Snuggling for Survival: A Quick Transmigration Tale - Chapter 13

The scenes appearing before her were entirely beyond her control. Yu Yu watched helplessly as a maid from the courtyard carried a large bundle of medicinal herbs toward the kitchen. She wanted to open her mouth to stop her, but her body passed through the servants as easily as mist. Even her throat felt constricted, as if she were being choked, leaving her unable to utter a single sound.

“Do you think the Eldest Young Master will be angry that the Old Madame is doing this?” one young maid asked with a frown. She fanned the flames while adding firewood to the small stove. A thick, pungent medicinal odor filled the air. It was impossible to tell where the herbs had been sourced, but the scent alone was nauseating enough to make one gag.

“He will definitely be angry, but isn’t it that woman’s fault for being so useless?” the other maid replied, rolling her eyes. “They have been married for six years, yet she has only produced one daughter. Is that not the same as letting the Li family line end? Besides, the Old Madame went to a fortune teller. These herbs were given by that master, and they are said to be incredibly effective. They are guaranteed to result in a pregnancy.”

The maid fanned the fire with even greater intensity, a predatory glint flashing in her eyes. Rather than letting some woman from the outside benefit, she felt it would be better if she took the opportunity herself. After all, which young master did not have three wives and four concubines? She believed that as long as she bore the master’s child, she would secure a place in his heart.

Yu Yu’s throat tightened with emotion, and her eyes grew red. Despite witnessing this entire scene, she had no way to intervene. A heart-wrenching sensation lingered in her chest.

This dark scene stood in stark contrast to the Young Mistress’s room. There, a gentle woman sat with a smile, watching her daughter practice writing at a stool. The little girl’s grip on the brush was still clumsy. On the clean white paper, she had written her own name alongside those of her parents: Li Yuan, Li Zongyao, and Xu Xiaoli.

Though the handwriting was crooked, the paper remained clean. That small, innocent girl had no realization of the tragedy that would soon occur. Her fair, tender face looked soft enough to pinch, and her beaming expression was incredibly sweet. It was impossible to see any trace of the cold, stoic woman she would eventually become. After holding up her paper and receiving a few words of praise, Li Yuan climbed into her mother’s arms and said coaxingly, “Mother, Father said he is taking us out for Beggar’s Chicken tonight!”

“This is your reward for studying so well. Our Yuan’er’s handwriting is becoming more beautiful by the day,” Xu Xiaoli said. As she looked at her daughter, the tenderness in her eyes was unmistakable.

Just as a smile began to form on Yu Yu’s face at the sight of this heartwarming scene, the vision shifted abruptly.

A bedroom door was being deliberately locked from the outside. Standing there was Old Madame Li, wearing a smile of cold determination. She tucked the key into her robe and stared at the closed door with undisguised anticipation. It was as if she believed that after this single night, several grandsons would suddenly appear.

She had gone to great lengths to send Xu Xiaoli and her daughter away in advance. A granddaughter was fine, she reasoned, but she was still just a girl. To sustain a family legacy as large as the Li estate, a male heir was a necessity.

Yu Yu’s face turned pale with anxiety. She paced frantically around the Old Madame, but aside from her internal desperation, she was powerless to change anything.

“Get out! Cough! Cough!”

The sound of shattering porcelain echoed from inside the room, followed by a man’s low, ragged gasps. Even though his mind was clouded and his body was slipping from his control, Li Zongyao fought to stay conscious. “Who told you to come here? Everyone, get out! Where is Xiaoli? Where is the Young Mistress?”

The presence of the unfamiliar women terrified him.

“Eldest Young Master, do not torture yourself. This medicine is potent. For your own sake, you should just enjoy it.”

“We are only following orders. This was authorized by the Old Madame. You are a man and the Great Young Master of the Li family. Is it not normal to seek pleasure among flowers?”

“There is no need for feelings. We simply want to give you a child.”

“Get out!” Li Zongyao roared. Hands with bright red-painted nails reached for him as the heavy scent of cosmetics filled the room.

Worse still, his body began to grow rigid and feverish. An uncontrollable heat surged from his blood into his limbs. In his mind, he saw only his wife’s face—that gentle, lovely face with its soft smile and kind eyes. With his shirt torn open and using the last of his strength, Li Zongyao shoved the women away and threw himself headfirst into the sharp corner of a table.

Yu Yu screamed and covered her eyes. The room erupted into chaotic shrieks, and the Li household fell into utter turmoil.

The Old Madame had clearly not expected her son to take such an extreme measure. While she hurriedly called for a doctor, she redirected all her resentment and spite toward her daughter-in-law. Yu Yu’s heart remained in her throat as the scene shifted back to the very first moment she had witnessed.

