Chapter 4: Madam Lin of the Song Dynasty

Bai Ruoxi once told Grandmother Bai that she wanted to marry Lin Dong. How could Grandmother Bai agree? At that time, the engagement between Lin Dong and her stepdaughter, Bai Yufei, had already been formalized.

If her daughter stepped in, wouldn’t they both be labeled as schemers who were jealous of Bai Yufei and wanted to steal what was hers?

So Grandmother Bai vehemently disagreed.

But she never expected things to come to this point.

"Dear, I really did not know. I’ll talk to Ruo—" She stopped in time, then continued. "I’ll talk to her and let her kneel down and apologize to Yufei. How could she have been so confused—"

"It’s too late."

"What?"

"My daughter, Yufei, is gone."

"W-what did you say?" Grandmother Bai’s mouth gaped open, and she stammered. "What are you saying, dear? That’s not funny—"

"Yufei died! She died after seeing your daughter and her husband rolling on the bed together!"

A loud roar filled the room, shocking Grandmother Bai and the servants outside the door into trepidation.

Grandmother Bai opened her mouth in shock, her eyes dilated. She wanted to speak, but no words came to mind.

She only thought of one thing.

It’s over.

It’s over for both her and her daughter.

"You know how important she is to me," Grandfather Bai became calm again, as if the earlier outburst did not happen. But the chill in his voice terrified Grandmother Bai. "Because of your daughter, she... I will never forgive those two."

"But dear, Ruoxi is also your daughter!" Grandmother Bai cried. "She did make a mistake, but she definitely didn’t want Yufei to—"

"I don’t have a daughter like her."

"Dear!"

"Stop calling me dear!" Grandfather Bai’s voice rose again. "Out of respect for the years that you spent as my wife, I will leave you with enough alimony to spend a lifetime without worries. But I will not leave a single cent to your daughter."

"How could you! You’re divorcing me?" Grandmother Bai’s voice changed into incredulity. "What have I done to deserve such treatment from you? I dedicated all my life to the Bai family. How could you—"

"I am not an idiot, Liu Yan," Grandfather Bai interrupted. "Considering how much control you have over your daughter, I don’t believe you would have missed signs of their affair."

"I’m telling you, I really don’t know!"

"Whether you deny it or not, I will not allow my daughter Yufei to be wronged any further. You should be glad I’m only stopping at this."

Grandmother Bai was shaken, her eyes widening. "Ruoxi is your daughter. She has your blood!" she screeched, no longer caring about her image. She pulled away the bed covers from her body, trying to climb up from the bed. "How could you be so cruel? This is the only mistake she has ever made in her life, and you even want to divorce me, you, you—"

Grandfather Bai had already walked away, instructing the servants to keep Grandmother Bai in her room.

Before stepping out of the door, he turned around. "This one mistake you speak so lightly of caused me my daughter’s life. The divorce will happen, whether you like it or not."

"You, you, heartless man!"

Looking at the back of the old man whom she had faithfully served her entire life, only now to be discarded like a worn shoe, Grandmother Bai’s eyes showed a gloomy light.

Since you’re so heartless, then don’t blame me for being cruel!

....

....

Three months later.

Inside a small rural hospital at the foot of the mountains in Sichuan Province, a teenage boy sat quietly on the hospital bed, silently staring outside the window and looking at the blue mountains surrounded by low-hanging clouds.

The teenage boy sat with a straight and elegant posture, with a graceful line from the back of his neck to his waist.

The nurse saw this scene as soon as she opened the door, and she could not help but feel lucky again that she was the one assigned to check on this room, hehe.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the boy looked back, and his neck stretched gracefully.

The nurse’s eyes were filled with hearts as she exclaimed inside, What a beautiful boy! How can a boy look so elegant! Kyaaa!

Seeing that the boy’s soft peach blossom eyes were still red, the nurse’s heart softened, and she spoke in a voice that was dripping with gentleness, "Oh dear, are you crying again? What’s the matter? Did you have a bad dream again?"

The boy gently shook his head, raised a smooth hand, and covered his mouth in embarrassment.

For a moment, the nurse was reminded of the historical dramas where the female lead in traditional attire raised a round fan to cover the lower half of her face in shyness.

The nurse raised her hand as well to put a hand on her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.

Stop, stop, that’s not the right image!

The boy did not notice the nurse’s gaffe. He had lowered his head and covered his mouth in embarrassment, and spoke in a low, rather embarrassed voice. "My apologies, I would like to visit the restroom, but I do not know where it is. Can you help me?"

"Of course, come, let me help you up!"

In fact, the nurse had no reason to assist the boy in standing or walking; the boy’s legs were in perfect shape. But she unconsciously felt that she needed to help the boy.

The boy himself did not seem to see anything wrong with being assisted. He raised an arm, put his hand on the other’s open palm, and allowed himself to be pulled up.

His actions were very refined and measured.

One wanted to help, and the other was willing to accept the help, so the two made their way to the restroom area.

The nurse did not care if it was a men’s restroom; she entered the area proudly while assisting the boy towards a cubicle.

Given the boy’s shy and reserved nature, he definitely would prefer to be in the cubicle. This was the nurse’s instinct.

"I’ll step out for a bit so you can take your time. If you need help, just call for me, alright?"

The boy opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end did not say anything further and just nodded. However, hesitation was written all over his face.

Inside the cubicle, the boy stared at the toilet seat blankly.

He could remember how to use it, but still, the boy felt a little afraid of pulling down his pants.

Because he did not want to see what was under his pants.

He closed his eyes tightly, feeling wronged.

How can the heavens make such a mistake? To think that Madam Lin has to go through all this just to relieve herself!

Feeling despair well up inside himself again, the boy could not help but weep once more.

This boy currently possessed two memories, one from the original body and the other from an ancient era.

The bad news was, the body was that of a male, while the soul was an ancient woman from the Song Dynasty.

Madam Lin was considered the number one beauty in the capital, known for her virtue and talents.

She was raised in an era where Neo-Confucianism was at its strongest.

Madam Lin had already gathered from the boy named Lin Feng’s memories that the Song Dynasty that she lived in was an era in history that was famous for imposing the harshest social standards and restrictions on women.

Madam Lin was raised when the Three Obediences and Four Virtues were the standard for women. And she indeed faithfully embodied them.

She obeyed her father in youth, her husband in marriage, and her son in widowhood.

She excelled in womanly virtue, was proper in speech, was graceful in her demeanor, and was diligent in housework.

Madam Lin was kind to her husband’s concubines and to her own daughter-in-law, never making things difficult for anyone.

And her efforts paid off.

Even when Madam Lin’s husband died and her son became the patriarch of the family, Madam Lin still lived a dignified life while depending on her son.

Her son respected her, her daughter-in-law was filial, and the concubines were obedient.

What happened next?

It was confusing.

Madam Lin had always been a devout Buddhist and regularly visited the temples to pray for blessings. She would also regularly donate to charitable causes.

On the way back home from the temple, she saw a group of refugees beating a respectable Buddhist monk. Madam Lin had the carriage stop to let her guards save the monk, but later, her carriage inexplicably ran out of control and sped towards the nearby cliff...

Madam Lin knew that she had died because she remembered meeting the King of the Underworld, who praised her for her merits and for saving the monk who had a golden banner of merit surrounding him for all his good deeds.

The memory in the underworld was very vague, as if covered in fog, but she still remembered that, as a reward, she would be sent to an era where the old social standards and restrictions on women were no longer harsh and where women were given equal opportunities as men.

That would have been nice if she had been given the same female body as before.

But could the heavens tell her why Madam Lin had entered the body of a man?