A Rebirth: Joined As One - Chapter 1

The forty-first year of Jiaping was also the first year of Changxi. The Duanyan Grand Princess, who had held sole control over government affairs ever since the previous emperor’s death in Jiaping twenty-nine and had wielded power over the entire court for twelve full years, was finally uprooted by the new emperor, who had endured humiliation and bided his time for decades.

From then on, there was no longer any Grand Princess in this world.

The capital was thrown into turmoil. Everyone was filled with fear, afraid that now the new emperor had made his debut, he would use them to test the sharpness of his blade a second time.

And amid all this unrest, only the Jing residence stood as steady as Mount Tai.

Everyone knew that the Jing family had contributed the most to the new emperor’s return to power. Old Prime Minister Jing had even sacrificed his own daughter for the new emperor’s sake.

Yet no one could have expected that the Jing residence, as unshakable as Mount Tai, would become the new emperor’s second whetstone.

The new emperor had spent ten years sharpening his sword, so naturally its edge was unstoppable. With only a casual test of that blade, this stone was instantly reduced to dust. Then, when the wind conveniently blew through, the once-massive boulder vanished in but a moment.

As soon as the Jing family fell, an imperial edict was immediately proclaimed throughout the realm. It stated that the death of the Duanyan Grand Princess had been plotted by the Jing family, and that the Jing family had secretly colluded with foreign traitors in an attempt to steal the nation’s fortune.

The moment this edict was issued, the entire country was in an uproar.

For a time, the officials and great households in the capital, whether they had once had dealings with the Jing residence or had never interacted with them at all, were all scrambling to distance their families from the Jings. As for those beyond the capital’s reach, they all considered cursing the Jing family the righteous thing to do, and even used it to flaunt their loyalty to the ruler and love for the country.

It was not as if no one wanted to speak up for the Jing family. It was simply that before those people could say a word, they had already been dealt with.

With no dissenting voices left, the tide naturally swept entirely in one direction.

White became black. Even if the Jing family wanted to clear their name, they truly had no power left to do so. On the nineteenth day of the third month in Jiaping forty-one, the last remaining member of the Jing family, the eldest legitimate daughter of the Jing family who had also secretly assisted the new emperor for twelve years, Jing Ya, drank poisoned wine in the imperial prison and died full of hatred.

After that, there was no longer any Jing residence in this world either.

No one would dig any deeper into why, exactly, the Jing family would have wanted to murder the Grand Princess, nor why they would have abandoned the merit of backing the new sovereign only to collude with foreign traitors.

The matter was already settled. Digging further served no purpose. More than that, it carried the risk of death.

Thus, unless the Jing family still had descendants, or unless one of the Jings could return from death itself, the stain recorded against the Jing family in the history books would surely never be washed away.

But the Jing family’s descendants were extinct, and rebirth was something mysterious beyond mystery. If the Jing family wanted to clear its name, the only thing it could still pin its hopes on was the word “chance.”

Chance circled and turned, leaving behind one sliver of opportunity.

If that sliver of opportunity could be seized…

In an elegantly decorated room, incense burned in curling wisps. The charcoal fire inside the heater flickered with shifting red light, filling the room with warmth. It was like a completely different world from the ice and snow outside.

A maid lifted the door curtain and pushed the door open. Before stepping in, she first lightly stomped her feet twice in front of the threshold, then entered the room.

The maid moved quietly, circling around the painted screen to the bedside. After drawing up and fastening the two sides of the bed curtains, she softly called to the person sleeping on the bed. “Miss… Miss, it’s time to get up…”

The person on the bed seemed to be sleeping far too deeply. She gave no response at all to that soft call.

The maid let out a quiet sound of surprise and was just about to call the person on the bed again when she suddenly saw the person lying there open her eyes. Silently, soundlessly. Even her gaze was terribly empty, as though the one lying there was nothing more than a hollow shell.

The maid was so startled that she immediately jumped back half a step.

After waiting a while and seeing that the person on the bed still did not move, the little maid swallowed, pressed a hand over her heart, and boldly stepped forward. In a soft voice, she called, “Miss, what’s wrong… Miss?”

