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

Emperor Shengde strode past Ruan san niang directly to sit in the frontmost seat while Ruan san niang sat by his side. And being a pregnant woman, Ruan Xi was bestowed a seat by the Emperor, whereas Wen Ting Zhou situated himself beside Ruan Xi, taking on a protective stance.

Emperor Shengde could not be more speechless.

The sourness in Ruan san niang’s heart rushed to the skies. She absolutely refused to admit that she had become as sour as lemon extract, and she could not resist bringing up the request she made just now in front of the Emperor.

“Si mei, I genuinely want to touch your stomach to dabble in your auspicious air, not for some other intention. Don’t reject me, please…”

Si mei, I’ve already brought it up thrice, let’s see how you’re going to reject it.

A hint of glee flickered past the depths of Ruan san niang’s eyes.

Emperor Shengde looked at Ruan san niang deeply, as if he had seen through the schemes buried in the recesses of her heart, which nearly made the smile on Ruan san niang’s visage collapse.

“Emperor, why are yõu looking at qieshen in such a manner?”

Narrowing his eyes, Emperor Shengde asked: “Ruan fei, do you want a child that much?”

Ruan san niang nodded her head hastily, gazing at Emperor Shengde with a face full of expectation.

Of course she wanted a child, a male child to be specific. When the time came around, she could support him to the throne, and then she would be the Empress Dowager. Raising a few beautiful men would be a mere trifle then.

She felt pleased just from the thought alone.

Emperor Shengde merely nodded his head lightly.

“Mn.”

Afterwards, there was no afterwards.

What does that even mean?

Ruan san niang felt a burst of frustration in her heart. She did not dare to be angry at the old Emperor, so she twisted her head towards her fourth sister. “Si mei, how about you allow the request?”

Wen Ting Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly.

It was fortunate that he had rushed over. This Ruan san niang had a stomach full of bad water, and he could not fathom what kind of ill-intentions she was harbouring.

“San jie wanting to dabble in meimei’s auspicious air, is meimei’s honour.”

妹妹 (pinyin: mei mei) — younger sister.

Ruan Xi displayed a magnanimous and calm smile. 

With the Emperor and Wen Ting Zhou present, Ruan san niang’s attempts at evil would be ineffective either way.

Seeing that Ruan Xi did not reject her again, Ruan san niang’s gaze flashed. There was doubt and bewilderment at the back of her mind. Could it be that she did not stuff anything in her stomach?

Despite that, she still rose to her feet and walked towards Ruan Xi. Her smile was incomparably resplendent, but her eyes were faintly coloured with excitement and agitation. 

It was obvious at a glance that she was harbouring errant thoughts.

Wen Ting Zhou’s nerves were stretched taut, deathly afraid that Ruan san niang would pretend to trip.

Towards some of the tactics that the women in the back courtyard employed, he still had some understanding of them.

Where Ruan Xi was concerned, however,she was not worried about letting Ruan san niang get close to her because she had Wen Ting Zhou by her side. She trusted that Wen Ting Zhou would not allow her to suffer any harm.

Ruan san niang only wanted to touch her fourth sister’s stomach to verify whether it was real or fake, she did not make any other moves. 

Brimming with zeal, she sidled up to Ruan Xi and sat down, extending her hands excitedly to place it on Ruan Xi’s bulging abdomen, moving up left, right, up and down… touching… rubbing…

Ruan Xi arched an eyebrow slightly. 

“San jie, could you be gentler?”

Ruan san niang gave an offhanded response, still doing as she pleased.

This isn’t right, she didn’t stuff anything.

Ruan san niang was shocked, and she could help but rub Ruan Xi’s stomach back and forth repeatedly. Mumbles left her mouth unconsciously.

“No way, why is it like this?”

“Where’s the stuffing, where is it, why isn’t there anything?”

Ruan Xi frowned a little, confusion spreading across her face as she studied Ruan san niang’s speech and actions. Was she still under the stubborn assumption that she was faking her pregnancy or something?

She really wanted to split open her head to check if it was filled with water or not. 

Meanwhile, Wen Ting Zhou’s handsome face sank. Not only was this Ruan san niang rubbing Ruan Ruan’s stomach without a sense of proportion in the strength exerted, but she was also speaking nonsense.

It seems like she had already forgotten the lesson she received when she was detained in the imperial prison.

“San jie, have you dabbled in enough auspicious air?” Ruan Xi could no longer tolerate it, and she looked at Ruan san niang with a superficial smile. 

