Transmigrating into the Female Supporting Character with a Good Life in a Laid-Back Novel

Ruan Xi’s heart jolted, her intense desire for survival making her shake her head furiously.

“No, no, Ting Zhou da ge, you’re not timid in the slightest, really. I was laughing because Li gongzi doesn’t understand you at all, despite being acquainted with you for so long.”

During that particular flower banquet, she had deliberately cracked a joke with Wen Jing Ru, saying that Wen Ting Zhou was timid, and that he did not have the courage to hold hands with her, but Wen Ting Zhou had hugged her without warning afterwards… And even later, that hug became the reason why she had to copy the Avatamsaka Sutra to quieten her mind whenever she had the leisure time recently.

Truth to be told, Li Jing Cheng did not know that genuine coward was Ruan Xi, hence she quickly pushed Li Jing Cheng to the forefront to make him an arrow-blocking shield.

Wen Ting Zhou looked at Ruan Xi deeply, “Is that so? It seems like I’ve misunderstood Ruan Ruan.”

Faintly, there were a trace of regret in his tone of voice.

As if he was regretting the fact that he did not have another chance to take it a step further.

Ruan Xi felt a burst of guilt in her heart.

Whereas Li Jing Cheng only felt his teeth aching as he continued to watch out. These two were truly a match made in heaven.

Wanting to see them put on a good show was harder than ascending to heaven.

please read this on yuulation dot wordpress dot com

At this moment, Su Yu and Su Zhu came in hurriedly, and Mama Yang followed closely after she had received the news.

They had been startled by Li Jing Cheng’s actions and they did not manage to react in time, because who would anticipate that the dignified grandson of Senior Official Li would barge into the room?

“Young Lady, Wen gongzi, are both of you… alright?”

Honestly speaking, Su Yu and Su Zhu wanted to know if Li gongzi had ruined Wen gongzi and their Young Lady’s good matter, but judging from the fact that Wen gongzi and their Young Lady were sitting across each other and drinking tea, it was more than likely that nothing had occurred.

Both of them could not tell if they were disappointed or relieved.

Shaking her head, Ruan Xi spoke in a soft voice: “We’re quite alright, it’s just that Li gongzi is slightly anxious in temperament.”

Wen Ting Zhou smiled in agreement.

“Certainly, Jing Cheng is not solemn enough, and he harbours a strong sense of curiosity too. His temperament requires more grinding.”

Li Jing Cheng: “……”

He was being framed ah. His curiosity was only as strong as it was because Zi Run only started liking someone at this age, and their clique which comprised of children from prominent family backgrounds had basically considered it a miracle.

Moreover, this pair were not married yet and they were already arguing against him with identical calibres for speech.

Li Jing Cheng gnashed his back molars.

Zi Run, this scoundrel who neglected his old friends after being smitten with a new love.

Owing to Li Jing Cheng abruptly barging in, Wen Ting Zhou and Ruan Xi did not continue conversing, and all of them exited the room.

The exquisitely-carved small wooden loft was still placed on the table, but the golden pig and white rabbit which were originally embracing had been reverted to its original state.

Undoubtedly, it had to be Li Jing Cheng’s handiwork.

Ruan Xi sighed inwardly.

“Aiya, apologies. Ruan si xiaojie, out of a moment of boredom, I couldn’t stop myself from playing with the mechanisms in the small wooden loft for some while, and I forgot to pull it back to the third switch.

“Perhaps, I should help you return it to its previous appearance?” said Li Jing Cheng, pretending to be embarrassed, except he could not conceal the mischievous smile in his eyes.

Ruan Xi’s brows and eyes curved as she thinned her lips into a smile, “It’s fine, I feel like it’s good to restore it to its original state.”

Wen Ting Zhou glanced at the gleeful and proud Li Jing Cheng, rubbing his fingers together as he thought about how much strength he should use when they were sparring.

“Ruan Ruan, I’ll be going back first.”

Wen Ting Zhou walked up to Ruan Xi, raising his hand to tuck the stray strands of hair that had fallen on her forehead behind her ear, and he accidentally grazed her ear. His tone of voice harboured a trace of reluctance.

“Mn, be careful on the road.”

Ruan Xi’s breathing stagnated for a moment. Pursing her lips, she watched Wen Ting Zhou and Li Jing Cheng leave.

Mama Lin came over at this moment.

With a crinkle-eyed smile, she instructed the coarse-labour older woman-servants to bring the small wooden loft into Ruan Xi’s room and place it on her on her table before she returned to her wing-room to partake in her lunch.

Ruan Xi: “……”

She looked at her half-copied Avatamsaka Sutra on the table, then looked at the cute golden pig and white rabbit inside the small wooden loft.

Once she saw the golden pig, the image of Wen Ting Zhou’s handsome face came unbidden to her mind.

The way he brushes up on his sense of existence… in addition to Mama Lin who was proving to be an impressive assistant.

