Quick Transmigration: Saving The Crazy Villainess

Chapter 158: Sheng Lingxin's After Story

It had been ten years since Zhang Wu woke up in the body of the prime minister estate's first legitimate miss, Sheng Lingxin, a character who was only mentioned once in her favorite mobile game 'To Be The Empress'. She remembered dying after being run over by a huge delivery truck, then after the pain, here she was, seemingly compensated with another life by the heavens for dying early.

'I'm a sickly and bullied granddaughter of a high minister? Like what usually happens to those who reincarnated or transmigrated to somebody else's body in another world?'

When the realization rushed into her brain, she naturally despaired. Nobody wanted to wake up every day seeing how bleak their future was. Everyone wanted to be a winner in life. So when she learned of her circumstances, actually even waking up with a high fever due to almost drowning in a pond, she started to lose hope in life. Then after a moment, she fainted.

Yet when she woke up again, it seemed she had become another person (again).

Confidence went back to her when memories of her current body coincided with many details from her favorite game. This was the seventy-fifth year of the Zhao Empire. The Emperor had four sons ready for a battle for the throne. That was when she knew this was a world based on that game.

And if it was, then there was a high chance she could meet her number one 2-D husband, Prince-General Lu Ling, titled Chen Wang.

With that in mind, she got herself together and then followed the cutscenes in establishing herself in the household. She was very thankful that the game's main character's circumstances were very similar to hers. The game's protagonist's opportunities to gain precious connections and stuff fell into her hands she actively went after them. In three months' time, she managed to become one of the best ladies in the empire and gained the interest of both Hai Wang and Rui Wang.

Of course, her heart was already set to the man who would soon be returning to the capital. It was true she had no choice but accept the engagement with Hai Wang, but even then she never lost hope. If she could just capture Lu Ling's heart then he would surely help her once she asked to annul her marriage agreement.

Probably, everything seemed to have gone wrong the first time she met the game's female protagonist in the Emperor's banquet. Rui Wang's annulment of the engagement took away everyone's attention, including Lu Ling's. Well, even she was surprised. But that seemed to be fatal because when she recovered from her stupor, Lu Ling already appeared to stop the girl who wanted to commit suicide.

Maybe that was when Jiang Ying Yue unknowingly entered Lu Ling's route, even without the first meeting which should only happen days later, in a betting arena.

"His Highness Chen Wang? Well, he is spotted near the river, on the left side of the bridge." said one of the guards she dispatched around the place to help in case an emergency happened.

After giving her thanks to the person, she looked for the man. Yet when she found him, he was gently watching a veiled girl next to him set free lanterns on the river. She called his name several times and then finally managed to greet him with a smile when he turned around, but all she elicited from him was a nod. He then walked away, as if fleeing from trouble.

Why? She repeatedly asked herself, which part of her was the trouble?

"Young Miss, please, this servant is begging you. Please don't do that again. Young Miss is already promised to His Highness, the second prince. Also, the one you're chasing earlier, Chen Wang, already has a sweetheart."

Sheng Lingxin only shook her head, finding it unbelievable.

'Lies... How could someone fall that quickly for another? Then why is intimacy level so slow to level up in the game? Players have to make at least twenty encounters and gifts to marry a male consort.'

"That girl earlier is Jiang Ying Yue?"

"Yes, Young Miss."

That time, her face was very grim. Even when Hai Wang, her fiance appeared, all that was in her mind were the general's relationship with the heroine and if she should break off the engagement so she could officially get close to him.

Hai Wang had always been a crafty and perceptive person, even in the game, so maybe that was when he noticed the signs. Yet the stupid her only cared for that one white moonlight which she would never grasp with her hand. More or less ten years passed since then. That time, she loved a memory, and now the one who loved her before also treat her like a mere memory of the past.

"I dreamt of being together with him. I was very happy and content as his sole consort and beloved Empress, and we had a fulfilling life envied by everyone in the empire. But why is the reality so different from expected?"

Sheng Lingxin stood by the door; she was wearing a very fashionable dress made out of materials only available to Imperial consorts. The splendid main hall behind her still had candles flickering at the slight touch of the wind.

After hugging herself which was already cladded in a thick fur jacket, she painfully closed her eyes, no longer willing to see the night that had long blanketed the sky.

"Imperial Concubine, the wind is getting colder. This servant and the others have already warmed up the room for you. Please go inside and rest." The maid who had followed her from the prime minister's estate respectfully bowed.

She nodded and extended her hand at her. With the maid's support, Sheng Lingxin managed to walk back to her room where she planted her face in her pillow and started to cry.

