The Villainous Heiress in a Marriage-Swap Story 01

"Miss, the road ahead is blocked by commoners; the carriage simply cannot pass."

Xu Bo, seated at the front of the carriage, slowly reined in the horses, then turned to look at the curtained compartment behind him, his tone somewhat cautious.

"So early in the morning, which commoners dare to block this young lady's path?"

Chen Yao was already furious from having to rise early for the journey, and at these words, a thin layer of anger instantly colored her pretty face.

She reached out and yanked aside the carriage curtain, glaring furiously down the road ahead.

Sure enough, the main road, which wasn't even wide to begin with, was completely jam-packed with a large crowd of shabbily dressed commoners, many dragging children along.

The carriage she was riding in was already wide-bodied to begin with; unless she was willing to plow straight through them, there was no way to pass.

"How dare they!" Chen Yao's delicate brows shot up as she shot the coachman a furious glare. "Can't you call for someone to drive these ruffians away?"

"But miss..." Xu Bo's face showed a hesitant expression as he gripped the reins, about to explain.

"Miss, it was you who said earlier when we left that bringing along a full contingent of guards would be too conspicuous and would disturb the incense at Jingjue Temple, and that it would displease Master Fanjing. That's why you insisted they not follow."

From within the carriage, Mei Yue, the maidservant who always attended at the young lady's side, couldn't help but remind her in a low voice.

Chen Yao certainly wasn't about to admit any fault of her own; instead, her expression grew even more sullen.

She set her small face in a hard line and said coldly, suppressing her anger, "Just because I said not to follow, they really didn't? A bunch of brainless fools!"

Mei Yue was long accustomed to her mistress's habit of ignoring past events and blaming everyone else for any mistake, so she simply lowered her head submissively and answered softly, "Yes, miss is right."

"And you!" Chen Yao's gaze turned back to Xu Bo, her apricot eyes glaring at him angrily. "Is this the only road to Jingjue Temple? Why don't you hurry up and find another route!"

She tugged at the silk handkerchief in her hand, crushing it into a tight ball, and threatened, "If you dawdle any longer and make me arrive at Jingjue Temple later than Lan Yiqing, then I'll..."

She paused, as if she hadn't quite thought of a specific punishment, and could only let out a deliberate cold snort, lifting her chin and saying, "Anyway, you know what I'm capable of. You'll be sorry then!"

At the thought of how the household and those outside it alike privately gossiped that the Second Miss was always arrogant and tyrannical, Xu Bo couldn't help but shudder.

He hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to speak another word. "Yes, this servant understands. I'll take a small side road right away and won't delay miss's timing!"

Only then did Chen Yao look satisfied.

As Xu Bo turned the carriage around, reining in the horses, his heart couldn't help but thump nervously.

He remembered that last night, Old Li the gatekeeper, who shared the servants' quarters with him, seemed to have mentioned that the Second Miss had secretly sent a few servants out of the manor in the evening to dig some hidden shallow pits on a small road outside the city.

At the time, he'd taken it as idle chatter, but now that it suddenly came to mind—it couldn't be that this was the very same small road he was about to take, could it?

He initially thought to give a word of warning, but then reconsidered: since the pits had been dug on Miss's own orders, she surely wouldn't trap her own people, right? Besides, she was already in a foul mood; if he went blundering in with pointless talk, he'd likely just earn himself another scolding.

After mulling it over, Xu Bo silently swallowed the words that had risen to his lips.

He kept his hands on the reins and quietly guided the carriage around into a small road that was even more remote than the main thoroughfare.

The road surface was narrower here, with low undergrowth on both sides, making the carriage ride a bit more bumpy.

Chen Yao sat inside the carriage. Though soft seat cushions were laid beneath her, she still felt dizzy from the jostling and couldn't help but frown in complaint. "What kind of broken road is this?"

"Bear with it a little, miss. It's probably just this stretch that's rough; once we get back onto the main road ahead, it should be much smoother," Mei Yue consoled.

In truth, she wasn't entirely sure the road ahead would be smooth either, but she knew very well that if she didn't coax her young lady at this moment, she'd definitely throw another little tantrum.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yao merely gave a light snort, at least managing to endure and say nothing more.

They bumped along for a little while longer, and, just as Mei Yue had said, the road ahead did indeed smooth out considerably.

Just as Chen Yao was beginning to relax, thinking they'd finally left that rough stretch behind, she suddenly heard a sharp, heavy "Whoa—" from the driver's seat up front.