Ruan san niang abruptly snapped back to her senses. Against Ruan Xi’s strained smile, she thickened her skin and retorted: “Not yet.” 

Ruan Xi: “……”

“You may continue then.”

It was not like she was faking her pregnancy; since Ruan san niang wanted to verify it, she would let her. She wanted to see what kind of trick she could feel out.

Ruan san niang continued to touch Ruan Xi’s stomach. It was so smooth, round, and sleek, could it be that she had plastered on a layer of skin….

It was just like how people did plastic surgery on their nose in the modern times, where they stuffed a fake substance inside.

Ruan san niang’s brain hole was wide open. 

She felt like that was the case the more she thought about it. Her fourth sister was truly cunning; she actually managed to conceive of such a good tactic. Hence, Ruan san niang tried to tear open Ruan Xi’s luoqun with anxious hands, wanting to peel off that layer of skin.

And expose her fourth sister’s fake pregnancy. 

“Stop your hands, san jie, what are you trying to do?”

Ruan san niang actually wanted to rip off her clothes in front of everyone.

Ruan Xi jumped in fright, abruptly pressing down her errant hands to stop her movements.

At the side, Wen Ting Zhou’s handsome face was completely black, and he was diffusing cold air from his entire body.

If it were not for the fact that Ruan san niang was the Emperor’s imperial concubine, he would be itching to kick Ruan san niang out.

At the front, Emperor Shengde felt his lips twitch. He pretended to overlook Wen Ting Zhou’s dark expression and picked up his teacup to drink the tea as if nothing was happening.

If he had to be honest, watching Ruan san niang believe that she was infallible while committing sheer stupidity was quite amusing, and it delighted him mentally and physically.

“Si mei, you’re not feeling guilty, are you?”

Upon seeing her fourth sister stop her from taking off her skirt so urgently, Ruan san niang was even more certain in her own conjecture.

Hmpf, she must be scared of me exposing her fake pregnancy. 

Ruan san niang giggled gleefully in her heart. She had transmigrated over from the modern times, and yet she wanted to cross the sea with a trick in front of her.

No way.

Just look at how I’m going to expose you.

The current Ruan san niang had already gone insane. Ruan Xi was better than her in every aspect, and she even possessed the secret braised duck recipe that was worth cities. She had everything except for one thing: she had been afflicted with infertility medicine and she was incapable of giving birth.

This was the only capital that Ruan san niang could be proud of in front of Ruan Xi.

She could give birth.

Ruan Xi smiled, perfectly calm and composed as she asked: “San jie, why should I feel guilty?”

Ruan san niang became increasingly pleased in her heart, and she said with a face full of pity:

“Si mei, I already know everything. You should stop trying to cover up the truth, would you be able to face the Wen Family and Wen daren by doing this?”

Wen Ting Zhou: “……”

Ruan san niang was basically unfathomable.

How, and in what way, was Ruan Ruan disappointing him and the Wen Family? 

Emperor Shengde continued to drink his tea while watching the good show with deep interest to relax his mind at the side. 

Ruan Xi’s head was full of black lines. She was speechless as she looked at Ruan san niang’s gloating appearance.

“San jie, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Ruan san niang revealed a gaze that conveyed that she had seen through everything, and she pretended to look like she could not bear to expose it.

“Si mei, I didn’t intend on exposing you in front of everyone at the start, but seeing as to how you’re obstinate about sticking to the wrong course, vainly hoping that you can borrow my hand to cross the sea with a trick, you have disappointed me too much.”

After saying that, Ruan san niang turned towards Wen Ting Zhou, as though she was looking at an honest person who was happy that he was going to be a father a few months later.

“Wen daren, bengong truly pities you.”

Wen Ting Zhou: “……”

Ruan Xi’s lip corner jerked. 

That was enough, what on earth was Ruan san niang imagining in her head?

“San jie, just say it directly, there’s no need to spread so much bedding.”

Ruan san niang nearly laughed out loud. Her fourth sister was rushing to death by this doing, no? She shed crocodile tears as she said: “Si mei, you’re the one asking me to speak, don’t hate me for this later.” 

“Mn, speak quickly then san jie.” 

Ruan Xi smiled indifferently as she caressed her abdomen area. She would like to see what kind of moths Ruan san niang was trying to stir.

Ruan san niang suppressed the excitement surging in her heart. It was here, it was here, she was going to expose her fourth sister’s fake pregnancy. 

