Chapter 183: Chapter 1: Strife Between Legitimate and Illegitimate Daughters (Part 1)

Ten years later, Li Shuning and Yun Zimo went out for a stroll and ran into Li Qinglan.

At that time, Li Shuning was still as young and beautiful as ever, but Li Qinglan seemed to have aged significantly, looking as if she were fifty or sixty years old. Upon seeing Li Shuning, she reflexively bowed her head.

Li Shuning did a little investigation and found out that Li Qinglan had married a laborer at the age of twenty-five and later had a daughter. The two worked tirelessly for their child’s future.

A person’s fate depends on their efforts. If you want a good life and refuse to resign yourself to fate, you must keep striving.

Li Qinglan was making an effort, and Li Shuning didn’t want to push her to the brink, so she stopped concerning herself with Li Qinglan’s affairs.

Li Shuning cherished her time with Yun Zimo very much.

When they left this world, they also did not have children.

This time, Li Shuning took with her a very beautiful necklace, planning to give it to her future mother-in-law because she thought it would perfectly match her future mother-in-law’s temperament.

Upon returning to the real world, after a call with Yun Zimo, she had a good rest.

After visiting her own parents, Li Shuning shared Yun Zimo’s suggestion with them.

Li Shuning’s parents were relatively open-minded, but they hesitated to leave their homeland and move to the Capital City with their daughter.

They had lived in HZ for many years, with most of their close friends and relatives there. Moving to the Capital City at once might be uncomfortable, entering an unfamiliar place without even a friend for company. They were attached to their homeland. However, if they didn’t move with their daughter, they only had one child. If she married far away in the Capital City, meeting her in the future might become difficult.

Although transportation is convenient nowadays, children are busy with their daily lives. Even while in HZ, their daughter didn’t get to eat with them that often, right?

Despite their child being always trustworthy, however…

The parents were very hesitant, and Li Shuning naturally noticed their hesitation: “Mom, Dad, don’t rush to decide. We can’t exactly decide and move to the Capital City right away. Let’s take our time to think it through.”

There was one thing Li Shuning didn’t mention: she is their only child, and no matter what, she couldn’t let them stay alone in HZ. She also trusted that if moving to the Capital City was impossible, Zimo would come up with a solution.

Thereafter, Li Shuning didn’t enter the task world and spent quality time with her parents.

The Elixir Pills Li Shuning brought back from other worlds made her parents appear very youthful and healthy after consuming them.

Li Shuning also knew that what they needed most was her presence.

It was a month later when she entered the task world again, but her parents still couldn’t make up their minds.

Li Shuning looked at the antique room, recognizing it as a young lady’s chamber.

The decoration was very distinctive.

After all, she had once been an Empress in ancient times, so she had a discerning eye.

Upon receiving the plot, Li Shuning sighed.

This world was a world within a book.

An author named Xiaoduo wrote a book called Ancient Coquettish Wife Strategy, and the world Li Shuning was now in was within this book.

The story of the book took place in an imaginary era called the Great Xia Dynasty.

The Emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty had just celebrated his fiftieth birthday.

In ancient times, fifty was considered long-lived.

The Emperor had appointed a Crown Prince, who was already twenty-five.

The Crown Prince remained dutiful and obedient, and the Emperor was quite satisfied with him.

The Li Family in Great Xia held a very prominent status.

Li Shuning’s grandfather was the Companion to the current Emperor when he was the Crown Prince and had once saved his life. The bond of youth was precious.

With the Emperor’s favor, the Li Family’s position had always been stable.

Li Shuning’s father, Li Xuan, was Li Gui’s only son.

With Li Xuan’s generation, the family flourished, having three sons and two daughters.

Among them, three sons and one daughter were from the legitimate wife, whereas one daughter was from a concubine.

Li Xuan and his wife had a very good relationship, but due to some mishap, they ended up with an illegitimate daughter.

An Xin was a traditional woman; although not fond of the illegitimate daughter, she never mistreated her.

Because of the Li Family’s special status, matchmakers came calling when their daughters came of age.

The doorstep of the Li Family was nearly worn out by the matchmakers, and Li Gui was consequently summoned to the palace.

The Emperor had six sons; the eldest son was the Crown Prince, followed by five Princes, with the Third Prince being the most privileged due to his mother being the daughter of the current Prime Minister.

The remaining Princes also had mothers with significant status, except for the Fifth Prince, whose mother was merely a Palace Maid.

Therefore, the Fifth Prince remained lowkey and disliked the limelight.

At seventeen, the Fifth Prince still did not have a Princess Consort.

Although the Emperor had been good to his children, he was concerned for the Fifth Prince.

With the benevolent Crown Prince and the lowly status of the Fifth Prince, there were, of course, no worries ahead. However, since there was no strong family backing the Fifth Prince, no prominent family was willing to form a marriage alliance with him.

The Emperor was very upset and thought of his old comrade, wishing to share his troubles and see if his companion had any suggestions.

Thus, Li Gui was summoned to the palace.

Li Gui thought it over and suggested marrying his legitimate granddaughter to the Fifth Prince.

Li Gui had always been the most trusted by the Emperor, frequently solving problems for him.

The Emperor was delighted upon hearing it, but he knew although on paper this was a step up for the Fifth Prince.

Truthfully, the Fifth Prince was by no means a match for Li Shuning.

This made the Emperor feel guilty towards Li Gui, realizing that Li Gui proposed this marriage for the Emperor’s sake. Remembering Li Xuan had another daughter, he thought it over and arranged a marriage for the illegitimate daughter.

The arranged match was the Empress’ nephew, Duke Dingguo.

Duke Dingguo, at twenty, had a childhood engagement. Talented both in civil and military fields, during an invasion by foreign tribes when generals of Great Xia perished, Duke Dingguo had bravely assumed command to drive them out.

Thus, the Emperor conferred the Marquis title upon him.

While leading troops, Duke Dingguo’s fiancée accidentally drowned.

The Empress then arranged another marriage for Duke Dingguo, but the prospective bride almost got disfigured from falling out of a carriage.

The bride’s family used this as an excuse to back out of the marriage.

It was from then on that rumors of Duke Dingguo’s tough fate emerged, with some even claiming he was cursed to harm his wives.

In reality, an illegitimate daughter marrying Duke Dingguo was undeniably beneath him.

But with the Emperor’s decree, Li Shumeng became the Marchioness directly.

Li Shumeng was Li Shuning’s illegitimate sister.

Initially, upon knowing Li Shuning was to marry the low-profile Fifth Prince while she herself was set to wed the renowned Duke Dingguo, Li Shumeng boasted for quite a while.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep