Liao Tingyan sat in the courtyard, reflecting on her recent behavior. She felt she must have had a brain short-circuit, spouting nonsense about being a concubine. She should have just made up an ordinary identity, saying she was captured by villains and wanted to escape, asking for help with a ladder.

Afterwards, she could have thanked them with a few taels of silver and that would be that. Her mistake was in telling the truth - indeed, one of the truths of this world is that when you tell the truth, no one ever believes you.

The maidservant, with a dark expression, moved the tables and chairs down, then passed by Liao Tingyan with the same dark look, saying irritably: "I didn't expect the young lady to have such strength, moving so many things must have been tiring. This servant advises you not to think of escaping. You are unfamiliar with the people and place here.

"Even if you run out, without identification papers, you can't even enter the nearby cities. If you walk alone in the wilderness and encounter mountain bandits or villains, it would be terrible. There are many bandits in the mountains these days. If you're not careful, your life could be lost."

Liao Tingyan thought: What's your problem, auntie? Let's be clear, you are the kidnappers, I am the victim. Wouldn't it seem I'm being passive if I don't try to escape?

This maidservant was changed by Chen Yun after Liao Tingyan moved into this courtyard. She watched her very closely. Even when the doctor came to change her medicine, she stared the whole time, not allowing her to say an extra word to the doctor. Now that her escape attempt was discovered, she found this auntie watching her even more closely.

A misstep.

However, Liao Tingyan was not someone to admit defeat so easily. She quietly waited for an opportunity, preparing travel provisions and clothes, observing this maidservant's habits.

Then one day, when the woman was dozing off, she knocked her out with a stick - Liao Tingyan had no experience hitting people. After striking, she nervously checked with the stick to see if the auntie still had breath.

If you hit too lightly, you can't knock them out. Hit too heavily and you might kill them directly. She had deliberated on the force for quite a while. She didn't know how the characters in those literary works could be so certain of knocking someone out without killing them.

After all, it was the first time she personally took action to hit someone, and it was still too light. When Liao Tingyan lowered her head to check, the maidservant groaned and opened her eyes, grabbing at her with her hands. Liao Tingyan didn't hesitate to strike again, and this time the person finally fainted.

Taking out the rope she had prepared long ago, she tied up the maidservant using a tortoise shell binding, with one end tied to a pillar.

After finishing this, she let out a heavy breath and pressed on the wound on her arm. Then, wasting no more time, she took out her own clothes, put on a veil hat, searched the maidservant's bosom for the front door key, opened the door and walked out with a calm expression.

She had calculated the time. Chen Yun shouldn't be coming here today. The people delivering vegetables and firewood had already come in the morning. No one would come in the afternoon, so she should have enough time.

Just as that maidservant said, she had no way to leave this city alone. This era was not like modern times. Even in modern times, it was hard for a girl to avoid danger when going out alone, let alone in this era. She was now equivalent to an undocumented black household, unable to even leave the city gates. Therefore, after much thought, Liao Tingyan felt that the only way out now was to go to the provincial governor's residence.

Although it was the fief of the Lord of Southern Qin, there were still people from the imperial court here. This was natural. No matter on the surface or in secret, the emperor always had to arrange spies beside the kings of different surnames.

When she was beside Sima Jiao, he talked about the Lord of Southern Qin with the Grand Protector without avoiding her, so Liao Tingyan remembered that the governor of Yaozhou should be Sima Jiao's man. This was the only one she remembered.

She asked passersby for directions to the governor's residence, and Liao Tingyan successfully found that mansion with its tightly closed front doors.

Then, what she didn't expect was that after stating her identity, she was immediately captured.

It turned out that the current governor was no longer the previous governor. When His Majesty the Emperor announced he wanted to attack the Lord of Southern Qin, the former governor had already been eliminated by the Lord of Southern Qin.

Liao Tingyan didn't expect the Lord of Southern Qin to act so quickly. Yaozhou was so far from Luodu, how could the news travel so fast? And how come the Lord of Southern Qin didn't even struggle a bit?

Logically speaking, at this time, the ministers should hurry to submit memorials, expressing their loyalty and lack of rebellious intent, asking the emperor to think thrice and prioritize peace instead of fighting. How did this one directly enter the rebellion stage? This was too clever.

In short, the unlucky Liao Tingyan fell into enemy hands. This new governor was from the Lord of Southern Qin's direct line. As a result, in less than half a day, Liao Tingyan was met by the Lord of Southern Qin's daughter, Qin Wuxia.

