Chapter 1 — The Enemy's Daughter

Me and the Marquis's favorite concubine have been fighting for ten long years. Before she died, she entrusted her five-year-old daughter to me. I sneered: "Aren't you afraid that I'll sell it?" She slowly shook her head: "I'm just afraid that you'll live too peacefully in the future." The little girl next to me timidly pulled the corner of my shirt and said in a low voice: "Mom, they said people would chop the baby into pieces to make banh cuc cake." I leaned closer, my eyes fierce. "That's right, my favorite thing to eat is banh cuc stuffed with children." She trembled for a long time and then took out a tuber from her sleeve. garlic. "So... can I add more garlic and less ginger? I'm afraid of spicy." "???" 1 Khuong Tri Vi and I have been fighting for ten years. She is Ta Hoai Vien's most favored concubine, and I am the main wife. She knows how to beat her, how to be a spoiled brat, and how to cry until the pear flowers are soaked in the rain. I know how to check books, know how to punish people, and can even scold Ta Hoai Vien to the point that he doesn't dare to return to his room. The whole palace said I hated her to the core. Actually, it's not wrong, who said she stole my husband's favor and even shared my housekeeping rights. At my birthday party, she stole all the attention, I immediately overturned the table on the spot. Ta Hoai Vien was so angry that his face turned blue, Khuong Tri Vi cried for half the night. But the next day, she gave me a jar of cassia wine. There was a piece of paper crumpled on the bottom, written on it: "The look of the lady flipping the table is so beautiful." From then on, we fought even more fiercely. She stole the key to my book room, I cut off her monthly salary. She broke my jade cup, I uprooted all the peonies in her yard. She accused me in front of the Marquis that I was fierce, but I went to the old lady and scolded her for being a fox spirit. During ten years, the maids in the palace have changed three times, and we are still fighting. Then, she suddenly fell ill. The doctor said the cold had penetrated deep into his bones and he couldn't live more than three days. When I visited, she was so thin that she was just skin and bones. But the face is still beautiful. Obnoxious! Even though she's sick like this, she's still beautiful. She leaned against the head of the bed, hugging the little girl in her arms. Five years old, round face, big eyes, wearing a delicate red cotton shirt. Seeing me, it immediately snuggled deep into its mother's arms. Khuong Tri Vi patted her back gently. "Man Man, call someone." The little girl trembled, her voice as small as a mosquito. "Duh... mama." I looked cold. "I didn't hear you clearly." She trembled even harder. Khuong Tri Vi burst out laughing, then laughed, then coughed until her handkerchief was covered in blood. I frowned. "You can still smile when you're about to die?" She sat up straight with difficulty. "Bui Thanh Loan, I have something to ask you." I smiled coldly. "Organizing your funeral?" She shook her head. "My daughter, leave it to you to raise." The room immediately fell silent. I thought I heard wrong. "Are you crazy?" She looked at me, her eyes no longer had the same smugness as before, only fatigue. "My mother's family has no power, the Marquis is not trustworthy, the old lady doesn't like her." "The people in the palace will eat her." I lowered my head to look at the little girl, she was tightening the fabric of Khuong Tri Vi's shirt. "Aren't you afraid that I will eat it too?" Khuong Tri Vi said again. smiled. "Don't be afraid, you have a good face, even cruelty shows on your face, you won't do dirty things in the dark." I looked cold. "You really value me too much." She took out a cloth tiger from behind her pillow and stuffed it into the little girl's arms. "Man Man, from now on you will follow me." Tears immediately fell from the little girl's eyes. "Mother, I don't want to." Khuong Tri Vi trembled and raised her hand to stroke its head. "Listen." “The little girl cried even harder. Khuong Tri Vi raised her eyes and looked at me. "Bui Thanh Loan, I can't fight fate, but I believe in you." My throat suddenly choked.

