Transmigrated into the body of the vicious first wife of a fallen prime minister

"Second Miss, that good-for-nothing has fainted again!"

"Um."

"They didn't wake me up even after I poured three buckets of ice water on me!"

"Um."

"Manager Zhang lashed him ten times, but he still didn't budge!"

"Uh-huh?!"

Qi He's heart tightened. Could the person be dead?

That won't do!

"Second Miss... Young Master Shang Jue seems to be dying..."

The maid's timid voice came cautiously from the courtyard.

"Fool!" Granny Wang, standing next to Qi He, glared at him. "He deserved it! I think you've forgotten the rules of the courtyard. What are you yelling about without the young lady saying anything!"

Qi He was brought back to her senses by the scolding.

My gaze quickly shifted to the window, where the carved wooden window was half-open. Outside, snow was falling heavily, with goose-feather-like snowflakes covering the ground. I could vaguely see a figure lying on the ground in the middle of the courtyard.

"Alright, Granny Wang, how long has he been kneeling?" Qi He asked casually, mimicking the original owner's mannerisms.

"Miss, Shang Jue has been kneeling outside for four hours!"

Granny Wang's face was full of satisfaction. "Without your permission, would he dare to get up?"

"That brat Shang Jue is ungrateful and dared to lay a hand on you. You can punish him however you want, that's his good fortune! But don't get angry and ruin your health. Miss is precious and it's not worth getting so worked up over something like that."

Qi He was speechless, choked with emotion. Had she offended him too much...?

She was still thinking of trying to ease the tension...

Qi He pulled her fox fur coat tighter around her, her fingertips warmed by the hand warmer, and her feet treaded on the blue brick floor heated by the underground heating system, where not a trace of cold air could penetrate.

She lowered her eyes and looked at the thin figure in the courtyard, who had been kneeling in the snow for four whole hours.

Before Qi He could speak, the boy who had fainted in the courtyard shakily propped himself up.

He knelt upright again, like a piece of dead wood stuck in the snow, his shoulders and hair covered with a thick layer of white, and his eyebrows were covered with frost.

The thin blue cloth robe was soaked through with snow water, clinging to his body and outlining his still rather thin frame.

Qi He took a sip of the hot ginger tea beside her as if to cover up her feelings, and breathed a big sigh of relief.

I was terrified, thankfully I didn't die.

"Shang Jue, raise your head."

The boy in the snow paused slightly, and after a long while, slowly raised his face.

It was a face that was pale from the cold but still couldn't hide its handsome features. There was a deep, sinister aura between his brows and eyes. His bangs covered half of his forehead, revealing a pair of fox-like eyes that looked calmly at the woman wrapped in a fox fur coat and warming her hands with a hand warmer in the corridor.

Qi He met those eyes, her heart skipped a beat, but she remained expressionless.

That's scary...

She had been in this world for several days, and had already learned the original owner Qi He's arrogance and domineering nature perfectly. She had also repeatedly recalled the plot of "The Poisonous Son-in-Law of a General's Family".

The boy kneeling in the snow before her, his lips purple from the cold, was the very same boy who would later kill her entire family and throw her into a snake pit to be devoured by a thousand snakes—

Business principles.

Now, she is his nominal fiancée, the second young lady of the Qi family, and the cannon fodder original wife who tormented him in every way.

Tsk, I have a feeling I'm not going to live much longer.

But in order to avoid being noticed by others, especially the male lead, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and continue acting, hoping to find an opportunity to quickly get to the bottom of this.

"You've been kneeling for so long, you're quite the tough one." Qi He switched the direction of the hand warmer, her tone lazy and slightly teasing. "It's just that your kneeling isn't graceful enough. Straighten your back a bit, tuck your chin in, don't look like you're half-dead, it's bad luck."

Hearing these words, which sounded like scolding a dog, Granny Wang immediately stepped forward and shouted at Shang Jue, who was kneeling in the snow, "Did you hear what the Second Miss said? Kneel properly!"

