Transmigration: The Fate of the Villainess

61 But I’m still beautiful, right? Part I

In the end, Yue Chang found three spies from Da Chu. It seemed that Yue Chen had already known about this, as Bai Yu had expected. The sparring match this time was merely an opportunity to use the position of being close to the royal as bait to lure Da Chu’s spies out. Bai Yu’s good eyes made their mission smooth sailing.

Bai He did not want his sister to be involved in a conflict between two nations, so he sent Bai Yu along with other women back to their own building. Bai Yu understood her brother’s good intention, thus, she obediently left despite her curiosity toward the spies.

This world still held the tradition that women’s duties were only birthing children and managing the household. Women should not be included in politics and war matters. The current Bai Yu could only accept and follow that rule.

After his sister had safely returned to her residence, Bai He headed toward the place they had contained the three spies for interrogation. What was Da Chu’s intention for sending people to Da Yang during the time that the two nations had agreed on a temporary truce due to their citizen’s harsh living conditions in winter? This might be related to the prior incident where Da Chu sent men to fight against Ouyang Feilong many times.

“Did they say anything?”

“You’ve sent them back?”

Yue Chen did not answer his grandson but asked about his granddaughters and Furen. Despite his cold exterior, he held a deep affection for his family.

“Yes, grandfather.”

“Sent words to increase the mansion’s security.” Yue Chen ordered Yue Chang before turning to Bai He. “Originally, it should be handled by the royal guard. But this time Da Chu’s involved, so we have to ask Rui Wang himself to come.”

.....

“I’ve told Ling-er to report to Wangye already.” Bai He watched the spies being tortured and silently complimented them for their silence. However, Yue Chen seemed to have noticed something.

“Someone helped them infiltrate Da Yang.”

“Grandfather, you mean...our people?”

Yue Chen nodded.

“There’s a betrayer among us.”

Bai He frowned.

It seemed that the Emperor had prepared a major mission for their return to the capital this time.

——————–

“Miss, there’re invitations from misses of many major families.”

As soon as she stepped through the threshold, Xiao Xi came to her with several invitation letters in her hands. Bai Yu did not care to read or even pick one up. She knew that these letters were the effect of the dress she had designed and worn to the banquet. She might have lost the competition, but at least there was something good.

“Prepare paper and ink for me. I want to write a letter.”

Bai Yu could not care less about those invitations, since she had planned that she would make those misses and Furens remain as curious as possible about her dress. It was a simple logic of economy where she retained demand to be higher than supply in order to add more value for her products.

The delicate hand wrote the last letter onto the paper. She then handed it to Xiao Chang who would deliver it to the anonymous master. Last time he had sent a letter asking to meet her in private to discuss designing the modified dresses. And so she was going to accept his appointment. They would meet fortnight. 𝐟𝗿𝚎𝐞𝓌e𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝒆𝑙.c𝚘𝓶

“Oh...” Before her maid left, Bai Yu thought of something. “About that ‘thank you’ gift. Is it ready?”

“It is ready, miss,” Xiao Chang replied. “What is the next step?”

“Bring her to...” Bai Yu explained the details to her. Xiao Chang wanted to ask whether her miss could see the future or not, but decided against it. “Don’t forget to make her carry wild herbs on her at all time.”

The newly appointed personal maid, whom Bai Yu intended to give her the duty of managing outside matter, gave an affirmative before leaving to send the letter and prepare the ‘thank you’ gift that her young miss had ordered her to prepare after the incident in the woods that day.

She had not made any further move yet, since it was not the appropriate time. Meanwhile, Bai Yu wanted to devote herself to her training first. For the design that she sent along with the letter, she had to wait until it was made for the grand reveal day.

If someday she and Bai Hua were still enemies like in the series, she would soon be cut off by her father because of her wickedness that caused the major and minor branches of the Bai family to fall and crumble away from Da Yang. Bai Yu had to find a way to make money by herself as insurance, in case that she truly could not escape her fate.

Doing business with the anonymous master was a good thing. His needlework and skill were to her liking the most, and when coupled with her design, they would surely become fashion pioneers of this era.

“I heard from the servants that after miss left, first Furen grounded the fourth miss. They said first Furen ordered her to practice magic.” Xiao Xi was as excellent an informant as ever. Even while she was in another mansion, she still knew the going-ons regarding Bai Hua.

For outside matters, she could rely on Xiao Chang. For everything else in Bai mansion, leave it to Xiao Xi.

“Mm.”

According to the series, Yue Mei never wanted Bai Hua to be more remarkable than Bai Yu. Now that everyone knew she could wield magic, Bai Hua would receive numerous letters that attempted to curry favor with her. And so her mother ordered Bai Hua to be grounded as a way to end everything.

But because of that order, Bai Hua could sneak out of the mansion without anyone noticing. She went out to study medicine and herbs, and, at the same time, treat villagers with medical knowledge of her old and new life combined. She also used healing magic to help them and ended up becoming the mysterious divine doctor that was known all over the capital.

According to the storyline in the series, Bai Yu was training to maintain her title of Meihua Lady in the upcoming competition, so she did not have time to create trouble for Bai Hua. It was a prime opportunity for the brilliant heroine to develop her skills. The time right now and in the series seem to be largely similar.

But Bai Yu did not care about the heroine anymore. Instead, she should focus on training and defending her position. Now that she was reminded of martial arts, Bai Yu could only sigh.

This body was so frail. A few pats on the shoulder from her grandfather resulted in pains and aches. This was not unusual for a sheltered young lady who could not even wring a chicken’s neck. But for her, it was a big deal.

Her body in her past life was slender but fit from regular exercises. When she crossed over into this body, she forgot that she was not the same person anymore. She could no longer just eat and sleep all day.

After lunch at the main building, Bai Yu sent her brother off in front of the Yue mansion. One shichen later, she ordered servants to bring her a rope that was as tall as her height and started jump roping.

“M...miss, that’s not seemly at all.”

Xiao Xi was concerned about her miss’s image as ever. Right now Bai Yu had her hair in a ponytail, wearing practical clothes and exercising with jump rope until she was soaked with sweat.

“If you don’t want to become fat, start doing this too.”

Even without understanding the reason for their miss’s action, the two maids found themselves their rope and followed suit.

Seeing her maids panting while lying on the floor entertained Bai Yu greatly.