After Transmigrating As The Scumbag Alpha In An Ancient Pregnant-And-Run Novel - Chapter 7

Yun Chenghuai was in the front courtyard study, completely unaware that there was a dagger that could pierce her heart at any moment.

Even if she knew, well, was she not currently working hard to change Shen Liunian’s opinion of her?

At the very least, before she could ensure that she would not be confined, she had to stop Shen Liunian from leaving the prince’s manor.

After all, Shen Liunian’s departure was the reason the Emperor confined her.

Yun Chenghuai sat in front of the desk and casually picked up a book beside her, flipping through it.

After entering the study, she did not rummage around randomly. Anyuan was at her side. If she appeared too curious, she was afraid she would give herself away.

What she needed to do next required a safe and private environment.

“Anyuan.”

“Your Highness.”

As long as Yun Chenghuai spoke, Anyuan could always respond at the first moment. She was truly too reliable.

“Go pick out some supplements suitable for pregnant women and send them to the Princess Consort.”

Since Shen Liunian was pregnant, she should eat things that were nourishing but would not make her gain too much weight. Otherwise, if the child grew too large, it would not be good for the pregnant woman.

Anyuan had just been about to leave when Yun Chenghuai added, “Remember to have the resident physician look them over and see whether pregnant women can eat them.”

“Yes.” Anyuan nodded coolly, turned, and left without the slightest hesitation.

Yun Chenghuai watched Anyuan leave. There were still two guards outside the door. There were also quite a few servants outside, but if she did not give orders, they would not come in.

Without anyone disturbing her, she put down the book and walked around the study.

The study was quite large. Books and other things filled the entire room. From the original owner’s memories, she learned that there was even a hidden chamber inside the study.

The hidden chamber was not big, and it contained some important items.

Some had been left behind by her imperial mother, while others had been left by the old Duke Who Stabilizes the State. When she had time, she needed to sort through them and see if anything was useful.

There were quite a lot of things in the study. Since the original owner had never held any important position and was more or less like an idle prince, there was nothing especially valuable.

Of course, it was not as if she gained nothing. The original owner’s memories in her head became a little clearer.

Yun Chenghuai sat back down in front of the desk and chose a brush that looked decent from the brush holder.

Fortunately, she had practiced calligraphy when she was young, and after growing up, she occasionally wrote with a brush, so she was not unfamiliar with one. Combined with the original owner’s memories, including muscle memory, the characters she wrote were eighty to ninety percent similar to the original owner’s.

After writing a few characters, she felt there was no major problem. With more practice, they should become almost identical.

Personality and the like could slowly change, but things like handwriting and small habits needed attention everywhere.

Thankfully, she was grounded in the prince’s manor for one month. A month’s time should be enough for her to become familiar with the original owner’s memories.

Being grounded was not a good thing for others, but for her, who had just arrived here, it could barely count as giving her time to adapt.

To make writing easier, Yun Chenghuai wrapped her wide sleeves around a few times, then found a string and tied them up.

There were sleeve ties in the study, but unfortunately, she did not know how to use them. She also did not want to call anyone in, so after thinking about it, she decided to just make do.

After writing a few words on the paper, she was just about to get down to business when she suddenly thought that if the papers she wrote on were not handled well afterward, they might expose many things.

After thinking it over, she could write half in pinyin and half in Chinese characters, occasionally using English too. That way, surely no one would understand it.

She first wrote down the initials of the pinyin for her own name, a shortened version of it, so that if someone discovered it, they would not think she was plotting something.

There were quite a few informants from various sides in Prince Chuxiang’s manor.

Yun Chenghuai centered everything around herself and began sorting through her current situation.

The Emperor of Southern Qin had been on the throne for twenty-six years. In the middle, she had changed the era name to Shenlong, and this year was the eleventh year of Shenlong.

The current Emperor could be considered better. Her grandmother had been an era-name-changing maniac, changing the era name once every three to five years at most, and once every one or two years at shortest. Over her lifetime, she had used dozens of era names. During peacetime, the Ministry of Rites had been the busiest of the Six Ministries.

