Transmigrating into a book to save her best friend, her sickly husband vies for her affections every

Zhong Youling blinked. "Miss Ji, is there anything I can do for you?"

Tingyao: "The Marquis's residence? No need. How are Zhang Zhan's grandparents in health?"

“He’s exceptionally good; he’s one of the most robust people I’ve ever met,” Zhong Youling said with a smile. “Zhang Zhan is very attentive to his grandparents.”

In fact, Zhang Zhan's grandparents and Tingyao's grandmother were very similar; they all wanted to live a few more days to support the children they cared about.

"Please make sure Mr. Zhong visits more frequently." Tingyao didn't want to say directly that Old Master Zhang and Old Madam Zhang would die suddenly at the end of the year, which was the beginning of Zhang Zhan's sudden change in temperament.

“His Highness the Ninth Prince also mentioned this matter,” Zhong Youling said. “Currently, the two elders are perfectly fine.”

Zhong Youling cupped his hands and said, "In short, Miss Ji, just tell me what you need."

Tingyao said "okay" and watched the person leave.

Tingyao sighed heavily.

The entire plot is now a complete mess, and there seems to be no end to anyone's story.

Zhao Siwei truly possesses the protagonist's halo; as long as he's willing to do something, he's bound to succeed. Coupled with her schemes and plans from her past life, he won effortlessly.

Looking back on this life, he felt he could give everyone a chance, but in doing so, the one who would die the fastest would be Zhao Siwei himself.

Is the Crown Prince someone to be trifled with? He may be a bit dim-witted, but Empress Yan is not, and neither is the Yan family.

The Yan family were military families. Even though they lost the crown prince in their previous life and were prepared to fight to the death, they still struggled with Zhao Siwei for a long time.

Zhao Siwei, have you really forgotten how you were chased all over the place in your past life? The Yan family almost killed you several times!

As for Zhang Zhan, Tingyao knew it was best not to make a decision too soon.

This marriage should be a new breakthrough.

Although she couldn't communicate with the system, she had a feeling that whenever her storyline reached a dead end, the system would tear open a hole for her.

All we can do now is to remain unchanged in the face of all changes.

**

The Xu State Duke's Mansion.

Xu Tutu, who had just returned from the underworld, leaned weakly against her mother, Bai Shi, her doe-like eyes filled with tears. The horrifying scar on her forehead caused all the maids and old women in the room to cover their faces and shed tears.

The imperial physician was applying medicine to Xu Tutu. Looking at her daughter's soft little face, which was all wrinkled up, Madam Bai said softly, "Please be gentle, Imperial Physician. My daughter is afraid of pain."

She only had this one daughter in her life, and she truly wanted to give her the best of everything in the world, afraid of making her feel wronged. But, in the blink of an eye, something happened, and it happened in the palace.

Five days have passed, and the imperial court has yet to offer any explanation, simply stating that Xu Tutu slipped on her own, and that's the end of the story.

Of course she didn't believe it, but she wasn't in the mood to cause trouble at the palace right now; after all, her daughter's reputation was the most important thing.

Moreover, now is not the time to make a fuss. The matter of Zhao Sicong being murdered has not yet been settled. If we force the royal family to give justice now, wouldn't that make the royal family think that the Xu family thinks their daughter is more important than the life and death of the crown prince?

This really happened at a terrible time!

Everyone knows Zhao Fucang needs a scapegoat. Nothing much has happened in the capital lately, so people are afraid that if they go to someone, their whole family will be implicated.

Xu Tutu was more worried about being disfigured than anyone else. She had been in love with Zhao Siwei since she was a child and had long believed that she would become the Ninth Prince's Consort. She had finally waited for her coming-of-age ceremony. If the royal family were to abandon her now because of her appearance, then she would rather die...

"Mother, I don't want to be disfigured, I don't want to..." Her proud face must not have any flaws, not even a single fine line.

Bai could only silently comfort her daughter.

After the imperial physician finished applying the medicine, he bowed and withdrew when he saw Duke Xu enter.

Duke Xu raised his hand, dismissing everyone in the room. Looking at the mother and daughter who were embracing each other and weeping, he sighed heavily, "I'm afraid the royal family won't investigate this matter again."

Otherwise, Zhao Sicong's situation would be pretty much settled now, and no one has come to ask about it.

"So it's just going to end like this?" Madam Bai was shocked and found it unbelievable. "Our Xu family were founding heroes, Duke, you risked your life for His Majesty, both your younger brothers died on the battlefield, and our Xu Duke's mansion has no heir left, only this one daughter—"

"It's because of your constant babbling that TuTu has become so arrogant." Duke Xu interrupted his wife, a woman who had weathered many storms. "No matter how you look at it now, it seems like TuTu accidentally fell into the water. You say there's some note? There's no evidence left. In this situation..."

