Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

He family.

West wing.

"My daughter, disaster has struck!"

Madam Cao rushed into the west wing like a gust of wind, her face drained of color, her lips trembling, and she grabbed Cao Jinxiu's wrist as she looked at herself in the mirror with self-pity.

Cao Jinxiu felt a sharp pain from her mother's pinching, and couldn't help but furrow her carefully drawn willow-leaf eyebrows, complaining, "Mother, what are you doing?"

"Don't panic, the sky isn't going to fall!"

Although she is now living under someone else's roof, in this small space of the He family, by taking advantage of Madam He's soft heart and her old friendship with He Hongwen, she is living a much more comfortable life than when she was in exile, and is gradually regaining some of the spoiled air of a former official's daughter.

But when she turned her face to the side, a faint purple tattoo mark was visible where her hair was covering her forehead. It was the eternal mark of a disgraced official's family, a constant reminder of her unbearable past.

"Oh dear! My silly girl! You still have the mind to look in the mirror here!" Madam Cao stamped her foot anxiously, lowering her voice like a frightened bird, "Just now I heard the maidservant in the front secretly report that the Sheng family has sent people!"

"They gave the old lady a very generous gift, and the Sheng family's guard even secretly slipped something to Hongwen!"

"Ever since Hongwen saw that thing, he's locked himself in his study, and he looks terrible! I think... I think something's not right!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Jinxiu dropped the ox-horn comb in her hand onto the dressing table with a "clatter," and her expression changed slightly.

She stood up abruptly: "The Sheng family? Which Sheng family? The Sheng family of the former Yangzhou prefect? ​​The family of that little slut Minglan?"

She harbored a natural hostility and resentment towards the sixth daughter of the Sheng family, whom she had never met but who had captured He Hongwen's heart.

"That's right, it's her house!"

Madam Cao slapped her thigh, looking utterly devastated!

"My son, don't forget, we're only able to live peacefully in the He family now because of your cousin's pity and old friendship! If..."

"If the Sheng family exerts pressure and forces your cousin to give up the idea, what will happen to us, mother and son?"

"Do we really have to go back to that harsh, cold place and eat wild vegetables and roots again?"

Recalling the past hardships, Madam Cao was overcome with grief, and tears streamed down her face.

The Cao family was originally a family of physicians and officials. Cao Jinxiu's father, who was also the elder brother of Madam He, was once an official.

Unfortunately, he was greedy by nature and blinded by greed. He practiced medicine without any moral principles. In order to receive a large reward from a wealthy family, he used strong medicines when treating patients, which delayed the treatment and caused deaths. After the incident, he was reported by the victim, and the case was investigated and found to be true. He was imprisoned, his property was confiscated, his male members were exiled, and his female relatives were enslaved.

Cao's father died on the way to exile. Cao's wife and daughter Cao Jinxiu went through many hardships and finally found their way to Bianjing, where they sought refuge with their aunt who had married into the He family.

Cao Jinxiu, the former daughter of an official, suffered humiliation and torment on her way to being degraded and exiled. In order to survive, she was forcibly taken as a concubine by a minor official who was escorting her, and lived a dark and hopeless life.

Later, when the minor official committed a crime, she managed to escape, but her health had already deteriorated, and it was said that she would be unable to conceive again.

These unbearable past events have become her deepest scars and her most effective weapon to manipulate the He family mother and son. Whenever she mentions them, she cries about how miserable her life is and how she has been trampled by fate, which breaks Madam He's heart and makes He Hongwen feel sorry for her.

"Go back? I'm not going back!" A fierce glint flashed in Cao Jinxiu's eyes, a survival instinct and stubbornness honed by hardship. "I barely crawled out of hell, I absolutely can't go back! Cousin... Cousin wouldn't be so heartless!"

She spoke as she spoke, but inwardly she was panicking.

“My son, just relying on your cousin’s soft heart isn’t enough!” Madam Cao, having weathered many storms, wiped away her tears and said, “What kind of family is the Sheng family? They’re upright officials! And now they have such a studious seventh son, who is about to rise to prominence! What do we have to compare with them?”

"Unless... unless Hongwen is made to be absolutely determined to protect us!"

The mother and daughter were whispering anxiously when Cao Jinxiu's eyes darted around, and she suddenly lowered her voice: "Mother, you just said that the people from the Sheng family gave my cousin something in secret? After my cousin saw it, his face changed drastically, and he even locked himself in his study?"

“Absolutely true! That little maid saw it clearly!” Madam Cao nodded quickly.

Cao Jinxiu bit her lower lip, a fierce look flashing across her face: "No, we can't just wait! We need to know what that thing is! If it can make my cousin's expression change, it must be something extraordinary!"

She knew that He Hongwen was gentle and even somewhat indecisive, and was by no means a hard-hearted person. For him to react like this, the gift sent by the Sheng family must be something extraordinary.