The original novel's female supporting character!

"You are Liao Tingyan? For a woman like you, besides a pretty face, what else do you have that makes my Chen Yun unable to forget you?" Qin Wuxia looked down at her from on high, snorting heavily to express her disgust and disdain.

Seeing her reaction, Liao Tingyan understood that this miss seemed to still be on the original novel's path, treating her as a love rival. What a misunderstanding! She was different from the original female lead. She didn't have a shred of feeling for that Chen Yun!

Can't you fall in love without involving innocent bystanders?

Qin Wuxia looked at her rival's haggard yet still beautiful little face, that lofty and proud bearing despite her predicament, and that large bosom. She was so angry she wanted to hit someone.

Stepping forward, she pushed Liao Tingyan to the ground, pointing at her and cursing: "Shameless! You followed that tyrant Sima Jiao, and now you've come to seduce my family's Chen Yun. I was wondering why Chen Yun has been so busy recently. So it turns out he's been going to see you, this little cheap hoof! Keeping a beauty in a golden house? Good, you cheap woman, I must properly deal with you today!"

Liao Tingyan cursed inwardly, watching Qin Wuxia throw a tantrum. She thought, sure enough, falling in love lowers IQ. Look at this pretty and lovable girl, her brain has nearly been eaten by Chen Yun.

Thinking again of the original novel, this girl, from the time she set her sights on Chen Yun, used her family status to force Chen Yun to marry her. Afterwards, she followed all the way to the palace, fighting back and forth with the female lead, bearing children for the male lead.

In the end, she was used and discarded by the male lead. Before her death, she had to watch the male lead have a happy ending with the female lead. Liao Tingyan almost wanted to sympathize with her.

Why must girls make things difficult for girls? Unfortunately, Qin Wuxia didn't seem to want to listen to her reasoning at all.

Liao Tingyan thought for a bit, then covered her face and started weeping pitifully: "Are you the commandery princess? Please send me back to His Majesty's side. Although others think His Majesty is cruel, I truly love him. I can't leave him. Please, princess, show some mercy and let me return. I heard the Lord of Southern Qin has some misunderstanding with His Majesty. As long as I can go back, I will definitely help persuade His Majesty!"

Hah, of course it was fake. I don't know if it's because her acting skills have improved recently, or if Lady Qin Wuxia has really been blinded by love, but she actually half-believed her nonsense after listening with skepticism.

"What kind of taste do you have? How could you fall in love with a pretty boy like Sima Jiao?" Qin Wuxia said with disdain.

Liao Tingyan thought to herself: Your taste is even worse, to be honest... Suddenly she felt more confident in her own intelligence.

"Don't say that, His Majesty treats me very well, we... we are in love with each other." Liao Tingyan wiped her tears. How about that, Lady? Are you reassured now? I won't fight with you over Chen Yun! You can have this man, who's not much different from the original male lead, all to yourself.

Liao Tingyan didn't expect Qin Wuxia's train of thought to be so bizarre. After hearing her words, instead of being reassured, Qin Wuxia became even angrier. She gritted her teeth and said, "That Chen Yun is deeply in love with you, his heart and mind are all about you, and he even brought you back on purpose. The man I like so much, you actually look down on him?!"

Liao Tingyan thought: No, sister, shouldn't you be overjoyed that I don't like Chen Yun and there's no rival fighting with you over him? Why are you even more angry? What kind of operation is this?

Qin Wuxia: "It doesn't matter whether you have feelings for Chen Yun or not, but since Chen Yun has feelings for you, you must die!"

"You two, go, go strangle her to death for me!" Qin Wuxia casually pointed at two servants. There were more than twenty servants following behind her. At this moment, a servant standing in the back showed an anxious look, and quietly retreated without making a sound.

There was no way to reason with her anymore. If one path doesn't work, take another.

Seeing Qin Wuxia's determination to kill her, Liao Tingyan wiped her face and said with noble coldness, "If you really kill me, when Sima Jiao finds out, you will die miserably, and the entire Lord of Southern Qin's Manor will die miserably. So, whether to kill me or not, I advise you not to make a rash decision."

Shamefully, she did have this level of awareness. It was no exaggeration to say that if she really died here, Sima Jiao might lead his troops to raze Yaozhou to the ground. It was entirely possible.