He paused for a moment, then told the mother and daughter about the bigger things that had happened in the past few days.

"What do you mean? Why would His Highness the Ninth Prince harm the Crown Prince?" Xu Tutu didn't believe it.

Duke Xu was very direct; he truly felt he had given birth to a fool.

"Everyone knows you like Zhao Siwei. It might just be a smokescreen, meant to attract some people's attention so that Zhao Siwei can learn more about the Crown Prince. So, I think we should just accept the loss."

Xu Tutu's tears welled up in her eyes.

Bai exclaimed and stood up abruptly, "Why! Why should our daughter suffer like this! How can you be so shameless!"

"With your daughter's stupidity, you don't even know what you did to displease Zhao Siwei!" Duke Xu was unusually direct. "TuTu, don't you think Zhao Siwei is not as nice to you as before, and is avoiding you?"

He held military power, and many princes wanted to curry favor with him, but he always believed that Zhao Siwei was the one who would eventually rise to power, so he pretended not to notice the other princes' attempts to curry favor with him.

Now look what's happened. Zhao Siwei doesn't even want the coveted military power he holds anymore. Clearly, Xu Tutu has done something wrong, or something else he can't figure out...

Anyway, Zhao Siwei doesn't like Xu Tutu anymore. After weighing the pros and cons, he's not even willing to pretend anymore. He just doesn't want to have anything to do with Xu Tutu anymore.

Xu Tutu gradually became agitated, struggled to sit up, and said in a mournful voice, "Does Father think I don't know? I... I haven't been proactive enough with him yet? I can't even see him anymore."

She didn't know where the problem lay. She had always been tender and affectionate towards Zhao Siwei, so why did he suddenly stop liking her?

"I ask you, when you fell into the water at the banquet at home last time, was it intentional?" Duke Xu asked directly.

Xu Tutu's eyes darted around nervously.

Mrs. Bai felt these words were too much and directly defended her daughter against her husband.

"What do you mean by this, Duke? Tu Tu is your own daughter whom you watched grow up. How could you have such wicked thoughts!"

"I'm asking TuTu, don't interrupt." Duke Xu stared directly at Xu TuTu. "Answer me properly, how exactly did you fall into the water!"

Xu Tutu bit her lip. She didn't dare lie to her father, so she could only brace herself and say, "It's my cousin—"

The words were abruptly interrupted by Duke Xu, whose voice was particularly stern, "Don't tell me who instigated you. You always make others take the blame for you while you act innocent. Do you think Zhao Siwei doesn't know that? Zhao Siwei just doesn't care because you haven't used such methods on him!"

He kicked a stool in anger, his voice filled with rage.

"Xu Tutu, Xu Tutu, you have completely ruined your own future. I was wondering why Zhao Siwei suddenly kept his distance from you. With your scheming and methods, do you think he would be so submissive?"

"You're one of the women in the capital who's closest to him. Have you ever seen him suffer? Even Zhang Zhan, who's so close to him, always gives in to him!"

"How can I be compared to Zhang Zhan!" Xu Tutu protested.

She was the only daughter of the Duke of Xu's family, and Zhang Zhan's status was far inferior to hers. Moreover, to put it bluntly, the reason why the powerful and influential people in the capital would give Zhang Zhan face was because they were wary of Zhao Siwei behind him. Therefore, Zhang Zhan had to flatter Zhao Siwei.

"Yes, you know you're different from Zhang Zhan!" Duke Xu scolded his daughter. "Even Zhang Zhan doesn't dare to contradict him, but you do. You're so amazing! I really should send you to the battlefield to fight the enemy!"

Xu Tutu was startled and threw herself into Bai's arms.

Madam Bai was heartbroken. "Master, please talk to our daughter properly. I didn't understand what you meant. Our daughter and Zhang Zhan are definitely different, right?"

"How many people did Zhao Siwei voluntarily admit to being friends with?"

Bai was about to speak when she found herself unable to utter a word.

“Only Zhang Zhan! Zhao Siwei only considers Zhang Zhan a friend. This kid knows very well that everyone else is nice to him because they want something from him! They all think that he is favored by His Majesty, so they want to curry favor with him!”

"Among the princes, Zhao Siwei is the most favored. Besides being His Majesty's youngest son and the son of His Majesty's favorite woman, what's more, none of you have noticed, is that the biggest thing he's done in all these years is stealing exam questions for Zhang Zhan!"

He single-handedly managed to postpone the entire imperial examination.

After stealing it, he reportedly made it himself and gave it to Zhang Zhan. Zhang Zhan was so frightened that he went to bang on the palace gate late at night.