Before she could even react, she felt the entire carriage jerk to a sudden halt, and the horse at the front seemed startled into a long, high whinny.

The tremendous inertia sent both Chen Yao and Mei Yue lurching forward uncontrollably.

Had Mei Yue not reacted with remarkable speed—grabbing hold of her mistress at once while bracing her own body in front of Chen Yao—the young lady would have slammed straight into the carriage wall.

"Hiss." As her back struck the carriage paneling, Mei Yue couldn't help but let out a muffled grunt.

Even though Chen Yao, who loved comfortable surroundings, had soft cushions lining the four walls of the compartment, hitting them at this force still hurt.

Clearly, even though Chen Yao had been shielded, she was still incensed by this sudden turn of events. Rubbing the arm Mei Yue had grabbed, her pretty face was simply blazing with fury.

Before her mistress could explode, Mei Yue quickly raised her voice and shouted reprimands at the driver. "Xu Bo, how are you driving? If you'd thrown Miss, ten heads wouldn't be enough to pay for it!"

Chen Yao's slightly parted lips closed again, but her cheeks remained tense, flushed with a hint of red from her anger.

Just you wait! Once I get back to the manor, I'll have Steward Zhao throw this coachman out on his ear, and give him a good beating too!

Chen Yao fumed silently to herself.

Though, in consideration, he did look up there in years—if the beating turned out too harsh and something happened, Mother would surely scold her again. But if she didn't vent this anger, wouldn't it make her look like a pushover as a mistress?

No, she'd have to think of some other punishment for him. She couldn't just let him off easily by kicking him out of the manor...

As Chen Yao wrestled with this tangled web of thoughts, she heard Xu Bo's terrified report from outside. "Reporting to miss: it seems someone dug an inconspicuous shallow pit in this road, and the wheel has fallen into it. Your servant will go down and take a look right away!"

Chen Yao, "..."

Her memory came flooding back, as if she'd just remembered: yesterday she'd been the one to arrange for servants to dig a few shallow pits along this very small road, a likely shortcut for Lan Yiqing, precisely to snag that woman's carriage and prevent her from reaching Jingjue Temple first.

She'd simply forgotten all about it...

She hurriedly lifted the curtain again and glanced around, but saw no sign of Lan Yiqing's carriage at all. That meant Lan had seen the trap, gotten through unscathed, and moved on—infuriating!

But Chen Yao never wallowed in self-blame. Her thoughts twisted instantly, and she immediately decided this must be some scheme of Lan Yiqing's.

She gritted her teeth and said angrily, "She must have seen through my plan and deliberately used this pit against me. That wicked, cunning woman!"

Mei Yue could see her mistress's cheeks flushed with rage, her small hand clenching the silk handkerchief just a little tighter—yet she vented all her anger at Lan, who wasn't even present, rather than thinking to punish the careless driver.

She knew that although their miss was sharp-tongued, she was actually soft-hearted at the core. Even when she talked of punishing servants on ordinary days, it was mostly just talk; she'd forgotten it all the moment her attention turned, and had never truly dealt out any heavy punishment.

As for a mistress scolding and berating her servants, that was simply a common part of life for those below stairs. As long as they weren't cast out of the manor, a few sharp words were entirely something they could simply shrug off.

"I'm suffocating in this carriage. When are you going to get the wheel out?" Chen Yao had soon grown impatient when the driver went to take a look and then went quiet.

She reached out a hand, and Mei Yue immediately understood, quickly offering her own hand in turn to carefully help her mistress down.

At the same time, she called out to the driver, "Xu Bo, Miss is getting down. Bring the mounting stool over quickly."

Xu Bo hurriedly assented, straightening up to bring the stool and placing it before the carriage, then standing at the side with his head bowed, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Chen Yao stepped down from the carriage quickly, her gaze sweeping over the wheel stuck in the shallow pit, then landing on the flustered coachman standing helplessly by the side. Her brow furrowed even deeper. "Still not fixed? Useless."

Xu Bo wiped the cold sweat dripping from his forehead and could only bow repeatedly. "It's this servant's uselessness for delaying miss's journey. Please forgive me, miss!"

Mei Yue saw her mistress's brow pinched and expression still dark, knowing she was still nursing her anger—mostly over the possibility that she might yet fail to beat Lan to Jingjue Temple.

She leaned in close to whisper in her ear, "Miss, I hear that Master Fanjing of Jingjue Temple values karmic affinity above all. Even if Miss Lan arrives early, she may not necessarily be the one to receive the blessed talisman personally consecrated by Master."