As for Yun Chenghuai’s imperial mother, the current Emperor did not like changing era names, but she did rather enjoy having children.

Twenty-one imperial daughters, seventeen princesses, and even more commandery princesses. The eldest, the Crown Princess, was thirty-two, and the youngest was not even one year old. Seventy or eighty children—she really could give birth.

In the twenty-six years she had been Emperor, children had been born every year.

The legitimate eldest daughter was the current Crown Princess, Yun Chenghuai’s biological older sister—Yun Chengji.

The name meant inheriting the ancestral legacy. One could see the Emperor’s expectations for the Crown Princess from her name alone.

Perhaps because the Emperor had given birth to so many children, by the third generation, among the married imperial daughters, aside from the Eighth Imperial Daughter, none had managed to give birth to a Qianyuan. There were only two or three Kunze, while plenty of Heyuan had been born.

The Crown Princess and the Crown Princess Consort had known each other since childhood, and their relationship was very good. There was only the Crown Princess Consort in the Eastern Palace, and to this day, they had only one Kunze child.

The Emperor had once told the Crown Princess to marry side consorts, but the Crown Princess and the Crown Princess Consort were deeply in love, and there was no room for anyone else between them. Later, the Crown Princess also believed that, given her poor health, she should not delay the daughters of good families.

As for Yun Chenghuai’s remaining imperial elder sisters, who knew what was going on with them? They had married plenty of people into their manors, yet still had few children.

The Second Imperial Daughter was thirty-one this year and had two Heyuan children. The remaining imperial daughters were more or less the same as her.

The imperial family had a rule that one could not take concubines within three years of marrying a wife. Otherwise, after marriage, the original owner had planned to take a pile of concubines and have children. Fortunately, there was this Kunze. Otherwise, if Yun Chenghuai had to watch the women in the prince’s manor compete in beauty, she would die of headaches.

The third generation of the imperial family was quiet, while the second generation fought each other to the death. Among the twenty-one imperial daughters, aside from the young ones, every single person was interested in the throne.

At present, the Crown Princess was still alive, so everyone’s fighting was not too obvious.

They were mainly divided into three groups: those who supported the Crown Princess, those who supported the Fourth Imperial Daughter, and those who supported the Seventh Imperial Daughter, the current Empress’s daughter.

Everyone was divided into small circles. Even if they had their own thoughts in their hearts, on the surface, they still strongly supported the leader of their own circle.

The original owner, however, was like an idiot. Not only did she fight alone, she was never close to the Crown Princess either.

Their mother was the late Empress. By nature, they should have been close. If anything happened to the Crown Princess, as her biological younger sister, would the Crown Princess’s connections and resources not all become hers?

Sigh. Yun Chenghuai sighed. Forget it. It was too late to say anything now. The outcome was still what it was. What she had to do was avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Among imperial children, Qianyuan were granted the title of imperial daughter, Kunze were granted the title of princess, and Heyuan were granted the title of commandery princess. This was used to distinguish their differences.

Imperial daughters, princesses, commandery princesses, the Emperor’s consorts, the maternal families of the imperial daughters, who in court had chosen a side, and who were purely loyal officials…

Yun Chenghuai sorted through these things for the entire morning before more or less straightening them out. There were so many people that remembering them one by one was truly not easy.

“Someone,” she called.

Anyuan immediately came in. “Your Highness.”

“Set up a brazier in the courtyard. This prince will go over in a moment.”

“Yes.”

Some things had to be burned, even if she was certain no one would understand the contents of the papers even if they saw them.

But if someone tried to use these things to make trouble, she would still have to waste effort explaining, would she not?

Once the brazier was lit in the courtyard, Yun Chenghuai took the papers and walked out. Then she threw the papers into the brazier and used the stick in her hand to stir them. Only after all the papers had burned cleanly did she turn and return to the study.

She still had one important matter to arrange.

She gestured for Anyuan to enter the study with her. “I’m entrusting you with something.”

Anyuan did not answer, waiting for her to continue.