Jing Ya shifted her eyes and looked at the little maid. The emptiness in her gaze turned into bewilderment. “You…”

Seeing that she had spoken, the maid felt much more at ease. Smiling, she was about to help her sit up as she said, “Me? I’m Wang Lan. Miss, you really drank far too much last night. You don’t even recognize Wang Lan anymore.”

“Could it be that you still haven’t sobered up? Perfect timing, then. The hangover soup is still warm. I’ll bring Miss a bowl in a moment.”

Listening to the little maid’s chatter, that hint of bewilderment in Jing Ya’s eyes gradually receded. In its place came the calm stillness she had spent ten years cultivating.

The little maid helped her sit up, then went to fetch her clothes. After touching them and finding them warm, she handed them over with relief.

Jing Ya stopped the maid from dressing her. The maid looked at her in confusion. “Miss?”

“Wang Lan, Wang Lan… what year is it now? What year of Jia… Jiaping?”

The little maid smiled and replied, “Miss, you really are still drunk, aren’t you? Today is New Year’s Eve in the twenty-seventh year of Jiaping. Tomorrow will be Jiaping twenty-eight.”

Jiaping twenty-seven…

Jing Ya released the little maid and sat back down on the edge of the bed. Lowering her head, she propped her forehead with one hand, hiding the expression on her face.

“Miss?”

“You go out first.”

“Yes…”

The maid did not know what Jing Ya intended to do, but since she had given an order, she obediently put the clothes down, turned, and left.

Only Jing Ya remained in the room, yet Jing Ya still did not change her posture. She continued covering her face like that.

A moment later, however, there was a low laugh in the room, breaking the silence from before.

Within that low laugh was delight, and threaded through that delight were strands of hatred. Though they were not especially obvious, they absolutely could not be ignored.

The low laughter gradually stopped. Jing Ya braced a hand against the edge of the bed and stood, walking to the bronze mirror on the dressing table. When she saw the youthful face reflected in the mirror, she laughed again.

Jiaping twenty-seven. She was fourteen years old. The Grand Princess had only just turned sixteen. As for that suspicious and cowardly new emperor, he was even younger. He should be… eight years old, perhaps?

Truly, the affairs of the world were unpredictable…

In her previous life, she and the Jing family had exhausted their hearts and blood, supporting the new emperor step by step as he grew, and in the end, they had brought down the Grand Princess. But they had also delivered Jing Ya herself and the Jing family into death.

That new emperor…

Jing Ya clenched her fist, yet the person in the bronze mirror still looked perfectly calm, without a single ripple on her face. The ten years of tempering she had endured in the palace in her previous life had long since taught her to hide and endure.

That same forbearance was also the way of survival she had learned.

But endurance was endurance, and debts of hatred were still debts of hatred. She could endure, but revenge had to be taken. Once she endured long enough to find an opportunity to strike a fatal blow, no one would be able to stop her then.

After what she had experienced in her previous life, she would absolutely never let the Jing family walk down the wrong path of supporting the new emperor again.

If the Jing family wanted to last, then the Grand Princess’s side… could instead offer a way forward. At the very least, compared with that new emperor, Jing Ya personally leaned more toward the Grand Princess.

Besides, if her father had not insisted on supporting the new emperor back then, it would not have been impossible for the Jing family to enter the Grand Princess’s faction.

The Grand Princess had depth and methods, and her ability to govern the country was no worse than the late emperor’s. Most crucially, the Grand Princess would never, out of fear of being betrayed in the future, slaughter her old subordinates once success had been achieved.

As long as this most crucial point existed, if the Jing family supported her and rendered merit, they would certainly not end up as they had in Jing Ya’s previous life.

Jing Ya reined in her thoughts. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time, then wasted no more time. Turning around, she went to pick up the clothes placed on the bed and changed into them.

Since she had been fortunate enough to return, she would certainly not let this chance go to waste.

At the very least, she would absolutely not allow the Jing family to repeat the same mistake.

After Jing Ya washed and tidied herself up, maids immediately entered and laid out the meal. Jing Ya sat down and was just about to pick up her chopsticks when the maid named Wang Lan placed a bowl of soup beside Jing Ya’s hand.