Chen Yao's ears perked at this, and she immediately felt it made perfect sense. She gave a slight lift of her chin and snorted, "Naturally. How could Lan Yiqing possibly compare to me in karmic fortune?"

With that thought, she felt she wasn't necessarily going to lose to that woman Lan Yiqing after all, and her mood improved considerably.

Still, looking at the rough, dusty road before her, her pretty face immediately scrunched up in distaste. She pursed her lips. "Help me back into the carriage. Who wants to dirty my shoes on this wretched road?"

"Yes, miss." Mei Yue promptly answered.

Back inside the carriage, Chen Yao sat and lifted the curtain again, seeing the driver still standing there scratching his head, utterly at a loss.

She lifted her chin in displeasure and said to Mei Yue, "You go down and help him too. Don't just stand around idle."

Though she herself couldn't think of a solution, servants were there to do the work, after all. If everything needed to be solved by their mistress, then what use was there in keeping a bunch of useless people around?

Chen Yao thought this with perfect self-righteousness.

Mei Yue, of course, gave an obedient assent and climbed down from the carriage as well.

Chen Yao sat alone in the carriage, her small frame reclined against the cushions. She idly reached over to pick up a piece of peach blossom pastry from the small side table, brought it to her lips, and took a refined, slow bite.

The flavor was, well, just middling. She really couldn't understand what was so praiseworthy about that newly opened pastry shop on West Street.

With that thought, she picked up another piece and nibbled it with careful deliberation.

"When are those kidnappers going to show up already?" Chen Yao wiped the corner of her mouth with a touch of boredom, poking at System 04 in her mind.

Though this small world was still an ancient historical setting, there was one difference: the female lead, Lin Fanyun, was actually a book transmigrator. She had originally been a newly admitted freshman at a medical university in the modern world. She'd only heard her roommate give a rough summary of the first half of a novel, and right as she was about to borrow the whole book to catch up on the story, she'd transmigrated straight into a novel titled The Vicious Fake Heiress Is Everyone's Darling, becoming the true heiress, Fan Yun.

The female lead of the novel was called Jiang Chenyao, the darling young miss of the Zhen Guogong household, raised with great indulgence for years. She was willful and arrogant, bullying others at will, relying on the household's favor to run roughshod. Even after the true heiress Fan Yun, brought back from Jingjue Temple, exposed her identity, she remained the apple of the household's eye.

Especially since the Duke himself rarely involved himself in household affairs, and the Lady Zhenguo, who held the real power in the manor, though feeling guilty toward her own daughter Fan Yun, could never help but favor Jiang Chenyao, whom she'd raised at her knee since childhood, whenever true and fake heiress clashed. Even when she did something wrong, she'd be let off with a brush-off.

The only one who showed the fake heiress no pleasant expressions at all was the eldest young master of the manor, Jiang Suijing. Mainly because he spent years stationed at the frontier leading troops and had a straightforward, upright temperament. He had no fondness for his thoroughly spoiled sister Jiang Chenyao, instead favoring his steady, reserved sister Fan Yun.

Unfortunately, according to the story Lin Fanyun had heard in rough outline from her roommate, this upright eldest young master would later be gravely wounded and die in an accident while suppressing bandits outside the capital. As for the evil-doing fake heiress Jiang Chenyao, being the female lead of the novel after all, she was said to even marry the refined and elegant heir to Prince Jia, Xiao Lanzhou—a complete winner's path in life.

But that was only the plot of the first half. At the time, her roommate had deliberately left it a cliffhanger, saying that the second half actually held an earth-shattering twist.

Therefore, in this small world, Chen Yao too could not obtain the full, original plot. Fortunately, she was given compensation: she truly only needed to play the part of the vicious supporting female role convincingly, and this world's evaluation was, at last, primarily based on her persona maintenance score.

System 04 was silent for a moment. How was it supposed to know?

It had said it before—most of the time, it was just a chat voice pack, at most adding a bit of ability to survey the surroundings. Beyond that, it was just as blind as its host.

"Almost there, almost there. Just wait a little longer," System 04 rolled over, its tone carrying a familiar note of brushing-off impatience. "Anyway, according to the plot node, it's just around the corner."

Chen Yao clicked her tongue in displeasure. "So slow."

This kidnapping-of-the-fake-heiress plot point was a major milestone, both in the novel and in the post-transmigration storyline. She wouldn't have to suffer any real hardship, though; it was simply meant to bring Fan Yun, the little novice nun still staying at Jingjue Temple, into the formal view of the Zhen Guogong household.