“Now that the Princess Consort is pregnant, and those imperial elder sisters of mine have difficulty with heirs, there’s no telling what tricks they might pull. As for the entire prince’s manor, you will be responsible for cleaning it up. No matter who they are, handle them as you see fit.”

Anyuan’s eyes shifted. She understood that Her Highness felt the prince’s manor was not clean, that any kind of information could be passed out, and that she had made up her mind to purge it.

Anyuan had brought this up long ago, but Her Highness had been too confident back then, telling her to keep to her duties and not make reckless accusations.

Her Highness believed those retainers were her confidants, while Anyuan, who came from the Duke Who Stabilizes the State’s estate, was merely someone sent by the old Duke to monitor her and stop her from causing trouble for the Crown Princess.

The more Anyuan advised her, the more rebellious Yun Chenghuai became. All sorts of messy retainers lived in the prince’s manor, and who knew how many people with malicious intentions had slipped in. If anything happened, Anyuan would have failed the old Duke’s trust.

As if afraid Yun Chenghuai would go back on her word, Anyuan hurriedly knelt on one knee. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Remember, no matter who they are.” Worried that Anyuan would have scruples, Yun Chenghuai added another sentence.

“What about the Princess Consort’s side?”

Shen Liunian had many people who accompanied her as part of her dowry, and those people were definitely loyal to Shen Liunian.

“There’s no need to manage the Princess Consort’s people. Just keep a close watch on them.”

If she managed Shen Liunian’s people, who knew what consequences would arise?

Moreover, in the novel, Shen Liunian would leave the prince’s manor three days later. That meant that during these few days, she would definitely meet the people of Northern Qi’s Crown Princess, Li Zhaoxian.

With Anyuan watching the Shen family’s servants, if anything happened, Yun Chenghuai would be able to learn of it immediately and would not be too passive.

“Right, there’s one more thing. You must carefully check the comings and goings of the Princess Consort’s people from the prince’s manor.”

“Yes.”

This kind of personal guard was wonderful. She would only obey orders and would not ask why. Yun Chenghuai did not need to explain either.

Yun Chenghuai smiled in satisfaction and casually untied the string around her sleeves. “Let’s go. We’ll have lunch with the Princess Consort.”

Anyuan: “……”

When she had just delivered the supplements, the Princess Consort had looked very displeased upon hearing that they were from Her Highness.

In the main courtyard, Shen Liunian looked at the supplements piled like a small mountain on the table, not knowing what medicine Yun Chenghuai was selling in her gourd.

“Young Mistress, Prince Chuxiang has changed too quickly.” It was frightening.

Momo Xu stepped forward and helped cover Shen Liunian’s legs with a blanket, feeling worried about Yun Chenghuai’s change.

If a prince wanted to torment them to death when they had no foundation in Southern Qin, as long as she did it cleanly and prevented any rumors from spreading outside, she could kill them without the slightest guilt.

Yet earlier, Yun Chenghuai had still been vicious, looking as if she wanted to kill them, but today, she had suddenly changed. For something to happen without cause, she must have some scheme.

Shen Liunian picked up the tea beside her and took a small sip. The fragrance of the tea spread between her lips and teeth.

“Tell Xu Da that the shops and money are not important. Just make sure the people can leave at any time.”

Xu Da was Momo Xu’s daughter. She was a Heyuan and, together with another manager, handled affairs outside for Shen Liunian.

Shen Liunian had long had thoughts of fleeing. It would be easy for her to leave alone, but the hundreds of people who had accompanied her to Southern Qin as part of her dowry would become fish on someone else’s chopping block.

So she was arranging for her people to leave one by one. If too many left all at once, it would easily arouse suspicion.

But she had overestimated Yun the dog. More than a hundred people had already left, yet Yun the dog had not noticed at all.

However, Yun Chenghuai’s actions today and the change in her behavior were too great. It was absolutely not that simple.

If Yun Chenghuai discovered that Shen Liunian wanted to leave Southern Qin, what would she do to Shen Liunian and the hundreds of people who had accompanied her as part of her dowry?

Should Shen Liunian strike first?