Not Your Typical Villianess

After their meeting in the garden, Su Liya and Lu Yaozhu didn't run into each other again. After a month of marriage, Zhu Fengyin and Su Liya both adjusted to life in the Lu mansion. Apart from paying respects to Great madam Lu and meeting the steward, they spent most of their time in the main courtyard.

It was normal practice in noble families for the female members of the family to pay respect to the Great madam of the family every day or thrice a week. Depending on the instructions set by the Great madam or matriarch of the family.

Zhu Fengyin was the only wife married into the family was obligated to pay respects to Madam Lu every day. However, during her first meeting with Madam Lu after her wedding, she had been instructed to visit thrice a week. Madam Lu used the excuse of getting too old and not wanting to tire the younger generation.

it was no secret that Madam Lu wasn't in support of the marriage so Zhu Fengyin didn't pursue it further. After all, it was also to her advantage, since she was saved from the dreaded critique meetings with the in-laws. Most unfavoured daughter-in-laws faced in the hands of their mothers-in-law.

In a month of marriage, the number of times Zhu Fengyin visited Madam Lu could be counted by hand. Thi Madam Lu went to the temple two weeks after the wedding and only returned home recently. Madam Lu came back later in the evening, Zhu Fengyin wasn't at home since she had gone to check on the stores.

The next day Zhu Fengyin woke up early and went to madam Lu's courtyard to pay her respect. Madam Lu was attending to some visitors when she arrived. Apart from madam Lu's only daughters Lu Yiling, there were three young ladies and two madams present.

Su Liya saw two familiar faces among the young ladies, one was Xu Qiumei, the sixth daughter of fifth rank assistant minister of works Minister Xu. The Xu family and Lu family were relatives by marriage, Xu Qiumei was madam Lu's niece.

Xu Qiumei was a side character without many scenes in the original novel. She had married General Lu later in the book but that was after the crown prince and the original Female lead got married.

Madam Lu convinced General Lu to marry her after the previous marriage plans between Lu Yaozhu and Zhu Fenfang hadn't worked. Lu Yaozhu was very obedient to his mother, he married Xu Qiumei but never stopped loving Zhu Fenfang.

However, Xu Qiumei was very loyal to Lu Yaozhu, which led to her death at the end of the first book. Xu Qiumei was taken captive in the palace while Lu Yaozhu started a rebellion. Xu Qiumei was a pitiful side character that got killed by association.

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Xu Qiumei was a regular visitor at the Lu residence so Su Liya was familiar with her. She had visited a few times when Zhu Fengyin came to pay her respect to Madam Lu.

The other familiar face was none other than Zhu Fenfang the Original female lead and Su Liya's official most hated person. It was no surprise that she was present, it was around this time in the original plot that Madam Lu was trying to get her married into the Lu family.

The only difference to the original plot was that Zhu Fengyin was married to Duke Lu and not the sixth Prince. Their little change to the plot hadn't completely derailed the plot, everything was still going according to the original plot.

Su Liya felt relaxed with the way things were currently going since she was very familiar with the plot. However, she was a little worried by the absence of Xia Yang the original Female lead's best friend and Duke Lu's wife in the original novel.

Su Liya was surprised that a character like Xia Yang that was very important to the plot hadn't yet appeared. While she was a little worried, Su Liya hoped that it would stay that way. The character Xia Yang wasn't simple, she was quite a piece of work.

Xia Yang was more manipulative than all the Zhu sisters, she had always thought that it was a good thing Xia Yang was on the original Female lead side. If not things would be bleak for Zhu Fenfang because Xia Yang was a horrible enemy to have, she was very cutthroat.

Su Liya wasn"t familiar with the other young lady present but Madam Lu introduced her to Zhu Fengyin as the granddaughter of the assistant imperial secretary Wang Shiyi. The young ladies stood as Zhu Fengyin walked in, they all stood while Zhu Fengyin greeted the other madams before going to sit; next to madam Lu.

Zhu Fengyin and Madam Lu put on a show of having a good mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship since there were guests present. Su Liya was a little suspicious of the sudden influx of visitors, by the end of the visit one of her suspicions came true.

Zhu Fengyin informed her when they returned to their courtyard that Madam Wang and Wang Shiyi were here to grow a relationship with the Lu family by marrying their concubine daughter Wang Shiyi to the Duke as a first-rank concubine.

Su Liya was holding a coat when she heard Zhu Fengyin say that. She dropped the coat on the bed and sat next to Zhu Fengyin. "What! you have got to be kidding me. Didn't you just get married to the Duke, why are the vultures already surrounding you".

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Zhu Fengyin sighed and leaned by her side "Why wouldn't they, before our marriage the Duke always seemed detached from other affairs apart from politics. Madam Lu may have been approached by other noble families but had turned them all down."

"If she had turned them all down before why are they now coming out again, after just a month of marriage?" Su Liya asked frowning slightly.

"Because they smell blood, it's not difficult to guess that madam Lu isn't happy with this marriage. They are all hoping that I would fail to give birth within a year of marriage and allow them to push their daughters in".

"Isn't that just a risky decision on their part? With how often the Duke stays here, you might just get pregnant before six months" Zhu Fengyin blushed as she said that. "While we are speaking of the marriage unions, I think we should talk about the elephant in the room. Which is Zhu Fenfang, you don't need to worry about her marrying into the family_"

Su Liya was saying when she was cut off by Zhu Fengyin "Because she would marry into the royal family, the Crown Prince to be precise. oh I am not worried about her"