Chapter 1 Rebirth by Bathing in Fire

"Ah Yan, Ah Yan, wake up."

Hearing the familiar voice, Gu Jinyan suddenly opened her eyes, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

As her vision gradually cleared, she realized something was amiss upon seeing Mrs. Zheng in front of her.

"Where am I?" she asked.

Just a moment ago, she was at the manor, taking an arrow for the regent, and then she fainted. How could she wake up to see Mrs. Zheng, especially the younger Mrs. Zheng?

Mrs. Zheng also seemed taken aback and said, "Ah Yan, could it be that you're confused? Today is the Lady Hou's banquet. You drank a cup of wine and couldn't handle it, so you fainted. Your mother brought you here to rest."

Upon hearing this, Gu Jinyan's heart tightened. Lady Hou's banquet? She remembered that when she was fourteen, Lady Hou held a banquet, and she got drunk. She had actually been reborn back to when she was fourteen.

In her previous life, on this very day, she was framed, wronged, and her reputation was ruined. She could only become a concubine to Zhou Huaiyu.

After becoming a concubine, she felt inferior and didn't dare to compete or fight. She earned money through business outside, supporting the entire Anqing Marquis's mansion. Zhou Huaiyu's title was obtained through her money, and all the expenses in the mansion were covered by her.

She put in so much effort for Zhou Huaiyu, and in the end, she fell ill. When she was critically ill, Zhou Huaiyu married his cousin. On that day, Zhou Huaiyu and his cousin, Gu Jinyu, framed her for having an affair with another man, tarnishing the family's reputation, and sent her to the Zhou family's manor, never to be allowed to leave.

The day before she was sent to the manor, she overheard her cousin and Mrs. Zheng talking. It turned out that she had been switched with Mrs. Zheng at birth. She was the legitimate daughter of the Hou family, and her cousin was Mrs. Zheng's daughter.

She hated it. After being sent to the manor, she vowed to come back for revenge. She secretly learned medicine from her master at the manor, planning to cure herself and then seek revenge in the capital. But before she could return to the capital, she was shot and killed while saving the regent.

Her memories abruptly stopped, and Gu Jinyan pinched her face hard. It hurt, confirming that she had really returned to when she was fourteen.

Mrs. Zheng! Gu Jinyu! They had made her suffer so much! They stole her identity, plotted for her to become a concubine, used her until she had no value left, and even schemed to ruin her innocence.

Now that she had been reborn, she was determined to seek revenge!

"Alright," Mrs. Zheng, looking impatient, said to her now fully awake daughter, "Stay here. I'll go get some sobering soup."

Sobering soup? Wasn't it more likely to be poison to erase her innocence? After being manipulated in her previous life, she would not be manipulated again in this life.

Gu Jinyan reached for the candlestick by the bed and smashed it at Mrs. Zheng. She then pinched herself hard, gaining some clarity.

After laying Mrs. Zheng on the bed, she swiftly jumped onto the roof.

At that moment, the melodious voice of Gu Jinyu echoed in the corridor, "It's this room. I saw Jinyan and a man entering intimately. Young Master Zhou, you must teach my cousin a lesson. She's about to marry into the Anqing Marquis's mansion, and doing such things is not appropriate..."

Young Master Zhou's face darkened.

He forcefully kicked open the door.

Stepping inside, he shouted, "Gu Jinyan, you have no shame. We are about to be married, and yet you engage in such scandalous behavior. I want to call off the wedding."

Gu Jinyu looked concerned but was secretly delighted.

With this incident involving Gu Jinyan, Young Master Zhou would call off the wedding, and her uncle, the Minister, would have to favor Gu Jinyan. The Anqing Marquis's mansion would have no choice but to agree to let her become a concubine. As a natural beauty and the legitimate daughter of the Hou family, she could choose from the outstanding men in the capital. This was something Gu Jinyan could never have imagined in her lifetime.

"Gu Jinyan always appears timid and weak, but she's actually so promiscuous? Looks can be deceiving," a maid who had followed along sneered.

The daughter of the Minister of Revenue, Fu Qing, glanced inside and asked in confusion, "Is Miss Gu sure that it's her sister and the guard inside?"

"That's my cousin. I saw it with my own eyes. How could I be mistaken?" Gu Jinyu said, motioning for Young Master Zhou to step forward.

As they turned the person over, they saw a disheveled Mrs. Zheng in a bright red dress.

Seen with their own eyes?

But how could they not distinguish between their aunt and cousin?

It seemed that the situation had become more complicated...

"Gu Jinyan, this wretched woman is about to be married, yet she's so unfaithful, letting a guard defile her innocence. Considering her previous efforts for the Anqing Marquis's mansion, I, Zhou Huaiyu, am not an unforgiving person. I'll take her back as a concubine," Young Master Zhou said, without turning to look at the person on the bed, putting on a righteous appearance.

Fu Qing couldn't bear it and reminded him, "Young Master Zhou, you should first take a good look at the person before making such statements."

Take a good look?

Young Master Zhou turned back with a puzzled expression, his face freezing, "This..."

Lying on the bed was not Gu Jinyan, but the wife of the Minister of Revenue, Mrs. Zheng!

The surrounding discussions made Young Master Zhou's face turn pale, and he instinctively looked to Gu Jinyu for help.

"It's impossible, impossible. My cousin has always been spoiled and avoids trouble, hiding in her room and letting her mother cover for her," Gu Jinyu also panicked, as this was not part of her plan.

"Did my cousin come to find me?"

At that moment, a cold voice rang out.

Everyone turned to see Gu Jinyan walking over with a faint smile on her face.

Young Master Zhou looked as if he had seen a ghost, "Gu Jinyan, you're not..."

"Should be inside the house!"

"What's going on!"

Seeing Zhou Huaiyu's expression as if he had seen a ghost, Gu Jinyan had no more doubts.

Her gaze fell on Zhou Huaiyu, then looked at Gu Jinyu, and in an instant, the hatred emanating from the bottom of her heart reached her chest.

If she hadn't met her master at Zhuangzi, and was proficient in strategy, martial arts, and medical skills, she might still have let the tragedy unfold in her previous life!

She clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms, only then did she gain a little clarity.

Suppressing her hatred, she glanced at Zheng Shi, who was still unconscious on the bed, "Mother has done something disrespectful to the elderly. This is a family matter of the Shangshu Mansion and should be handled by Father. You all should hurry and take her back to the mansion."

Gu Jinyu wanted to help speak, but with such conclusive evidence, how could an unmarried woman like her defend herself?

Moreover, Zheng Shi was nominally Gu Jinyan's mother, and she was not Zheng Shi's nominal mother. She didn't need to speak for her, and even her own noble status as the Phoenix Lady would be burdened by her.

"Misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding," Zhou Huaiyu quickly tried to make up for himself.

"Is it a misunderstanding?" Gu Jinyan sneered in her heart, her gaze falling on Zhou Huaiyu's handsome face. Mother always whispered in her ear that the young master of the Anqing Marquis Mansion was only brought down by the decline of the Anqing Marquis, that he was a good person everywhere. She believed the slander, agreed to the marriage that Father strongly opposed, and hadn't even married over there, yet she was already running around for the Anqing Marquis Mansion, and Father gave her a lot of money, which she threw into the Anqing Marquis Mansion.

Now, with such obvious scheming, they were telling her it was a misunderstanding?

"Weren't you talking about breaking off the engagement just now?" Gu Jinyan's beauty was extreme, even in anger, she was still somewhat mesmerizing.

Thinking of what had just happened, her appearance involuntarily evoked some pity from the onlookers.