After her transformation and rebirth, she manipulates the innocent and ruthless to overthrow the wor

Xiao Ran's wide sleeves brushed against the carved table, and she whispered almost inaudibly in Granny Yang's ear. The old nanny's calloused hands suddenly clenched the hem of her clothes, her knuckles turning blue and white, as if she were grasping a thunderbolt hanging over the General's Mansion.

"useless!"

Granny Yang suddenly stood up, the silver strands at her temples trembling with the movement. "That's the Emperor! It's a capital offense! Although the eldest young lady is usually mischievous, she shouldn't have given birth to such a..." The last words were bitten off between her lips, her cloudy eyes reflecting the sunlight filtering through the window, like two dying embers burning.

Xiao Ran shook her head. "Granny, these are all just my guesses. If my dear sister hadn't stepped forward, this wouldn't have happened."

"Granny..." Xiao Ran walked to her side to comfort her, "I will not do anything that would harm the General's Mansion, trust me."

As Granny Yang gazed at the girl's profile, hidden in the light and shadow, she seemed to see again the little girl from years ago, holding a broken ruler, her eyes red but stubbornly refusing to shed a tear. Her aged throat bobbed for a long time before finally turning into a long sigh: "These old bones of mine will break at the hands of the young lady sooner or later."

She paused, glanced at her, and said, "Where is my ruler? How am I supposed to discipline your second young lady without it?"

Seeing that Granny Yang had agreed, Xiao Ran was overjoyed. She clapped her hands and instructed the door, "Chun Tao, summon Xiao Lan."

After a long while, the young maidservant carrying the gilded lacquer box inlaid with mother-of-pearl approached with light, quick steps. The moment she lifted the lid, Granny Yang gasped in shock.

"Is this the ruler bestowed upon me by the Emperor?" Granny Yang's withered fingers stroked the newly inlaid silver wire with intertwined branches pattern in the middle of the ruler. The broken part had transformed into an ingenious bone-setting pattern. She was overjoyed, but soon a wave of doubt surged into her heart.

Xiao Ran's wide sleeves fluttered lightly, and the jade bracelet on her wrist collided with the gold pattern of the ruler, sounding as clear as the clinking of jade pendants: "Does Granny still remember? When you taught me the 'Admonitions for Women' years ago, you said that broken jade can be inlaid with gold, and broken wood can be mended with silver." She suddenly lowered her voice, her breath as fragrant as orchids: "This ruler should naturally be mended."

Granny Yang suddenly raised her head, only to meet the girl's deep, unfathomable eyes. The fire surging within those eyes was even more intense than the flames she had witnessed years ago when she knelt in the ancestral hall on that snowy night.

She had only intended to ask the young lady to bring up a decent ruler, since she was caught in a dilemma—whether she agreed or not was also a dilemma—so she had no choice but to use the ruler as an excuse to give the young girl a break.

Unexpectedly, the little girl brought up this imperial gift.

Xiao Ran's eyes sparkled, and her slender, white fingertips touched the old woman's hand covered with age spots: "Back then, I was being playful and broke the old woman's ruler in two. I have to thank the old woman for not holding it against me, which saved me from this clumsy joke of the ruler going missing."

Granny Yang was taken aback, but her face involuntarily flushed red. "This ruler has been dropped several times by my young granddaughter, and it's already cracked. The eldest young lady was just being careless, so it's not her fault..."

Xiao Ran knew that Granny Yang treated her like her own granddaughter, which was why she was so lenient. If she were treated as an ordinary person, she would certainly be punished for damaging the imperial gift.

Seeing that Granny Yang was still carefully examining the ruler, Xiao Ran got up and walked up to her, pleading, "Granny, now that the ruler has returned, please grant my wish."

The old nanny tremblingly raised the ruler, sunlight filtering through the window paper and casting dappled shadows like dragon scales on its surface:

"Tomorrow... I will go and teach the second young lady."