Quick Transmigration: Reversing the Life of a Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character

Lu Zhiyao's heart skipped a beat. For some reason, she felt that the child was asking if she would always be alive now.

"Yes, Mother is always here."

"It's good that Mommy's here." After saying that, the little one lay down to the side, wiggling his arms and legs to amuse himself, and soon fell asleep.

Lu Zhiyao covered him with a thin blanket, gently touched his chubby little face, sighed silently, thought for a while, and then fell asleep.

After more than ten days of this, Lu Zhiyao felt it was about time. Before going to bed that night, she instructed, "Tomorrow we will go to pay our respects to the old lady, and then take Zining back to the Lu family to see my mother."

"Yes, it's been a month since we went back. I'm sure our matriarch misses Fifth Madam too." Tao Shi chimed in, as she had been in a good mood lately, and her mistress was getting better every day. She was sure that the Lu family's mistress would reward them when they returned.

At 3:30 a.m. the next day, Lu Zhiyao appeared at the Funing Hall of the Zhou family matriarch. Several ladies and young ladies of the Zhou family were sitting in the main hall waiting for the matriarch, and they were all somewhat surprised by her appearance.

Madam Pan was the first to speak: "Fifth sister-in-law, you're much better now? You look so much better, it's wonderful! I was so worried about you."

Second Madam Fang stood up and took her hand, saying, "Don't tell me, your hands are already warm."

As he spoke, he led her to the seat next to him. The Third Madam, who was originally sitting next to the Second Madam, got up and sat back. All the seats after that were moved back one seat.

The third and fourth masters of the Zhou family were illegitimate sons. According to the Zhou family's rules, legitimate sons came first, and the seating arrangement was also like this. When Lu Zhiyao was not present, the two legitimate wives, the first and second wives, sat at the head of the table on the left and right, respectively. Below them were the two illegitimate wives, followed by the young ladies. When the legitimate fifth wife arrived, the illegitimate wives naturally had to give up their seats.

The Third Madam, who had yielded her seat, said nothing, but the Fourth Madam, who sat to the left of the First Madam opposite her, spoke up: "With the arrival of the Fifth Sister-in-law, it's made it difficult for my sister-in-law to sit still."

The Third Madam smiled but didn't speak. Lu Zhiyao sat down calmly and said indifferently, "I'm fine sitting anywhere, but Fourth Sister-in-law, are you dissatisfied with the ancestral rules?"

Fourth Madam Zhao was taken aback and hurriedly explained, "No, I just said it offhand, it was just a joke between sisters-in-law, just a joke."

Lu Zhiyao glanced at the tea that the maid had just brought, but didn't drink it or say anything more, letting the Fourth Madam's words fall to the ground. "You think you can just joke like that? I took it seriously, and even our ancestors took it seriously."

The First Madam and the Second Madam exchanged a glance. Now that their Fifth Sister-in-law was better, she had become a bit temperamental. Before, she was always dull and didn't like to talk. Even if someone hinted at something to her, she would ignore it and seemed not to care about anything.

Just as Zhao was about to say something to smooth things over, the old lady inside came out and, as soon as she sat down, asked Lu Zhiyao, "Fifth son's wife, are you feeling better?"

"Reporting to Mother, things are better than before."

"That's good. Being sick all the time isn't good. How's your diet?"

"Alright."

The old lady didn't like her youngest son's wife very much, especially since this wife was chosen by the old master when he was still alive. She said a few words to her and then stopped talking to her, talking more to the housekeeper's eldest daughter-in-law.

After a while, he sent his daughters-in-law back: "You all go back and eat, the younger generation stay and eat with me."

Everyone stood up in agreement. The old lady would occasionally have her granddaughters stay to eat with her. Currently, the eldest branch of the family has two daughters, one legitimate and one illegitimate. The second branch has only one illegitimate daughter. The third branch has a legitimate daughter who is only five years old. The fourth branch has no daughters. The three older daughters mentioned above are the ones who accompany the old lady to eat.

Lu Zhiyao stood up and said to the old lady, "Mother, I need to go back to the Lu family today."

"I understand." That was considered an agreement.

Because of what she said, when she came out, the other wives had already gone far away. Lu Zhiyao was happy that she didn't have to socialize and walked slowly behind with her servants.

After returning to her own courtyard and having breakfast, she took her son and boarded the carriage to go back to her parents' home.

Upon entering the Lu family's gate, Lu Zhiyao stopped the servants from announcing her arrival: "I want to give Mother a surprise; you don't need to report this."

Outside the courtyard where the old lady of the Lu family lived, the servants of the first wife were pacing anxiously: "Has the person who went to find the master not returned yet?"

"Madam hasn't had breakfast yet, what should we do?"

Lu Zhiyao gestured for her maids to come forward and quiet them down. She quickened her pace and entered her mother's courtyard. Outside the main hall, a noblewoman dressed in simple clothes stood upright. In front of her was a servant with a half-smile, who was saying, "Madam, please don't be offended. This old servant is only here to supervise your punishment of standing as punishment, as instructed by the old lady. If you ask me, the old lady is quite merciful, as she didn't even make you kneel."

"Slap her!" Lu Zhiyao didn't expect to catch this scene on her first day back. The old lady of the Lu family wasn't very smart and was easily influenced. Her estrangement from her children was all her own doing. She interfered excessively in her son's private affairs and even tried to manage her daughter's family matters. However, she always felt indebted to her youngest daughter, so she doted on Lu Zhiyao endlessly, but unfortunately, it wasn't the right kind of doting.

Tao stepped forward and slapped the gossiping old woman across the face. The old woman, seeing Lu Zhiyao, retorted defiantly, "I am the old lady's servant. Even if you are the mistress, you are still a junior. How can you slap a senior's servant like that? Isn't that slapping the elder's face?"

"You still know I'm the master? Don't say things like 'even cats and dogs should be more respectful than elders' in front of me. I'll beat you today, what can you do about it?" Lu Zhiyao sneered, "You still dare to say such disrespectful things in front of Madam. Mother is too muddle-headed, she's spoiled you all so much that you've all gone too far."

Madam Xue, the first wife, spoke up: "Little sister, why did you suddenly return? There was no announcement from outside?"

"Sister-in-law, I came back secretly on purpose, without letting them inform me, because I knew Mother was going to make a fuss again."

"It's alright. My mother is getting old, and it's inevitable that she might think things through differently. As her junior, I'll just offer her some advice."

"Sister-in-law, don't I know what my mother is like? Don't try to say nice things. What's the reason this time?" Lu Zhiyao asked, holding her sister-in-law's hand.

Her eldest sister-in-law was no ordinary woman. Her family had once been prominent. The men of the past two generations had been unambitious and somewhat depressed, so they didn't seem to stand out. But the Xue family was a true aristocratic family, with even more heritage than the Lu family. The women they raised were all intelligent, dignified, and well-rounded, capable of managing the household and assisting their husbands' careers. Back then, the old master of the Lu family had put in a lot of effort to arrange this marriage. It was only because her muddle-headed mother listened to others' instigation that she always made things difficult for her eldest sister-in-law.