After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Dare? Or not?

Winning the bet would be great, but if she loses, will this little girl really turn her into fertilizer?

She dared not. She was a princess, a member of the Xiao imperial family. If she died, His Majesty and the Empress would surely investigate.

And then there's the Crown Prince… Her gaze fell on the Crown Prince, thinking to herself, "This is the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince is always kind and benevolent; he would never allow this Lu Zhiyuan to commit evil in his Eastern Palace. Turning people into fertilizer—it's unheard of. This woman is indeed ruthless. If the Crown Prince ascends the throne and she becomes Empress, where will all the women in the world have the opportunity to enter the palace to serve? For her own sake, and for the sake of those sisters who will be able to enter the palace in the future, she must make the Crown Prince see her true colors."

She puffed out her chest, adopting a look of fearlessness, and said, "Let's compete then. Do you think this princess is afraid of you?"

The song "Phoenix Seeks Its Mate" completely overwhelmed the Princess of Lin'an.

"Does Your Highness still wish to play chess? Let me remind you, my lady is quite skilled at chess." Liu Ying brought over the chessboard. "It's not too shameful for Your Highness to concede now. Don't worry, my lady has medicine that will ensure you won't feel any pain when she turns you into fertilizer."

"Have you ever been used as fertilizer?" Princess Lin'an retorted, "If you haven't, then shut up! Bring me the chessboard; I don't believe I can lose a game of chess here."

Liu Ying pouted: "This servant is not fortunate enough to be made into fertilizer, but I have seen Lu Yun make fertilizer for others. There is a lot of skill involved in making fertilizer. First, you have to cut off the head, limbs and torso. Then you have to remove the flesh and bones, grind it into a paste, and bury it in the flower bed. The finer the paste is ground, the more beautiful the flowers and plants will grow."

Princess Lin'an turned pale and felt nauseous.

"You think you can scare this princess with those words? Dream on!"

"Scare you?" Liu Ying snorted and set up the chess pieces. "Your Highness is so concerned about our Lady, you should know that our Lady lived in a separate courtyard when she was young. Those people in the separate courtyard were all bad people who always bullied our Lady behind our backs. When our Lady couldn't bear it anymore, she had Lu Yun turn them into mincemeat and bury them on the back mountain of the separate courtyard. If Your Highness can win, you might as well go and see the back mountain of the separate courtyard and see if the azaleas there bloom better than elsewhere."

“Indiscriminate killing, Your Highness, you heard it, she indiscriminately killed innocent people.”

"I know about what happened at the villa." The Crown Prince lowered his eyes and fidgeted with his fingers. "They were paid by the Marquis's family, yet they treated A-Yuan poorly in the villa. Knowing that A-Yuan was ill, they even changed her medicine and tried to drown her while she was bathing. Such hypocrisy and deceit are too good for them. It's too good for the evil servant who poisoned his master to be made into fertilizer."

"Does Your Highness mean... that Your Highness allows her to kill?"

"Is the princess hard of hearing?" Lu Zhiyuan pinched her earlobe. "Those wicked servants bullied me, and Lu Yun had no choice but to kill them to protect me. They're dead now, so naturally we need to find a place to bury them. The back mountain of the villa is beautiful, but the space is a bit small. We can turn them into fertilizer, which will be convenient to bury and good for the flowers and plants. The princess hasn't experienced what I've gone through, so naturally she doesn't understand how benevolent I am."

Kindness?

She turned people into fertilizer and buried them on the back mountain, and she still called herself kind and benevolent?

The princess shuddered, took a deep breath, and looked at the chessboard. She couldn't be intimidated by their words. It was fake, it must be fake. How old was she seven years ago? Even the guard beside her was just a boy. How could a boy turn so many servants into fertilizer?

The maidservant followed her mistress's lead. That girl named Liuying deliberately brought up the matter of flower fertilizer at this time, and described the process as so terrifying, just to distract her while she was playing chess.

Lu Zhiyuan must be bad at chess.

Thinking of this, Princess Lin'an took another deep breath: "Let's play chess, why talk about all this nonsense?"

Princess Lin'an played white, and Lu Zhiyuan played black. In three games, Princess Lin'an lost every single one, suffering a complete rout. She hadn't expected that Lu Zhiyuan, such a delicate young girl, could be so terrifying when playing chess. She wasn't playing chess; she was waging war, either venturing deep into enemy territory or luring the enemy in for a trap. Her style of play was completely different from her teachers, and she panicked.

After the final game, Lu Zhiyuan clapped her hands: "The princess learned chess from chess manuals, and even the tutors she hired taught her according to the manuals. I'm different; I learned chess by playing with others. Among those I played chess with, some, like the princess, learned from chess manuals, while others were self-taught. In short, the princess's chess was learned, while mine was honed through competition."

"What's the difference between winning by fighting and winning by betting?" the princess said indignantly. "You're just using a trick."

"No, no, no!" Lu Zhiyuan shook her finger: "Let me give you an example that even a princess can understand. Some people have read all the military books in the world and can talk a good game about military strategy, but they are complete idiots on the battlefield. Others are illiterate but joined the army as young men, yet they can come up with ingenious tactics and kill enemy soldiers from a thousand miles away. The former learned it, the latter learned it from actual combat. If you ask what the difference is, there is only one answer: the battlefield is ever-changing. Different generals will have different tactics, and different enemies will have different fighting styles. The enemies you face are living beings, not inanimate objects existing in military books."

Princess Lin'an's face paled; her father was the former. He was well-versed in military strategy but had never been on the battlefield. He could speak eloquently about military tactics but knew nothing of leading troops in actual combat. Unfortunately, he failed to recognize his own limitations, volunteering to quell a rebellion, even taking his mother with him, only to never return.

Lu Zhiyuan did it on purpose; she was mocking her father and mocking her.

She lost the zither, she lost the chess game, she lost the poetry contest, and even her prized painting skills seemed like a amateur attempt at teaching an expert. This little girl could actually write with one hand and paint with the other. She couldn't compare to either her calligraphy or her paintings.

She lost in the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and lacking the courage to continue the competition, she closed her eyes and awaited death. Lu Zhiyuan gave her a pill, which she swallowed without hesitation. The pill was extremely bitter, so bitter that her facial features contorted, but the imagined death and pain did not come. When she opened her eyes, she was still standing before the Crown Prince and Lu Zhiyuan.

"My brother, the Crown Prince, and I have just married, and it is not a time for bloodshed. Therefore, I can only punish you lightly. I have four kinds of pills here: sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. I will give you the bitter pill. This pill will make everything you eat and drink taste bitter for seven days. This punishment is enough for you."

Princess Lin'an pursed her lips and remained silent.

As she left, Lu Zhiyuan said loudly, "The Empress Dowager dotes on the Princess, and the Prince Consort she chose for her is an exceptional man, no less than the Crown Prince. Instead of focusing on what doesn't belong to you, cherish the person in front of you. Besides, His Majesty and the Empress chose me because of the Xie family. You don't need to compare yourself to me, because you can't compete with me in terms of reincarnation. The Crown Prince also has feelings for me. Others may be able to replace these feelings, but he can never succeed in winning me over."

Lu Zhiyuan is the only Lu Zhiyuan in the world!

Before Princess Lin'an had gone far, the Crown Prince's voice came from behind: "No one can replace the Crown Prince's feelings for A Yuan. Moreover, the Crown Prince's heart and soul have been bewitched by A Yuan. A Yuan must take responsibility for the Crown Prince."