Then, it was just a postponement. Zhao Siwei was beaten up. Whether he was actually beaten or not, only Zhao Siwei knows. As for Zhang Zhan, he still continued to participate in the imperial examination.

In the final palace examination, Zhang Zhan was asked how to educate the princes.

Zhang Zhan truly spoke his mind, rebuking Zhao Siwei as if he were his own son. He said that few people probably remember how he was educated, and he spoke sarcastically about the prince's bad character. He was very accurate and ruthless.

"You, how do you think you're comparable to Zhang Zhan?" Duke Xu scolded Xu Tutu, "You, you dare to say you're worthy? You're probably not even as good as that cat!"

Xu Tutu was scolded until she cried.

Duke Xu's voice was already roaring.

"What about the other princes? Let's not even talk about the Crown Prince. He's forming cliques everywhere, his maternal family is very powerful, and the military power he holds is something even I have to be wary of. He's even been disrespectful to His Majesty on several occasions. And the Second Prince? You don't even know how he was sent out of the capital!"

Duke Xu felt that Xu Tutu wouldn't understand what he was saying, and it felt like a knife was being plunged into her heart.

"Child, don't think about it anymore. Zhao Siwei will never choose you again!"

Xu Tutu was shocked. "No, I like him! No, I must marry him!"

"There are plenty of people who like him, and His Majesty already has someone in mind. Otherwise, why would he have announced that he would be choosing a concubine for him? Do you really think that incident at the brothel was a misunderstanding?"

"It's quite possible that His Majesty instructed Zhang Zhan to do it. In that case, there would be a legitimate excuse for him, the father, to interfere."

If Xu Tutu hadn't caused any trouble, Zhao Siwei's mother would have brought it up herself, and Zhao Siwei would have thought the Xu family was good, and since they only had this one daughter, they would naturally have helped him and would have agreed.

Zhao Siwei believed that Xu Tutu's reckless behavior was mostly a scheme by the Duke of Xu's mansion to plot against him.

No wonder she was treated so intimately by people outside, and she refused all invitations to dine at the Duke's mansion.

In matters of the heart, it was all Xu Tutu's own doing that led to her downfall.

What an idiot! He ruined a perfectly good game of chess like this!

Even if the Heavenly King himself came, he couldn't be saved!

"Not to mention what you have now..." Duke Xu stared at the scar on his daughter's head. He had seen countless injuries on the battlefield over the years. Xu Tutu's forehead was bound to have some mark, some deep and some shallow. "Or are you willing to become Zhao Siwei's concubine?"

The requirements for a prince's principal wife are very high. In terms of appearance, it is not very specific that she must be stunningly beautiful, but she must also be worthy of the prince!

Can you say Zhao Siwei's face is ugly? He's just as good-looking as Zhang Zhan when they stand together! As for his lack of presence, he didn't feel arrogant standing next to Zhang Zhan. On the contrary, he was made to bow and scrape by Zhao Siwei with just a few words!

How could someone who became Zhao Fucang's most beloved son be a pushover?

Madam Bai immediately spoke up, "A concubine? How can our only daughter become a concubine? If it weren't for the vast difference in their abilities compared to the Crown Prince, I'm afraid..."

The cold gaze of the Duke of Xu fell on her face, and Bai could only shut her mouth.

If she hadn't believed that Zhao Siwei could ascend the throne with the help of the Duke of Xu's family, and that her daughter could become empress, she definitely wouldn't have agreed to this marriage.

With such meticulous upbringing, her daughter is bound to rise to great heights!

She has no son, so all she can do is make her daughter the support for both the Xu and Bai families!

“Father, I don’t know, I didn’t think that much…” Xu Tutu felt a chill run down her spine after being reminded by her father. She didn’t even know how to cry. She stared blankly at her father and pleaded, “I want to marry Zhao Siwei. I want to. Please help me, Father.”

She's liked Zhao Siwei ever since she first saw him as a child. She's liked him for so many years, she can't just say she can't marry him and then not get married.

Everyone in the capital says she's Zhao Siwei's official wife. If this marriage doesn't go through, how will she face anyone in the capital?

Duke Xu was thinking further. Even with a distinguished background, a disfigured daughter was no longer a suitable match among those of equal social standing. So…

“There are plenty of people in the world who are better than him. I think Zhang Zhan is quite good.”

The Marquis's residence is quite good. Zhang Zhan is easy to manipulate, no, he's good at reading people. "Although he's Zhao Siwei's brother, he's a decent person after all."

"I don't want to!" Xu Tutu never expected her father to say such shocking things. "I don't like Zhang Zhan! He seems easy to talk to and gentle, but I can never figure out what he's thinking!"