Spending the Male Lead’s Money to Change Her Fate - Ch 001
Title: Spending the Male Lead’s Money to Change Her Fate
Translator: Fringe Capybara
Chapter 1 - One Bed, Different Dreams (1)
Jiang Qiuyi was woken up from knocking on the door.
She opened up her eyes, stared at the chandelier for a little while before she asked, “What’s the matter?”
The servant, standing outside of the door, said to her, “Madam, Old Mrs. Lu and her friends are here.”
Jiang Qiuyi paused a little before she recalled that her mother-in-law had mentioned to her a couple of days ago that she would be bringing a few of her girlfriends over today for afternoon tea.
Thinking of that, she rubbed her throbbing temples and said, “Alright. I will be down shortly.”
Not wanting those downstairs to wait for too long, Jiang Qiuyi decided to put her odd dream aside for the time being.
She got ready quickly and went downstairs.
She heard chatting noises when she reached the top of the stairs.
“How come Qiuyi is still asleep at this hour?”
The voice belonged to Zhen Ping, her mother-in-law.
The servant replied honestly, “Madam isn’t feeling well today.”
Zhen Ping frowned a little, “Has she had a doctor check her out yet?”
“Madam said that won’t be necessary. It was nothing serious.”
Zhen Ping did not ask anymore after that.
Mrs. Wang, next to her, mocked, “Oh c’mon now, Qiuyi is the wife of Mr. Lu. Of course she needs to have the doctor come and check her out if she isn’t feeling well. Am I right, Mrs. Lu?”
Zhen Ping gave her a look. She took a sip from her cup of tea and did not respond.
Mrs. Liu, who was the younger one, said, “Mrs. Wang, did you say that on purpose to put Mrs. Lu in a more difficult position?”
Mrs. Wang gave her a look and said, “What are you talking about?”
She smiled and changed the subject. “But now that you have mentioned it, I do want to ask: Does Mingcheng have any thoughts in that area?”
Zhen Ping gave her a look and pretended that she didn’t catch the subtext, “In what area?”
Mrs. Wang chuckled. “What do you think? Mingcheng and Qiuyi had been married for a year and we still haven’t heard a peep about Qiuyi’s stomach. Does that mean Mingcheng have other plans?”
Mrs. Liu nodded in agreement, “What she said. Say, when is Mingcheng going to divorce Qiuyi?”
“… …”
Hearing that, Jiang Qiuyi lowered her eyes and her emotions could not be read.
After a little while, she stepped harder as she walked in order to get the attention from those downstairs.
“Oh, you are awake, Qiuyi.”
Noticing her, Mrs. Wang put on a different look immediately. She asked in a loving elderly way, “I heard that you weren’t feeling well. How are you feeling now?”
Jiang Qiuyi nodded and said softly, “I feel much better now. Thank you for asking, Mrs. Wang.”
Zhen Ping, sitting on the couch, looked up at her, “Have the family doctor come and check you out later today.”
Jiang Qiuyi nodded.
Mrs. Liu studied her a little, smiled and said, “Qiuyi, I would like to have that dessert that you’ve made last time. Do you think you can make some more today?”
Jiang Qiuyi suppressed the bitterness in her and replied softly, “Sure.”
Mrs. Wang sighed and said, “Qiuyi, I would like to have you steep me some tea. It tasted quite good last time.”
“… …”
The few madams all rushed to tell her their request and Jiang Qiuyi acknowledged all of them.
She did have a choice. She was Lu Mingcheng’s unpresentable wife.
Jiang Qiuyi could still hear the noises coming from the outside on and off after she had walked into the kitchen.
She couldn’t hear all of it but she had an idea what they were talking about.
All afternoon long, the few wealthy madams sat around in the living room for a while before they went out for the view in the garden.
Jiang Qiuyi ran back and forth between the kitchen and the garden, making sure that the guests had been well served.
By 5 o'clock, the group was tired and they took off one after another.
The garden was quiet after they were gone.
Zhen Ping glanced over into the living room and looked at Jiang Qiuyi, who was helping with cleaning up. There was a look of displeasure in her eyes.
“Qiuyi.”
“Yes, mom?” Jiang Qiuyi looked up at her.
Zhen Ping frowned and said to her in a low voice, “Follow me.”
Jiang Qiuyi quickly put down what was in her hands and walked out into the garden with her mother-in-law.
The sunset was very pretty. This mansion that she and Lu Mingcheng had been staying at since the wedding had a very nice view.
There weren’t many things around to block their view and the scenery was stunning. There was even a lake not too far from them and it was very pretty under the setting sun.
Zhen Ping stared at her for a little while and asked, “What have you been doing lately?”
Jiang Qiuyi lowered her eyes and said softly, “I am still taking the classes.”
Zhen Ping studied her for a little while and nodded. “Mmhmm, your etiquette had improved. Start on flower arrangement after you are done with your etiquette classes.”
Jiang Qiuyi was taken aback a little. She was just about to object to that when Zhen Ping’s voice rang again.
“How are your piano and dance lessons coming along?”
Jiang Qiuyi, “They are coming along.”
Hearing that, Zhen Ping frowned again. “Well keep going then. You are Mingcheng’s wife. People would look down on you if you don’t even know basic dancing and piano.”
Jiang Qiuyi understood the reasonings behind them.
She lowered her eyes and said softly, “I will.”
Zhen Ping didn’t say much more after that.
She did, however, arranged a lot of “assignments” for Jiang Qiuyi before she took off.
It was as easy as one would imagine to be the wife of a prominent family.
Jiang Qiuyi returned to her room after she was done with cleaning up.
Suddenly, a big block of words appeared in her head.
Jiang Qiuyi closed her eyes but the words were floating in front of her eyes and she could see them clearly.
When she was done reading them, she was stunned.
As it turned out, she was living in a novel. Lu Mingcheng, her husband, was the male lead of said novel but Jiang Qiuyi, herself, was not the female lead. The female lead was someone else.
She was but a cannon fodder in this novel.
From what she had read, she didn’t have a big role in this novel at all.
Lu Mingcheng divorced her very early on and, after the divorce, the only time she was brought up was about how good her tea and desserts were. That was about it.
Oh, there were also those contrasting moments when they would brought her up and critique her from head to toe.
That made Jiang Qiuyi very angry.
Why was that?
She treaded carefully day in and day out to be Lu Mingcheng’s good wife. She managed the household well and waited hands and feet on this group of people. Not only had they never said any nice words to her face, they would critique her behind her back.
Most importantly, she did not get even a penny from Lu Mingcheng during the divorce.
Sure, she never married him for his money. But the thought of him leaving her penniless while he went on to spoil another woman displeased her a lot.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Lu Mingcheng had married and bedded her for one to two years and didn’t even compensate her for her youth?
Jiang Qiuyi did not consider herself as some sort of a saint. If Lu Mingcheng was not nice to her, then why should she him?
The divorce didn’t bother her. After all, the situation under which the two had gotten married were complicated and they didn’t exactly have feelings for each other.
But she was a petty one. She could not just casually divorce him like this, certainly not after she had learned of this “truth”.
The thought of that prompted doubts in Jiang Qiuyi’s mid again.
Is this novel world true? Or was it all just her imagination because she had been tired lately?
Jiang Qiuyi decided to spend some time in observing things.
If developments from this point forward match what she had read, then perhaps she could tentatively think that it could be real.
Jiang Qiuyi relaxed some once she had her mind made up.
What would come would come.
Besides, per the novel, Lu Mingcheng did not bring up divorce till their two-year anniversary. Which meant to say that, even if the story was true, she still had time to prepare herself.
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