
With a clatter, a large group of people knelt down on the ground.
"Madam, it's a daughter, but..." The midwife stammered, seeming a bit hesitant.
As if sighing, she said, "The baby has no breath. It's a stillborn!" The midwife knelt on the ground, trembling, and tightly covered Lu Zhaozhao's mouth and nose with her hands.
"Probably the labor process was too long, and the baby suffocated." The wet nurse knelt behind the midwife, her eyes filled with tears.
The lady on the bed had a pale face, and now she widened her eyes in horror and resentment. "Stillborn? I don't believe it! Bring her here for me to see!"
The maid beside her had red - rimmed eyes from crying. "Madam, don't look. Once you see it, you'll never forget it, and you'll never be able to get over it."
"I'm sorry to Yuanze and the Marquis's Mansion... The old lady prays in the small Buddhist hall every day for the baby's safety." She had three sons and only this one daughter.
Lady Xu's tears streamed down, and her heart ached so much that she was in floods of tears.
Lu Zhaozhao was breathing rapidly, her face turning red from being covered.
Yuanze? The Marquis's Mansion?
Lu Yuanze?!
Wasn't this a character from the storybook she read in her spare time?
In the storybook, in the Lu family of the Loyal and Brave Marquis, the lady gave birth to three sons and one daughter, and the youngest daughter died prematurely.
The Marquis's wife thought she had a happy marriage and a harmonious relationship with her mother - in - law. Little did she know that this was an earth - shattering hoax from beginning to end!
She was deceived her whole life!
The Marquis had been in love with his cousin since childhood, but his cousin's family background was low and of no benefit to his official career.
So he didn't marry his cousin. Instead, he settled her outside.
He grandly married Xu, a high - born direct daughter, and they had three sons and one daughter.
After marriage, the whole family manipulated her. They climbed up the official ladder with the help of the Xu family's power while making her cut off relations with her natal family.
The youngest daughter was drowned as soon as she was born. Then the Marquis brought the daughter of his mistress to her to raise.
She painstakingly raised the adopted daughter, but the adopted daughter framed her for the crime of rebellion and implicated the Xu family. She personally reported that Lady Xu was involved in the rebellion of her natal family, leading to the execution of more than a hundred people in the Xu family!
And the Loyal and Brave Marquis's family, because of their meritorious reporting, remained unharmed.
Finally, the Loyal and Brave Marquis remarried his cousin, and the illegitimate children were added to the family register, becoming legitimate sons and daughters.
The adopted daughter inherited all her property, married the male lead, and lived a loving and harmonious life.
Lu Zhaozhao thought: Oh, I'm that premature baby girl.
Being born is equivalent to death!
"Madam, a stillborn baby cannot enter the ancestral grave. This servant will take her down to deal with it. So as not to make Madam sad." The wet nurse lowered her head and slowly backed towards the door.
Lu Zhaozhao tried to struggle, but her whole body was trapped by those hands, gradually turning blue - purple. She couldn't move at all.
Her breath became weaker and weaker, and her cheeks faintly showed a blue - purple color.
[A stillborn? You're the stillborn... Your whole family is stillborn! I'm still breathing...]
[Mommy...]
The weak baby voice made the wife of the Loyal and Brave Marquis open her eyes.
Was she hallucinating?
Where was there a child in this room?
Suddenly, her eyes fell on the only baby in the room.
[My dear mommy, I can still be saved. I'm almost suffocated to death...] Lu Zhaozhao was just one step away from being carried out of the delivery room.
"Wait!" Her so - called mother suddenly spoke.
"Bring the baby here for me to see." Xu sat up straight, her face still in tears, and said sternly.
The wet nurse and the midwife looked at each other, and their bodies froze.
"Madam, a stillborn baby is inauspicious and will offend Madam." The two knelt on the ground.
"Dengzhi, bring the baby here quickly!" Xu felt her heart pounding, and she was filled with unease, as if she was about to lose something.
In a hurry, she got off the delivery bed directly.
Being completely weak, her legs gave way, and she almost fell to the ground.
The maid Dengzhi quickly went to pick up the baby. "Madam, you lie down quickly. This servant will pick her up! You've just survived a near - death experience. You can't move around."
She held the baby in her arms, and when she felt the baby's body temperature, her body shook.
Looking down, she saw the little miss's face was blue - purple, and there were blue - purple marks under her neck, with five distinct finger - prints, extremely eye - catching.
"Madam!!"
"The little miss is still alive!"
Dengzhi let out a scream and quickly brought the little miss back.
Xu lowered her head and saw her daughter looking at her with tearful eyes.
The grand master of the Cultivation World was crying and coughing at the same time.