Qin Wuxia was stumped by her for a moment, her chest heaving with anger.

"Why don't you ask Lord of Southern Qin first, Princess?" Liao Tingyan thought to herself, a person like Lord of Southern Qin definitely wouldn't kill her easily, after all, she still had value to be used.

Qin Wuxia stared at her intently and screamed, "You dare threaten me! I want you dead right now! Anyway, Sima Jiao's country is doomed sooner or later, I'm not afraid of him!"

Liao Tingyan: "..." What's going on? The female supporting character seems even more idiotic than in the original story. In the original, she at least had a little bit of forbearance, but now she's completely spoiled and willful to a whole new level. It's really the result of not being tempered by setbacks.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up!" Qin Wuxia kicked those two servants.

The two servants had no choice but to slowly approach Liao Tingyan.

Liao Tingyan thought: No problem, I can hold on! Usually at the last critical moment, someone will definitely come to the rescue!

She was forced into a corner with nowhere to escape. Just at this moment, a figure strode in and shouted, "Stop!"

It was Chen Yun. As expected of the original male lead, he always shows up to save people at the right time.

Liao Tingyan breathed a sigh of relief, watching the resentful couple argue on the spot. In the end, Chen Yun still had the upper hand and coaxed Qin Wuxia out. The two went outside to talk.

"Wuxia, I brought her back not because I have feelings for her in my heart... It's only to fulfill Father's wishes. We can't kill her now, she has other uses."

"What uses? I think you're just making excuses. You clearly still have her in mind, so you're using public affairs for personal gain!"

"That's not it, Wuxia. You should know that a large army is approaching Yaozhou, and the current situation is not optimistic. Father is preparing to scheme to kill Sima Jiao. By then, the army's morale will collapse and we can take the opportunity to achieve victory. To kill Sima Jiao, Lady Liao is indispensable."

Chen Yun lowered his voice and said, "Isn't that Sima Jiao said to dote on her very much? We can use her as bait to lure Sima Jiao over."

Qin Wuxia looked at him suspiciously, "Is everything you said true?"

Chen Yun sighed, "I originally didn't want to use such an inglorious method, but Father insisted. For the greater cause, we can only do this."

Qin Wuxia reluctantly said, "Since that's the case, I'll spare her for now. But you're not allowed to go see her again! Lock her up in the Lord of Southern Qin Manor, I will personally send people to watch over her!"

Watching Qin Wuxia leave, Chen Yun's eyes revealed a hint of disgust. If he didn't still need to rely on Lord of Southern Qin's power, he would have long been unable to tolerate such a spoiled and disobedient woman.

Forget it, it won't be long now. He had already won over half the people. Soon he would be able to make Lord of Southern Qin "accidentally die". By then, he would naturally take over all the power. Once Sima Jiao was dead, the ending would still be the same as before.

Straightening his clothes, Chen Yun walked into the room and gave a bitter smile to Liao Tingyan, who was sitting in a chair drinking tea to calm herself, "Sorry for frightening you. Wuxia misunderstood our relationship, that's why she was rude to you earlier. But I've explained it clearly to her. I think you probably misunderstood something, which is why you ran out on your own. If you don't like staying there, then move into the Lord of Southern Qin Manor. The manor is more spacious, you should like it."

So Liao Tingyan was transferred to the Lord of Southern Qin Manor. Qin Wuxia and the male lead Chen Yun were diligently following the original storyline, being very hostile towards her, coming to verbally abuse her three times a day. Liao Tingyan remained calm and let her scold.

In a quarrel, it's not about who has the louder voice that wins. It's about who gets angrier in the end. Whoever gets angrier loses to the other. Every time Qin Wuxia came to argue, she would scold until her mouth was dry and her tongue was parched.

Then seeing Liao Tingyan's composed manner of listening without hearing, she would get so angry that smoke would come out of her seven orifices.

Finally one day, Qin Wuxia couldn't stand Liao Tingyan's attitude and made a vicious threat, "You love your Emperor so much, right? Before long, he will come. By then, when he falls into the trap, you can die together as a pair of mandarin ducks!"

Trap, bait? The two words were enough to imagine the entire plot - how clichéd! And it was a plot not in the original story.

"How about that? Your day of death is not far off. Do you have anything else to say?" Qin Wuxia said smugly, feeling that she had finally vented her anger at the thought of her rival's end.

Liao Tingyan thought: ...Thank you for the spoiler?