Her son lay unconscious on the bed. In her obsession to achieve her goal, the maid who brewed the medicine had ignored the proper dosage, adding an extra cup of every ingredient. The excessive drugs had weakened his constitution, and combined with the force of the impact against the table, his brain had been damaged beyond repair.

“It is all your fault!”

Even though she had seen this before, Yu Yu could not stop her tears. She covered her eyes tightly, her throat raw with sobs. Not long after, the Eldest Young Master passed away. Unable to bear the grief and the constant cruelty of the Old Madame, Xu Xiaoli died a few months later.

The deranged old woman never realized her own mistake. Seeing the young Li Yuan weeping, Old Madame Li struck her across the face.

“Cry! All you know how to do is cry, just like your useless mother! It was the two of you who jinxed my son to death!”

The small girl curled up and clutched her head. The sharp, bitter words were too much for the once-happy child to endure. She had no idea why her grandmother cursed her when she had done nothing wrong. Her happy childhood was slowly dismantled, replaced by years of agonizing accusations.

Yu Yu broke down, sobbing alongside the child. She was unable to make a sound, so she simply crouched next to little Li Yuan, trying in vain to comfort her.

“Useless! All that is left is a daughter! What will the Li family do?” The Old Madame smashed an object onto the floor in a rage. Looking at Li Yuan, her anger intensified. “What did your mother even teach you? You do nothing but cry all day! Have you learned nothing? Starting tomorrow, you are going to the schoolhouse!”

As the grandmother approached, Li Yuan squeezed her head tighter. Her ears were ringing, and she felt as though she could no longer hear anything at all. Yu Yu tried to shield Li Yuan in her arms, but her spectral form was easily bypassed. The suffering continued.

The images of Li Yuan’s education blurred past. The small child grew into a tall, cold-eyed woman. Li Yuan’s twelve years were nothing short of a living hell. Yu Yu followed behind her, watching her grow. Though it was only a series of flashes, Yu Yu felt a maternal bond forming with the girl. However, seeing those eyes slowly turn sharp and frigid, her heart ached with pity.

“The Li family will never be handed to you. You are a girl. No matter how capable you are, it will not happen!” Decades had passed, and the Old Madame’s hair had turned white, yet her arrogant posture remained.

Li Yuan stood with pressed lips, listening to the lecture. Even though she was formidable in the outside world, years of being belittled had become a habit. The thought of rebelling existed, but because she had been beaten and criticized since childhood, she had become numb. A woman who should have been magnificent lowered her head before this half-mad woman.

“You will not do, but the Li family has a great legacy. We will find a husband to marry into the family to carry on the Li bloodline. That will not be a problem.”

Li Yuan’s eyes darkened, and her fists clenched tight. Yu Yu shook her head violently, wanting Li Yuan to refuse the old hag. How could such an evil person be her grandmother? Yu Yu tried to hug Li Yuan, passing through her body countless times. Even knowing she could not touch her, Yu Yu stayed as close as possible, hoping to offer some shred of comfort.

The refusal Yu Yu hoped for never came. The eighteen-year-old Li Yuan sighed and looked at the bitter woman before her. She could no longer bring herself to say the word “Grandmother.”

“Do as you wish.”

Yu Yu felt a wave of despair. A woman of such talent was relegated to a side courtyard and barred from touching the family business. She was left with only a butler and a few servants. Li Yuan had started managing the family shops at fourteen, slowly dragging the near-bankrupt businesses out of the mud. Though the progress was not obvious to the eye, the ledgers did not lie. She was naturally gifted.

Yu Yu cursed the Old Madame, her eyes wide with fury, yet the old woman remained untouched by any karma. As she followed Li Yuan into another courtyard, Yu Yu realized with a start that this was the very courtyard where she and Li Yuan had eventually been married.

Intent on giving the family fortune to a man marrying in, Old Madame Li became impossibly picky. Initially, suitors came seeking favor, but the eccentric woman found fault with every single one. Without Li Yuan’s management, the Li family shops lost their heart and gradually became empty shells.

Within two years, no husband had been chosen. Respectable families looked down on them, and the Old Madame rejected those she felt were beneath her. By the time Li Yuan was in her early twenties, the Li family was bankrupt. Sick and bedridden from rage, Old Madame Li pointed a trembling finger at her cold granddaughter.

“It is all your fault, and your jinx of a mother! You killed my son! Even if I die, the Li family will never fall into your hands!”

Seeing the light fade from the eyes of the person she cared for, Yu Yu loathed the dying woman. Even as she stomped her feet in anger, she could change nothing. Even on the brink of death, the old woman did not stop her schemes. Using the last of her savings, she summoned Taoist priests to exorcise the house.

Emaciated and pale, the Old Madame reached out her hand one last time, gasping out her final wish: “I am willing to use my own blood! Bless the Li family so it remains forever! The family cannot go to that girl. It must go to a capable man. Find her a husband. She must find a good one.”