“Cough cough, si mei, you’re actually not pregnant at all, right? I felt it out just now.”

Once those words were uttered, the atmosphere inside the palace hall froze over instantaneously. 

The palace maids, Mamas, and eunuchs inside the palace hall were shocked, and their eyes roamed over Ruan Xi’s bulging stomach covertly. 

Yao Hong and Yao Si tried to shrink their sense of existence to the best of their ability.

Pfft….

Emperor Shengde spat out the tea inside his mouth, staring at Ruan san niang like he was looking at a mentally impaired person.

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Wen Ting Zhou suppressed the wrath at the tip of his heart as he glared coldly at the nonsense-spouting Ruan san niang, and his gaze was so icy it was bone-piercing.

“Niangniang is asked to speak cautiously!” 

The smiling expression on Ruan Xi’s visage hardened instantaneously. Her tone was ice-cold and dripping with turbulent anger. “San jie, you must hate to see me living well, such that you continuously insist on confusing truth with falsehood, and the blacks and whites, just to ruin my reputation.”

This was precisely the effect that Ruan san niang wanted. She ignored the old Emperor and Wen Ting Zhou’s reaction. From her perspective, her fourth sister was reacting this way because she had been shamed into anger after her ploy was exposed. Hence, she continued to declare her own conjecture.

“Si mei, I’m doing this for your own good by giving you a reminder before you commit a gross error. 

“Don’t assume that you can fake your pregnancy just because you stuck something into your stomach and slathered on a thick layer of skin. You stopped me from taking off your skirt just now to check and verify it, probably because you’re afraid that your fake pregnancy will be exposed right?”

Ruan san niang became increasingly gleeful the more she spoke. 

“Wen daren, you don’t want to become the father of a baby with unknown origins in a few months either, right?” 

The following expressions of the people in the palace hall were hard to describe in a few words.

What they had initially perceived as a shocking revelation, was actually just Niangniang’s own conjecture. 

Su Yu was spitting fire with her eyes as her entire body shook in anger, and no matter how well Mama Yang had nurtured her temperament, she could not stop her face from sinking. 

Against her own will, Ruan Xi issued an angry laugh due to Ruan san niang’s bizarre train of thought.

Wen Ting Zhou: “……” 

Trying to make objective facts clear to a person who was immersed in their delusional thoughts and had mental issues was simply a waste of saliva.

He had witnessed Ruan Ruan’s stomach swell up with his own eyes, no one was clearer than him about whether Ruan Ruan was pregnant or not. He could allow Ruan san niang to continue spouting such groundless nonsense and slander. Discordant public opinion could confuse right and wrong; what was fake could become real too, and this would affect Ruan Ruan’s reputation. 

The most powerful counterattack was shattering her purely fictitious and fabricated, fevered imagination. 

“Ruan Ruan, go into the room later and allow Ruan fei niangniang to see it with her own eyes, lest she remains adamant about splashing dirty water on your person.”

Ruan Xi nodded.

“Mn, go together with me, or else I can’t set my heart at ease.”

If Ruan san niang went insane because she could not accept the fact that she was really pregnant, she would be in danger.

She felt like she finally comprehended everything. After Ruan san niang‘s rebirth, regardless of whether it was her or the original owner, they had become Ruan san niang’s heart demon. 

If even the matter of the infertility medicine was fake, then it would be equivalent to breaking off Ruan san niang’s final rice straw. 

And when that time came around, no one could predict what Ruan san niang was capable of doing.

It was better to take precautions. 

“Alright.”

Wen Ting Zhou held onto Ruan Ruan’s hand tightly. Ruan Xi could feel the warmth and strength transmitting from his palm, which made a wave of safety flood her heart.

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“The matter involves Wen-Ruan shi’s reputation. Zhen will be a witness, Liu Sheng, go and call two female imperial physicians to the Gentle Fortune Palace.”

Emperor Shengde’s face sank down. He was watching the show, but the words that Ruan san niang just spoke had already touched his moral bottom line.

It goes without saying that Emperor Shengde could no longer watch on with folded arms.

Wen Ting Zhou and Ruan Xi quickly thanked him for his grace respectfully.

“Thanking the Emperor!” 

Ruan san niang’s gloating smile went rigid, feeling angered and wronged in her heart. The old Emperor was actually siding with her fourth sister.

As they were waiting for the female physicians to arrive, Wen Ting Zhou and Ruan Xi completely ignored Ruan san niang.