The maid looked all smiles as she said, “Miss, drink a bowl of soup first to warm yourself up.”

“It will also help clear the wine from your system. Otherwise, when you go see the Master later, you will definitely be scolded.”

“But Miss, really, why did you insist on drinking so much wine? You clearly get drunk the moment you touch it… Although Young Master Zhang was given a scolding by the Master, you still didn’t have to be that happy…” After barely three sentences, the little maid started complaining again about what Jing Ya had done last night.

Jing Ya paused in the middle of drinking her soup and asked, “What Young Master Zhang?”

Wang Lan said, “Young Master Zhang. The eldest son of Lord Zhang from the Ministry of Rites. The one who pushed you into the lake last month. Afterward, you caught a chill, and the Master was very angry about it.”

Once she said that, Jing Ya remembered.

That matter could also be considered one of the steps she had taken wrongly back then. This time, she could not make the same mistake again. After thinking for a moment, Jing Ya set the soup bowl down, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and said, “I’m done eating. Clear this away.”

After saying that, she folded the handkerchief neatly and placed it on the table. She stood and straightened her clothes, then picked up the cloak from the rack by the door, draped it over herself, and went out.

Wang Lan did not even have time to stop her before she could only watch Jing Ya leave.

She turned back to look at the food on the table, which had not been touched at all, and shook her head. Her young miss really could not drink, especially not until she got drunk. Next time, Wang Lan would definitely have to keep a close eye on her.

After leaving her room, Jing Ya headed straight for Prime Minister Jing’s study.

The Jing family did not have many descendants. In the previous generation, aside from Jing Ya’s father, Jing Ya only had one younger uncle and one aunt who had married far away.

In the main branch in the capital, she was the only daughter. The aunt who had married far away had died young and left behind only a cousin with another surname. But because the distance was great, they were not close. As for her younger uncle back in the ancestral home, he did have both a son and a daughter, but they were still very young. After the new year, they would only be about six.

Even with that, compared with other families, the Jing family had too few people.

Jing Ya drew her cloak tighter around herself. Having few people was both good and bad. It could all be considered fate, and could not be forced. But having few people did not necessarily mean they could not endure for a long time…

“Miss is here. The Master is waiting for you inside. Please go in.”

The servant at the study door saw Jing Ya approaching and immediately smiled as he lifted the curtain for her to enter. Jing Ya gave a faint nod, then stepped into the study.

Father Jing was indeed waiting. The moment he heard movement at the door, he set down the book in his hand. When he saw Jing Ya enter, his face filled with joy. “Ya’er is here. Have you eaten breakfast?”

“Replying to Father, I have already eaten.” After Jing Ya saluted Father Jing, she sat down on a chair nearby.

The father and daughter of the Jing family had a very good relationship. They were both father and daughter, and teacher and friend.

Father Jing pretended to be serious as he clenched his fist and coughed, barely maintaining a proper expression. But the moment the door curtain was lowered, he could no longer hold it in and almost burst out laughing.

“Father?” Jing Ya had not seen Father Jing with such emotions in a very long time. It felt extremely unfamiliar.

Father Jing laughed silently, unable to stop himself. His face turned red from holding it in.

Jing Ya merely rubbed her fingertips together. She did not ask any further questions, only sat there quietly and waited for this bout of laughter to pass.

Outsiders did not know that Prime Minister Jing, who had always been solemn and unsmiling, showed every sort of expression inside his own study.

After laughing silently to himself for quite a while, Father Jing finally managed to slowly stop. He patted his chest, then drank an entire cup of tea before he could be considered recovered.

Only after he had calmed down did Jing Ya ask, “Did Father encounter something happy?”

As it turned out, it would have been better not to ask. The moment she did, Father Jing wanted to laugh again.

But since he had just laughed for quite a while, he could at least restrain himself a little now. So Father Jing endured it, holding back his laughter as he answered, “Ya’er, do you know? Last night, the Crown Prince pushed the Princess into the warm lake.”

Jing Ya: “…”

What?!

The author has something to say:

The entire story is fictional. Please do not scrutinize it. The setting has relatively open social customs, and men and women are also relatively equal. Everything else serves the plot.

The story has begun, the story has begun! Come read it!