Qi He: "..."

Shang Jue lowered his eyes, and his slightly hunched back straightened up a bit more. His jaw tightened, and he looked like a sword frozen in its sheath, its cold light gleaming.

The charcoal brazier under the eaves crackled, and a few snowflakes were swept in by the wind, landing on Qi He's skirt and quickly turning into damp patches.

Looking at Shang Jue's face, which was almost bloodless from the cold, she recalled the description in the original work and knew that the more he could endure now, the more ruthless his revenge would be in the future.

In the original novel, Shang Jue is the eldest son of Shang Sheng, the most prestigious family in the capital. After failing to win a power struggle with his stepmother, he was banished to Jinling in the south with his seriously ill younger sister.

He was rescued by Old Master Qi when he was barely clinging to life.

To repay the life-saving grace, Shang Jue concealed his identity and agreed to marry into the Qi family. A year ago, he got engaged to Qi He.

Originally, she thought that after getting engaged to Qi He, her sister would be able to receive treatment from famous doctors and expensive medicines. However, six months later, Old Master Qi unfortunately passed away.

Qi He's attitude changed as soon as the old master died.

Instead of being grateful for the old master's arrangement, she regarded the marriage as a great disgrace. Which noble lady would be willing to marry a useless son-in-law with no background?

It's so embarrassing to tell anyone!

So Qi He used Shang Jue's seriously ill sister as leverage, frequently beating and scolding him, tormenting him in every way, wishing she could vent all her resentment on him.

The consequences of offending the male lead are predictable.

Before long, Shang Jue regained his status as the legitimate son of a merchant family in the capital through his own abilities, and then seized back power with swift and decisive measures.

After gaining power, the first one to suffer was Qi He.

In the original ending, Qi He was imprisoned in the Shang family's dungeon, where she suffered greatly before being thrown into a snake pit, where she was devoured by countless snakes and died in excruciating pain.

They died so dead that not even ashes remained!

Thinking of this, Qi He couldn't help but tremble—

Scared!

The reason Shang Jue was kneeling here was because a few days ago, he was worried about his sister who was seriously ill in the clinic, so he secretly went out to take a look, but Qi He discovered him.

Qi He was furious, and the two started fighting in the corridor.

Qi He was born frail and delicate, all looks and no substance; she was no match for Shang Jue.

Although Shang Jue was a son-in-law, he came from a family of military generals. His shoving was a bit too forceful, and he pushed Qi He down the steps. Qi He hit the back of the stone steps and died on the spot.

In other words, the original Qi He is dead.

Standing here now is her, an unlucky soul from the future who knows the plot of this lousy book inside and out.

Granny Wang continued her incessant grumbling, her voice sharp and cutting: "Why don't you look in the mirror and see what kind of person you are!"

"Just a powerless son-in-law who moved into the family, does he think he can boss around you, Second Miss, just because he has the old master's dying words to back him up?"

"He was hung from the roof beam for three days and three nights last time, hasn't he learned his lesson?"

Every word Wang Mama spoke was like an invisible knife piercing Qi He's chest.

With each sentence she heard, her face paled a little.

Hearing another sentence, he became even whiter.

You're just wasting your breath!

This is the male lead; you'll be used as cannon fodder and killed, Granny Wang!

As soon as she transmigrated here, Qi He had already been thinking about escaping.

There's no other reason than that the author gave Shang Jue too much of a protagonist's halo. After seizing power from the Shang family, he became the Grand Secretary, and those who had offended him were almost all dead.

But now she is the second young lady of the Qi family, and this body, this status, and all the servants and maids in the mansion are shackles she cannot shake off.

You can run away from the monk, but you can't run away from the temple.

Besides, Shang Jue is a very cunning old fox. If I just leave, it will make me seem guilty and make it easier for him to see through my disguise.

Moreover, given Shang Jue's personality in the original work, if I suddenly went to cling to his leg, he might immediately realize that "Qi He" had been replaced.