Ruan san niang exploded in anger.

If it were not for the old Emperor being present at the scene, she would definitely act out violently right then and there. 

After a cup of tea or so (10 minutes), two female physicians in their early thirties rushed over. After learning the purpose of the Emperor’s summons, they collectively revealed an astonished expression on their faces.

Both of them had heard about Ruan fei niangniang’s past achievements, and they could not help but feel a shred of sympathy for Wen shao-furen in their hearts.

“Emperor, they have arrived. Shouldn’t they be allowed to inspect si mei as soon as possible?” Ruan san niang opened her mouth impatiently.

Emperor Shengde raised his eyebrows slightly before he gave a light nod.

Wen Ting Zhou supported Ruan Xi into the room, with Su Yu and Mama Yang catching up to them in quick steps. 

Unconsciously, Ruan san niang revealed an excited expression on her visage. 

Once they stepped into the room, Ruan san niang stared at Ruan Xi’s stomach fixedly as she urged impatiently.

“Si mei, apart from your husband, there’s no other man inside this room. Hurry up and remove your luoqun, will you?”

The space between the two female physicians’ brows wrinkled.

Wasn’t Ruan fei niangniang’s words going too far? Shouldn’t the pulse be taken first, she was actually urging someone else to take off their clothes. 

Ruan Xi glanced at Wen Ting Zhou who was standing beside her. Wen Ting Zhou nodded slightly before he retreated to the side, gesturing for Su Yu to attend to her. 

Su Yu stepped forward and helped her Young Lady take off the jacket and undo the sash of her luoqun. 

Ruan Xi stared at Ruan Xi’s stomach with dead eyes. 

Wen Ting Zhou’s thin lips pursed tightly, a glint of cold displeasure flashing past the bottom of his eyes.

The two female physicians: “…..”

A few moments later, Ruan Xi removed the loose luoqun, thus revealing her bulging stomach under her dudou. 

The swelling bump was smooth and round.

“That’s not possible, you were administered infertility medicine, how could you be pregnant, fake, it’s all fake!”

“You must have eaten too many tonics and became fat!”

Ruan san niang shrieked in disbelief, hysteria and malevolence seeping into her demeanour. 

The sudden raise in her volume was especially ear-piercing. 

Wen Ting Zhou swiftly stood in front of Ruan Xi to protect her. 

Outside, Emperor Shengde scrunched his eyebrows fiercely, and his fingers unconsciously knocked on the table surface. 

As if he was weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

Liu gonggong, who had a fair understanding of Emperor Shengde’s temperament, lowered his head. 

He was afraid that Ruan fei niangniang was going to lose favour. 

Inside the room, Ruan Xi wore her clothes again and allowed the female physicians to take her pulse.

After the female physicians took her pulse, they confirmed that Ruan Xi was indeed more than five months pregnant. 

Quietly, Ruan Xi looked at the disbelieving Ruan san niang as she spoke apathetically: 

“San jie, please guard your tongue in the future.”

Having received the female physicians’ confirmation, the last vestige of hope that Ruan san niang had been clinging onto perished. 

It was as if she had realised that her fourth sister would be as impressive and unbounded as her previous lifetime.

While she was walking on the old road of her past lifetime again.

It was even possible that she would be inflicted with the same ending of being forcibly buried as accompaniment!

The Heavens were unfair, for which reason was her fourth sister allowed to have such a good life!

Ruan san niang had no way of accepting this cruel reality; the qi and blood in her heart surged up, and she was forced to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Spit out blood….

Ruan san niang actually spat out blood!

Ruan Xi was dumbstruck. She was just pregnant, wasn’t she? Did she have to go so far?

 

Idle comments from a translator: I think this chapter sums up Ruan san niang’s mentality pretty well — “you must hate seeing me live well” — that is literally her M.O. for the entire novel. She loathes that the people around her live better, but she has never done anything to rectify her own life.

Wanted a loving husband but never actively tried to form wholesome relationships and seemed to go through options like it was a buffet where dishes could be disregarded, and only tore down her pre-existing familial ones instead. Wanted to turn around her own fate but has never tried to integrate herself into the ancient society despite finding herself in the same place twice, and never internalised the lessons of not being too conspicuous. She’s too prideful to see her own flaws; too wrapped in a notion of a ‘good life’ to even understand or work towards what a good life actually is; too fixated on bringing downfall to others instead of raising herself up by proper and steady means…

I don’t know if I should pity her or just shake my head.