[Such a hard life... Wuwuwu, what a tough life. Being choked as soon as I was born... Cough cough] The little one coughed.
The most terrifying thing was not being choked.
It was the extermination of the whole family!
If she didn't die now, she would die sooner or later!
There was a big knife hanging over her head, ready to cut down her nine - generation family.
Alas! My life is more bitter than bitter herbs!
Probably because she was reborn, her mentality seemed to gradually return to its original state, truly becoming like a baby.
Xu's hands were trembling, and her body was slightly stiff. She was shocked and also a bit scared.
"Damn things! Who gave you the courage to do this to the child!" Xu was extremely weak, but at this moment, she couldn't help but kick the wet nurse in the chest.
"Drag them down and interrogate them! Interrogate them thoroughly!"
"Our little miss suffered this disaster as soon as she was born. We must interrogate that woman carefully. Who sent her? Madam has never made enemies with anyone. How could someone be so cruel!" Dengzhi was so angry that her whole body was shaking. The little miss was almost choked to death. Just thinking about it made her shiver.
The two were dragged away, wailing.
Xu looked down at the daughter in her arms. She had three children, but none of them were as fair and delicate as the one in her arms.
Her eyes were big and watery. When she saw Xu looking over, she grinned her toothless mouth, showing her gums, and smiled with her eyes curved.
Her child had almost been killed right under her nose.
[Mommy is such a beauty. So pretty... Mommy, give me a hug.]
Was the voice she heard really a hallucination?
The voice was intermittent, as if she couldn't hear it clearly, and it was a bit blurred.
Sometimes she could hear it, and sometimes she couldn't.
She carefully observed the expressions of the maids, and it seemed that only she could hear it.
[Fortunately, Mommy saved me. Otherwise, you would raise the daughter of your enemy. And then she would make you so angry that you'd die...] Lu Zhaozhao blew a bubble.
In the original book, after she gave birth to a stillborn baby, she got a heart disease. The Marquis then brought the female lead home and raised her by Xu's side.
The evidence of the rebellion was also planted on the Xu family by the female lead.
It was she who stabbed Xu the deepest.
Xu only vaguely heard something about "the daughter of the enemy" and "dying of anger", and was so shocked that she almost dropped the baby.
She pricked up her ears to listen more, but then she couldn't hear anything.
Xu raised her head and asked, "Why hasn't the master come back yet?"
Several maids brought ginseng soup one after another, and someone also came to bathe Lu Zhaozhao. But Xu didn't feel at ease and didn't allow the baby to be taken away from her sight. She had the baby bathed in a small bathtub in the room.
Dengzhi said with a smile, "We sent someone to invite the master as soon as you went into labor. The master loves you the most. He must have been held up by official business."
In the capital city, everyone envied the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion.
The old marquis died in battle early. The old lady raised several children single - handedly. The magnificent Marquis's Mansion became an empty shell. Fortunately, Lu Yuanze was promising, made great achievements, and inherited the title.
The only unexpected thing was the arrival of the distant cousin of the Lu family.
It was said that she had long been in love with Lu Yuanze and even hit her head against a pillar, vowing to marry no one but him.
At that time, Lu Yuanze was already engaged to the Xu family, so he married the cousin far away.
This matter became a topic of conversation after meals.
Xu was a daughter of a noble family. After marrying into the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion, with the support of her natal family, the mansion rose rapidly.
Lu Yuanze and Xu were also well - known loving couples in the capital, harmonious and affectionate.
However, because Lu Yuanze didn't like it, Xu had gradually become estranged from her natal family.
At this moment, Xu nodded with a smile. "You're right. The master must have been delayed by important matters." Xu didn't suspect at all.
"Our little miss is destined to enjoy a good life in the Lu family. The Marquis and Madam love each other deeply, and the relationship between mother - in - law and daughter - in - law is harmonious. Even the little miss of the Lu family, who is so proud, treats Madam sincerely." Dengzhi thought that her madam was probably the most envied person in the whole capital.
After taking a bath, Lu Zhaozhao waved her two small hands, babbling and looking very angry.
[Liars, liars! Daddy is a liar!]
He had been deceiving Mommy.
Mommy was so Pitiful.
[Daddy is a bad guy! He is waiting for his mistress to give birth in the yard at the corner of Qingyu Lane...] The baby voice said with a crying tone.
Xu suddenly stopped.
Qingyu Lane?
Waiting for the mistress to give birth?!!
She was struggling between life and death in the mansion, while he was waiting for another woman to give birth?
The deep love she had believed in for so many years was torn open with a crack!
[His beloved is giving birth to his child...]