When the time comes, not only will Shang Jue want to kill her, but the Qi family will also grind her to dust once they find out she has usurped someone else's place.

Running away is just a backup plan. The most important thing now is to quickly improve our relationship with them. Don't think about redeeming them yet; at the very least, we can't afford to offend them any further.

After much thought, Qi He sighed, "Damn you, Heaven! You always seem to target me!"

"Second Miss, what did you say?" Granny Wang didn't hear her clearly.

"It's nothing." Qi He removed the bitter look from her face and imitated the original owner's usual arrogant and domineering manner, raising her chin slightly. "Granny, make him roll in and kneel down. I think he's deliberately trying to get my older brother and the others to see this so they can accuse me of mistreating him!"

Granny Wang was taken aback, then slapped her thigh, her face full of regret: "Oh dear! The Second Miss was so thoughtful!"

"I knew it! That boy had been kneeling there silently, harboring such a wicked intention!"

"That little slut, she's really full of tricks! This old servant will go and bring her inside to kneel down, let's see what other tricks she can pull!"

Qi He: "...?"

That's not what I meant!

And, Granny, you're such a villain!

Qi He opened her mouth, wanting to say, "Let him go back to his room to rest," but swallowed the words back.

She couldn't suddenly become too outrageous; the original owner of this body wasn't exactly a soft-hearted person.

If she suddenly became friendly and kind to Shang Jue, not only would Granny Wang become suspicious, but Shang Jue, with his cunning nature, would immediately notice something was wrong.

So she just snorted and didn't say anything more.

Before long, the sound of hurried footsteps and harsh shouts came from the courtyard.

"Get up! The Second Miss told you to go inside and kneel!"

"What are you dawdling for? Are you waiting for someone to carry you?"

Two servants, one on each side, grabbed Shang Jue's arms and dragged him into the house.

Shang Jue staggered a couple of steps on the ground, but lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud.

The muffled thud startled Qi He, who was searching through the original owner's memories, causing her to tremble.

I've offended you again...

She looked up and saw the male protagonist from the original story up close.

The man who would kill her later.

It is false to say that I am not afraid.

Qi He's palms were sweaty, and her heart was pounding.

But she still forced herself to sit upright on the bed, staring at the person on the floor without changing her expression.

Shang Jue had been kneeling for too long, and his knees had turned purple and black from the cold, causing him to walk with a limp.

He lost his footing on the last step and fell, his knees hitting the blue brick ground with a dull thud that made one's teeth ache.

But he didn't utter a single word from beginning to end.

There wasn't a single good spot on Shang Jue's body.

His exposed wrists and neck were covered in bruises, with large and small wounds piled together, some new and some old, a shocking sight.

Dried bloodstains clung to the corners of his mouth, and his lips were chapped and purplish-black from the cold, vaguely revealing the outline of his future stunning beauty.

Those eyes looked at Qi He calmly and without wavering, like a deep, cold pool in the depths of winter, bottomless.

It's like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, silently flicking its tongue.

Qi He felt a chill run down her spine from his gaze.

She knew all too well what lay hidden beneath those eyes: an overwhelming killing intent, a deep-seated hatred.

Or is it the determination to tear her to pieces in the future?

Or both.

But she remained seated without changing her expression, even raising an eyebrow slightly and revealing a half-smile.

She glanced at Shang Jue's figure. The boy's body had not yet fully developed. Although his frame was already quite upright, his face still had a touch of childishness.

In the original story, he was only seventeen years old this year, and after getting engaged to Qi He, they would not officially get married until he turned twenty.

The day of their wedding was also the day Qi He was to die in the original novel.

Three more years.

On the bright side, at least I still have time to improve my favorability rating, right?

Isn't that how TV dramas always go? As long as you keep trying to win over the male lead, he might not only stop killing you, but also fall hopelessly in love with you!

What? You're saying Shang Jue is vengeful, petty, vindictive, narrow-minded, and narrow-minded...?

But what if?