Just pretend to be sad." She was barely alive, she could only smile bitterly: "From now on, no one will argue with you, won't you be very lonely..." That night, Khuong Tri Vi died. Ta Hoai Vien still didn't come, he said there was a social party outside. Clearly I won, but why wasn't my heart happy at all? I looked at Khuong Tri Vi's tightly closed eyes, suddenly feeling guilty. I find the past ten years ridiculous. Not even after Khuong Tri Vi's first week, the little girl was brought to my hospital before I could speak. She rushed to hug my leg. "Damn! They said you would chop the baby into pieces to make banh cuc! It was late, so he bent down and smiled at him. "They weren't wrong." He was stunned, his crying immediately stopped. "I like to eat banh cuc with children the most." "Especially round-faced children." He touched his face, even more scared, tears flowed like a dam. After a while, maybe he was tired of crying, he trembled and took out a bulb of garlic from his sleeve, holding it in front of me. "Then... you can add more garlic, don't add ginger. "Huh?" "I'm afraid of spicy food." I stood there, speechless for a long time. Xuan Dao held back her laughter until her shoulders shook. The little girl still held up the garlic, her face was very serious. I had no choice but to reach out and take it. "What's your name?" "Khuong Can." I frowned. "Why do you have the last name Khuong?" "Mother said having the last name Ta is easy to have bad luck." Xuan Dao couldn't help but laugh out loud, I almost laughed too. followed. Khuong Tri Vi, really has the ability. "My nickname is Man Man, right?" "Yes." I nodded slightly. He blinked and looked at me. "Dear mother, do you still eat me?" "Not for now." "Why?" "You're too skinny, you're too skinny to eat." He lowered his head to look at his body, seriously thinking. "Then I'll eat some rice." I raised my hand and tapped his forehead. "Don't." The third day Khuong Can moved in. something happened. He secretly ate the jam on my table, then vomited all over the ground, his face turned pale and scary. The doctor came to check his pulse, his face also changed. "Madam, this jam has o dau powder mixed in." 3 Xuan Dao was so scared that she immediately knelt down. I looked at Khuong Can lying on the bed, her little body curled up in the blanket, her eyes opened, still looking at me. "Dear mother..." I walked to the bed I still heard it. "I didn't eat much, just ate two pills." My heart tightened, but my words were still cold. "That's really good, I fell down after just eating two pills." He pouted. "Then next time I'll only eat one pill." I squeezed his little face. "Is there a next time?" The doctor prescribed, when forcing him to drink medicine, he kept crying. "Damn, it's too bitter!" "Bitter is almost right, the sweet is almost right." I'm going to see you off." I sat by the bed, watched him vomit, and coaxed him to continue drinking. Tormenting until midnight, he began to sweat. At dawn, he vaguely called out. "Mother." My hand stopped. He called again: "Mother, don't go." I silently looked at him, not knowing if he was calling Khuong Tri Vi or calling me. I reached out to touch his forehead, seeing that the fever was gone. When it subsided, he breathed a sigh of relief. He rubbed his face against my palm, like a small cat. After dawn, he found out that the jam was brought by Mama Luu in the kitchen. She knelt in the yard, crying and complaining. I ordered someone to put that plate of jam in front of her. "Eat it!" Her face turned pale. "Madam, please forgive me!" Mama Hi!” “It's Mama Hi

In the old lady's yard, she gave money to her slave!" "She said that the little lady had a hard life, killing her, keeping it would only be a disaster!" I laughed. "Or a disaster." I ordered someone to pull her down, and told Xuan Dao to prepare a palanquin. "Where do you want to go?" "Go to comfort the old lady." 4 The old lady in Tho An Duong, as soon as she saw me, her face immediately darkened. "You came early in the morning to cause trouble." What's going on?" I put the plate of jam on her table. "Is this a reward from my mother?" The old lady's face changed slightly. "What do you mean?" "Khuong Can ate it, she almost got poisoned to death." The old lady turned her head to look at Ma Ma Hi. Ma Ma Hi knelt down. "Old lady, this slave didn't do it!" I stepped forward and kicked her to the ground, everyone in the room was stunned. The old lady hit her. discussion. “Bui Thanh Loan! It's not your turn to act rashly here yet!" I looked at her. "If you say that, mother wants to punish me?" The old lady was so angry that she trembled. I pointed at Ma Ma Hi. "A servant dares to poison the young lady of the Marquis Palace." "If there is no one behind her back, how dare she?" The old lady couldn't keep face. "It's just a daughter born to the concubine." I smiled slightly. "The concubine's child also has the Marquis bloodline. government.” “If you can poison it today, can it also poison me tomorrow? The other day, could even the Marquis be poisoned? "The old lady's throat was blocked. I turned around and left. "Ma Ma Hi, hit forty times, sell out of the palace." The old lady angrily shouted: "You dare!" I turned my head. "Mother, just try to see if I dare to take this matter to Kinh Trieu palace or not." The room was as silent as death, Ma Ma Hi immediately fainted. When I left Tho An Duong, the sun was shining outside. Xuan Dao followed behind me, muttering in a low voice: "Madam, this time you have completely offended the old lady." I replied contemptuously: "Is it too little for me to offend her?" When we returned to the hospital, Khuong Can had regained consciousness. His face was a little better, he tried to sit up, reaching out to me. "Dear mother." "What?" He grabbed my finger, his strength was very weak. "From now on, I don't dare to cheat again." "Please don't cheat." chase me away." I looked at the weak child in front of me, suddenly feeling a little tear in my eyes. "Who said I want to chase you away?" He bowed his head. "Aren't you a disaster..." Now I understood, he must have heard it before. "What they said wasn't correct." "So what are you?" "A trouble." I added another sentence. "But my people specialize in curing troubles." He grinned, cried and laughed at the same time. Missing a front tooth, ugly. I can't go away. Khuong Can stayed in my hospital for a month. He didn't gain weight, but he started to fight with me for breakfast. If he didn't win, he cried and hugged my leg: "Your mother didn't know how to fight like you." She blinked. "If you don't win, hug me." At that time, the Ta family's ethnic studies class started, Khuong Can also had to go. The old lady did not agree. "A girl only needs to know a few words and that's enough." I sarcastically said to her: "So mother only knows a few words?" The old lady was so angry that she broke the cup. I took Khuong Can to the ethnic studies class. Mr. Khuong Can was an old scholar in the Ta family's branch. As soon as he saw Khuong Can, he frowned so much that he could pinch a mosquito. I sat in the back." Khuong Can obediently held his school bag and walked towards the back. Several children in the clan laughed at him. "You bastard without a mother to teach you!"