Ruan Xi’s lips twitched silently. Wen Ting Zhou was a scheming man.

Could she even continue to copy the Avatamsaka Sutra when she was facing the golden pig inside the small wooden loft?

“Young Lady, it is time to partake in a meal.” Su Yu said after she entered the room.

Ruan Xi quickly leashed her emotions and went to the hall to eat. After she was done with lunch, Su Yu and Su Zhu cleaned up the table surface while Mama Yang stood beside Ruan Xi to talk to her.

“Young Lady, starting from tomorrow, I will be teaching yõu culinary skills.”

Mama Yang had been pondering about this. Mama Yang was an outstanding and skilled training Mama, and her guidance she gave their Young Lady was more than enough with some to spare, and it did not require her intervention, but she could teach the Fourth Young Lady how to cook.

“Culinary skills?” Ruan Xi was surprised. She did not expect that Mama Yang would actually teach the same thing she taught to the female protagonist in the original novel.

It was still culinary skills.

The female protagonist Mu Qing Ci was fond of good food, and was a foodie, so Mama Yang teaching her culinary skills happened to suit her tastes.

Ruan Xi had some reason to suspect that besides Mama Yang having her own thoughts, some of her actions were still under the influence of the arranged plot in the original novel.

Mama Yang misconstrued Ruan Xi’s surprised expression, thinking that she could not put down her identity as a noble daughter to cook, and she quickly brought up the benefits of learning how to cook.

“Young Lady, from what I know, the Earl and Furen did not invite anyone to teach yõu culinary skills. Truth to be told, having culinary talent is not necessarily a skill that can’t be brought onto the stage. Noble daughters from influential and prominent families have people specifically teaching them some aspects, like the art of simmered soup, which is of utmost importance.”

Once Mama Yang mentioned simmered soup, Ruan Xi recalled the other yiniang in her Earl Father’s inner courtyard.

Lin yiniang especially.

In the past dozen years, Lin yiniang would intermittently dispatch her maidservant to send her Earl Father various soups and beverages.

Mama Lin continued to say: “Young Lady, sending soups and beverages is a type of knowledge, and also a tactic to vie for favour. It is just that this sort of favour-earning tactic is more common by comparison, but for elders and men, they genuinely enjoy the feeling of being cared for by someone.

“If yõu can master how to simmer soups, yõur simmered soups can be given to Lao Taitai and the Earl to express your filial heart when they are in-residence, and it is reckoned that they will be extremely happy. When that time comes around, yõu will understand that personal culinary effort achieves a different effect as compared to asking servants to make it.

“When yõu marry out later, yõu can occasionally simmer some soup for your husband or make some small dishes to cultivate marital harmony. Do not assume that being a wise and understanding wife means that yõu have to manage the inner courtyard properly for your husband, admit concubines to branch out and scatter the leaves for your husband, unable to feel jealousy and eat vinegar, because that would make you envious, or that yõu can’t prettify yourself like the concubines because you have to uphold the image of a legitimate wife. All of these are fallacies; doing so will only harden the pre-existing and harmonious marital relationship. In the end, only a relationship where the husband and wife treat each other like honoured guests will be achieved, or it will become like fire and water; and only you would know if you feel bitterness in your heart then.”

Internally, Ruan Xi concurred with Mama Yang’s words.

“If Mama Lin is teaching yõu to be amicable, understanding, and magnanimous, to not be envious, to treat your husband like the sky, to find a few beautiful maidservants as soon as possible so yõu might teach them and use them to assure favour later, do not listen to all those. Mama Lin belongs to the Wen Family, she is only teaching yõu these from the standpoint of the Wen Family. Presently, you must be thinking that yõu understand everything about Wen gongzi, and that yõu only need to grab hold of Wen gongzi’s heart and the rest won’t be a problem, that even if you possess Wen gongzi alone, you won’t be hatted with the label of ‘jealous and envious’ by the Wen Family.”

The longer Mama Yang spoke, the more skewed the contents became, and was even discreetly giving Mama Lin some eye ointment. From Mama Yang’s perspective, there was a high probability of that happening, but unbeknownst to her, the words she was saying incidentally suited Ruan Xi’s appetite.

She recalled the first time she met Wen furen. The actions that Wen Ting Zhou took left a profound impression on Ruan Xi, and it even warmed her heart.

While it was true that Mama Lin’s guidance was wholehearted and undisguised for other aspects, and Ruan Xi had learned a lot from her, it could not be denied that Mama Lin would unobtrusively inculcate in her some obligations that a legitimate wife had, as though she was brainwashing her like a frog being cooked in warm water.

Ruan Xi would usually filter them out automatically.

“Mama Yang’s words have reached deep into my heart, drink some tea first to wet your throat.”

Mama Yang had spoken until her mouth and tongue were dry, and Ruan Xi’s cup of tea was essentially as timely as rain.