"Your Highness. Please don't cry anymore. Everything will be okay one day."

Sheng Lingxin only replied with silence, her shoulders trembling.

Helpless, yet at the same time angry for her mistress' sake, the maid said, "Imperial Concubine, this servant doesn't get it anymore. This is too much, even though the other concubines are not making things hard for us, the Emperor's attitude is another matter. Why is he still so cold despite everything you have done? Is His Majesty still testing Your Highness?"

'Testing what?' Sheng Lingxin bitterly thought. She neither answered nor scolded her servant for her attitude.

The woman just didn't have the energy anymore, all spent on thinking why despite trying her best to make amends, nothing seemed to be working. Even after she helped the man ascend and poured all her resources into his projects and ventures, she still couldn't win his heart. Why?

Was everything just too late? Why the hell did she only fall for him after she had done that stupid thing for a guy who would not even look at her? Why did she hurt him so much?

'God, please help me travel back in time, I promise to treasure him and never break his heart again. I won't let myself be blinded again.'

She had wished for this countless times, but years already passed and she had yet to gain a single response from the heavens.

"Your Highness..." said the maid in a tone full of concern. "Please take a rest already. Tomorrow. You'll see His Majesty. So please cheer up. You need to have your beauty rest and wake up refresh so you'll look more beautiful than the other consorts. Maybe tomorrow, there will be good news."

Sheng Lingxin had no choice but nod. And prayed that sleep would visit her.

Tomorrow came and all the members of the imperial family gathered for a state banquet. All the ministers were invited and were already seated at the tables assigned to them. Even Chen Wang and his wang fei who were always at the south came and their seats were only a step below the imperial clan's.

Sheng Lingxin did not even glance at them, all her focus was on the Emperor who was in his ninth year of reign. He was still as regal and handsome, growing more imposing each passing day. Unfortunately, unlike that year when all his focus and love were on her, he was not even glancing at her now, or probably he did when he once swept his gaze over the people participating in the banquet. But how was that different from not receiving a glance at him?

Saddened by the realization, she excused herself earlier than expected and said she was very unwell. The Emperor perfunctorily had a physician tend to her. That further made her smile bitter. Sometimes it was already hard to cling on hope when every day, he was being like this.

"I really envy her..." When another day dawned, she murmured after seeing Chen Wang Fei escorted by the prince-general in strolling the imperial gardens. She was sitting in a nearby standalone pavilion by herself, accompanied only by her head maid.

The last time she heard about that woman was eight years ago, when she gave birth to an heir for Chen Wang and cleared her family's name. It became a big sensation in the capital because it was aired to the world that the Marshal who rebelled against the previous Emperor before was not the real Marshal, but a bastard-born who just happened to look exactly like him.

That explained some odd fact about him though. After all, before Chen Wang Fei's eleventh birthday, that man was known as the most romantic wife slave in the Empire. His change in attitude had just been very drastic and people only couldn't pinpoint what was odd due to his face. A lot of controversies revolved around this faker, but at the end of the day, it helped clear the Marshal's name, which in turn helped the game protagonist take off the title 'daughter of a rebel' of her head.

"She's really enviable..." Sheng Lingxin said one last time and then looked away from them.

Probably the good thing which she got from that encounter was that her desire to have the Emperor's affection again got rekindled. She had been loving and putting efforts for nine years. How could it be easy to give up? She already felt tired of fighting. But what would happen to her once she gives up? The thought of her getting further away from the man caused to her shiver. And so she went to the old days when she would wait upon the man every day in her palace and covertly send support to him through the Prime Minister or her conglomerate outside. 

A year later, either through the help of her actually still existing female halo, or just the heaven finally pitying her,  she regained Chen Heng's attention and was then crowned the Empress. A few years after that though, she would learn that actually, the Hai Wang of yesteryear never stopped loving the foolish her. It was just he also never stopped being a vengeful, cough, bastard and always put reason before anything else. In short, he held grudges.

It was said that ten years was never late for a gentleman's revenge. But the semi-twisted male lead seemed to have taken those ten years as the duration for the revenge.

'You make a fool out of me for a year, I had you wait for me for ten years.'

When Sheng Lingxin found out the truth, she, of course, turned depressed for a whole month.

But anyway, no matter the crazy misunderstandings between those two and even though they had a depressing start, due to the plot, or maybe Jiang Li's lack of meddling, they still ended up together.

If they ended up in a happily ever after? Maybe. But definitely no better than the renowned royal couple of the Southern region.

...