"What...what do you want to do?" Madam Cao looked at her daughter's expression and was somewhat alarmed.

“My cousin seems quite uneasy. I just saw him carrying his medicine chest towards the front gate, like he was going to make a house call.” Cao Jinxiu quickly tidied her sideburns, carefully covering the tattooed mark on her forehead with her bangs. “There’s definitely no one in the study right now. I’ll sneak over and take a look; maybe I’ll find something!”

"What if this gets discovered..." Madam Cao hesitated.

"We can't worry about that now!" Cao Jinxiu made up her mind. "If we don't figure out what tricks the Sheng family is up to, how are we supposed to deal with them? Are we really just going to sit here and wait to die?"

Her decisiveness and ruthlessness, honed during her struggle for survival at the bottom of society, were now on full display, completely different from the weak and pitiful persona she usually deliberately presented.

Having said that, she ignored her mother's worries, straightened her clothes, made it look like she was just walking around casually, and quietly left the west wing.

The He family mansion wasn't very large, and He Hongwen's study was located in a secluded corner where the front yard connected to the back house. Cao Jinxiu carefully made her way through, avoiding several cleaning women, and sure enough, she found the study door ajar, and there was no sound coming from inside.

Her heart was pounding. After looking around to make sure no one was there, she slipped inside and gently closed the door behind her.

The study was simply furnished and filled with a faint scent of medicine and ink. The desk was a bit messy, with several medical books and medical records spread out. Cao Jinxiu's gaze quickly swept over the room and soon landed on a corner of the desk—where a very eye-catching sandalwood and mother-of-pearl inlaid brocade box was placed!

Such an exquisite and valuable box could not possibly belong to the He family; it must have been brought by the Sheng family today!

Her heart tightened suddenly, and she quickly stepped forward.

The box wasn't locked, and she opened it easily.

only!

Inside was not the gold and silver jewelry one might have imagined, but an ordinary-looking book with a bluish-gray cover.

The Tale of Two Beauties?
Cao Jinxiu frowned and picked up the book to look through it with a puzzled expression.

Although she was the daughter of a disgraced official, she had received some education during her childhood when her family was wealthy and could read. After reading only a few lines, her face turned deathly pale!

This is hardly a collection of idle stories or light novels.
This is clearly an extremely malicious allegory!

Isn't that distant cousin girl in the story who pesters her cousin, pretends to be weak, cries all the time, and puts the young master in a difficult position, just like her?!

The aloof, decisive, and averse-to-procrastination nature of the noble young lady described in the book is clearly that of the despicable Sheng Minglan!

In particular, the line, "A fine piece of jade should be placed in a bright hall; how can it be entangled in a mire? It is not the jade's fault, but the fault of the one who places it!" was like a sharp knife, stabbing her heart hard!

This is practically pointing out that she is a filthy quagmire, and that if He Hongwen protects her, he is being foolish and inappropriate!

This book...this book is handwritten!

This handwriting... with its silver hooks and iron strokes, carries a compelling sharpness!

It must have been written by Sheng Changquan himself!
He actually used such a vicious method to humiliate her and warn her cousin!
Cao Jinxiu trembled with rage, and the tattoo on her forehead seemed to burn as well.

She was instantly overwhelmed by endless humiliation and anger!
The Sheng family! Sheng Minglan! Sheng Changquan!

You are amazing, you are noble!

Are you trying to force us, a widow and her orphans, to our deaths just because you have a good family background?!

Cao Jinxiu's eyes were fierce. She gripped the book tightly, her nails almost digging into the pages.

No!

We absolutely must not let my cousin be seduced by this book!

Cao Jinxiu slammed the book shut, stuffed it back into the brocade box, and put it back exactly as it was.

She can't take it, or it will be discovered.

She quickly left the study, forcing herself to remain calm, but when she returned to the west wing, her face was still extremely pale.

"How was it? What did you see?" Madam Cao hurriedly came forward to greet her.

Cao Jinxiu's chest heaved violently, her eyes filled with resentment and lingering fear!
"Mother! The Sheng family... the Sheng family has such a vicious mind!"

"They sent us a book with a horrible story in it, comparing my daughter to those clingy, filthy losers! Every sentence was designed to make my cousin kick us out!"

"what?!"

Madam Cao was also stunned, then slapped her thigh and cried out, "Damn the Sheng family! They're bullying us with their power! They're trying to drive us to our deaths!"

"mother!"

Cao Jinxiu interrupted her sharply: "Crying won't help!"

Her gaze sharpened and hardened: "Since they are heartless, don't blame us for being unjust!"

"My cousin is soft-hearted and can't stand seeing us suffer. When he comes over, we just need to do this and that..."

She leaned close to her mother's ear and whispered instructions rapidly.

At the same time, the weak and pitiful expression on Cao Jinxiu's face had vanished, replaced by a ruthlessness and cunning honed in dire straits. (End of Chapter)