After drinking the tea, Mama Yang continued to speak, and she would occasionally raise some imperial concubines as examples.

Ruan Xi listened with relish.

It was unknown when but Su Yu and Su Zhu had also crowded over.

……

On the other end, after Wen Ting Zhou and Li Jing Cheng departed from Earl Chengyi Residence, they rode their horses and covered a part of the journey while their guards lagged behind slightly to pull apart the distance. Subsequently, Li Jing Cheng turned towards Wen Ting Zhou, keeping his mischievous smile in exchange for a serious expression as he said: “Zi Run, set your mind at ease, I won’t expose the hidden mechanisms you made for the small wooden loft.”

As Wen Ting Zhou urged his horse to continue forward, he smiled and nodded his head. “I know you won’t, or else I wouldn’t have demonstrated it in front of you.”

If he did not trust Li Jing Cheng, he could have written a letter to divulge the secret hidden in the small wooden loft to Ruan Ruan. However, had that been the case, he would have no way of accomplishing the goal he had today.

Li Jing Cheng felt happy internally, but then he thought of another matter and he could not help but ask probingly, “Zi Run, I heard that there have been a few instances where you were drinking with Marquis Huaiyang Residence’s Qi er gongzi at restaurants?”

“Mn.” Owing to the fact Wen Ting Zhou had another important identity, he did not directly contact Qi Yue An in private, choosing to meet up with him openly instead.

Qi Yue An was Ruan san xiaojie’s fiancé, and a well-known silk clothes without the learning or the skill, who only knew how to eat, drink, and play. His interactions with him would not draw any suspicions.

After testing him a few times, he ascertained that Qi Yue An was not simple, and he had recommended him to the Fourth Prince in secret yesterday.

Li Jing Cheng was speechless. Lips twitching, he stated, “Zi Run, aren’t you putting too much heart into Ruan si xiaojie’s family? First it was Ruan Yu Wen, now it’s Qi er gongzi, are you preparing to pull them up or something?”

Wen Ting Zhou smiled, declining to comment.

Li Jing Cheng thought dimly, Ruan si xiaojie was a genuine femme fatale; she had enthralled Zi Run to the point where he had lost his head.

“Zi Run, do you actually like Ruan si xiaojie?”

In a placid manner, Wen Ting Zhou gave him a sidelong glance, “What do you think?”

At the very beginning, he had agreed to the marriage to fulfil his promise and there was no liking to speak of, but after gaining a deep understanding of her through their frequent correspondences, he started liking Ruan Ruan in earnest.

If there was no affection, he would not have spent so much time, effort, and energy to personally carve her a mechanised wooden loft.

Li Jing Cheng went silent.

Wen Ting Zhou smiled faintly. At the third corner bend, he separated from Li Jing Cheng.

please read this on yuulation dot wordpress dot com

Shortly after he returned to the Wen Residence and asked the horse keeper to take the horse, the main steward Wen Ming appeared before him and said respectfully, “Da shaoye, yõu have returned, the Furen is waiting for yõu in the Main Courtyard.”

大少爷 (pinyin: da shao ye) – oldest young master. I will be using this term for Wen Ting Zhou exclusively, for reasons that will become apparent later.

Wen Ting Zhou’s footsteps paused. “Mn, I’ll go over right now. Did anything happen in the residence today?”

Wen Ming shook his head. “Replying to da shaoye’s words, there was none. However, the news of the small wooden loft that yõu sent Ruan si xiaojie has reached Furen’s ears.”

Wen Ming could not resist reminding his da shaoye at the end.

Wen Ting Zhou’s eyebrows raised slightly, nodding and smiling to express that he understood. If his Mother was asking for him because of this, he was already prepared for this a long time ago.

Once Wen Ting Zhou stepped into the main hall of the Main Courtyard, he saw Wen furen sitting in the frontmost seat as she drank her tea, while her maidservants and Mama stood at the side respectfully.

When Wen furen saw him entering, she did not put down the teacup in her hand either. She merely harrumphed softly, retracting her gaze and taking another sip of her tea.

Upon seeing that, Wen Ting Zhou’s heart was akin to a bright mirror as he stepped forward slowly and bowed. Clearing his throat, he asked in concern. “Mother, what has provoked your anger?”

Wen furen could not resist glowering at her son who was still asking in spite of knowing the cause. Apart from him, who else could it be? Before his wife was married across the door, his biological mother had been abandoned to the side.

Wen furen was upset in her heart.

“Ting Zhou, I heard that you personally carved an exquisite small wooden loft for Ruan si xiaojie, did such a thing occur?”

Wen Ting Zhou nodded in admittance. “That is indeed the case.”

“After so many years, I wasn’t aware that you knew how to carve wood despite being your mother, it was most negligent of me.” Wen furen’s tone was placid as she looked at her son with a smile that was not a smile.