TRBDM -Chapter 1 Rebirth

“Water… water…”

A withered hand clawed weakly at the edge of the bed. Looking closely, deep crescent gouges from her fingernails had been scratched into the wood.

Wei Zhaorong, the once-glorious Old Madam of the Marquis of Mingde’s estate, was now covered in festering sores. Her lips were cracked and dry, and a foul stench clung to her entire body.

Like a vicious ghost, she writhed and crawled across the bed.

“Chuan’er… Sheng’er… Wanyi… where are you…”

“I’m so thirsty. Please… give me some water.”

Outside the room, there was only deathly silence.

She hurt so much. It felt as though her bones had been hammered thousands of times, her skin scorched by blazing fire. She had scratched herself until her flesh was torn and bloodied.

“Someone… anyone there…”

The only reply was the howling of the north wind.

Wei Zhaorong slumped over the side of the bed, saliva trailing from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes remained wide open. Even at the very last moment of her life, she was still waiting for the sons and daughters she had doted on all her life.

Wei Zhaorong was the legitimate daughter of the Wei family in the capital. She had married into the Marquis of Mingde’s household and borne two sons and two daughters.

Her eldest son was Xie Chuan, her second son Xie Sheng, her eldest daughter Xie Wanrou, and her youngest daughter Xie Wanyi.

She also had a concubine-born son, Xie Lan, the child of the old marquis Xie Bo’an and a concubine. After the concubine died in childbirth, Xie Lan had been registered under her name and raised in her household.

Her eldest son, Xie Chuan, was a womanizer who favored his concubine and neglected his wife. In order to elevate his favored concubine, he even forced his lawful wife into divorce. Wei Zhaorong, biased toward her son, ignored her daughter-in-law’s tearful pleas and heartlessly drove her out of the marquis estate.

Her second son, Xie Sheng, was clever and quick-witted—the first in the family to earn a scholarly degree. Wei Zhaorong had always been proud of him. Yet Xie Sheng had long coveted the marquisate. After he inherited the title, believing that his mother favored his elder brother, he caused a scene and demanded to divide the family and establish his own household.

Wei Zhaorong tried to persuade him but failed. Feeling guilty toward her second son, she allowed him to take more than half of the family’s wealth when he left.

Her youngest daughter, Xie Wanyi, fell in love with a newly appointed third-place scholar. Despite the scholar already having a lawful wife, she insisted on becoming his concubine. Unable to withstand her unreasonable pestering, Wei Zhaorong reluctantly agreed. When Xie Wanyi married, Wei Zhaorong gave her the rest of the marquis household’s remaining wealth as dowry.

Yet Wanyi believed her dowry was only half of her elder sister’s and accused her mother of favoritism, harboring resentment against Wei Zhaorong for it.

As for the timid and incompetent eldest daughter, Xie Wanrou, and the concubine-born son, Xie Lan, they were the constant targets of bullying within the entire estate.

Xie Wanrou had once married splendidly into a general’s household. But her husband was violent, often beating her. When she was six months pregnant, she was struck so badly that she miscarried. Later, under the accusation of “failing to bear a child,” she was divorced. Ashamed of her for bringing disgrace, Wei Zhaorong refused to let her back through the marquis estate’s gates and instead sent her off to a remote side residence, ignoring her entirely.

Xie Lan, the concubine-born son, had been intelligent and studious since childhood. But Wei Zhaorong detested him, jealous that his talent surpassed that of her two biological sons. She forbade him from attending private school. He lived frugally, and it was only through the secret aid of his eldest sister, Xie Wanrou, that he managed to scrape by.

Because of Wei Zhaorong’s suppression, Xie Lan never had the chance to sit for the imperial examinations. He moved out of the Xie residence early on and took a minor clerical post in the local government.

With Xie Chuan squandering the estate’s resources while sitting idly on his inherited title, the marquis household gradually declined. Anything that could be sold was sold.

When the estate fell into ruin, Wei Zhaorong accidentally contracted smallpox. Xie Chuan cursed at her and drove her into the servants’ quarters.

She begged him to hire a physician, but Xie Chuan spat and said, “Hiring a doctor costs silver. Give me the money, and I’ll get one.”

“I… cough, cough… where would I have silver? I gave you control of the household long ago. You have an official salary—how could you not even afford to hire a doctor?”

“Mother, you can’t put it that way. Second Brother took more than half the family’s wealth when he set up his own household. What was left was given to Little Sister as dowry. What I got was nothing but an empty shell. Since you favored the two of them so much, go ask them for money.”

“But… Sheng’er severed our mother-son ties. Wanyi refuses to see me…”

“That’s not my concern. Who told you to play favorites?”

After abandoning Wei Zhaorong, Xie Chuan went off again to seek pleasure in the entertainment quarters, leaving her alone in the shabby courtyard to suffer for half a month.

Now, she was about to die. The children she had favored her entire life—not a single one had come.

Snow drifted down outside the window. When a thin layer had blanketed the ground, someone hurried in.

“Mother, Mother!”

Xie Wanrou fell to her knees before Wei Zhaorong’s bed and gathered her into her arms.

“Your daughter… is unfilial. I came too late.”

Wanrou wept with heart-wrenching grief. Wei Zhaorong had never known that her eldest daughter—who had lived timidly all her life, never daring to speak loudly—could cry with such force.

“Go… leave…” Wei Zhaorong pushed her away.

Wanrou froze, then looked at her gravely ill mother in disbelief. Hurt filled her expression.

“Mother, even at a time like this, you still cannot bring yourself to care for me.”

Wiping her face, Xie Wanrou helped Wei Zhaorong back onto the bed. “I’ll go fetch a doctor. And I’ll inform Elder Brother, Second Brother, and Little Sister.”

“No… no…”

Wei Zhaorong waved her hand. She knew Xie Wanrou had misunderstood.

She wanted Xie Wanrou to leave because she had contracted smallpox—it was highly contagious.

As for Xie Chuan, Xie Sheng, and Xie Wanyi, she had already seen through them.

They would not come.

Wei Zhaorong could no longer speak, but in her heart, she understood everything.

Footsteps sounded again from outside.

Through tear-blurred eyes, Xie Wanrou looked toward the door.

Xie Lan, dressed in a dark indigo robe and carrying the chill of wind and snow, stepped into the dilapidated courtyard.

Behind him followed a physician carrying a medicine chest.

“Doctor, I’ll trouble you.”

Xie Lan spoke little, only gesturing for the doctor to go to the bedside.

Wei Zhaorong’s vision was blurred; she could no longer see Xie Lan’s face clearly.

Ever since she had contracted smallpox, her eldest son, Xie Chuan, had thrown her into this side courtyard and never once come to see her again—let alone call for a doctor.

Xie Xuan and Xie Wanyi had never shown their faces either.

Wei Zhaorong had been shrewd all her life, yet only on her deathbed did she finally see the true faces of these wolf-hearted children.

She had never expected that it would be the daughter she had looked down upon—and the illegitimate son she had hated to the bone, Xie Lan—who would see her off at the end.

The physician had just placed his fingers on her wrist when Wei Zhaorong died.

Her soul drifted free of her body, floating in the air. She watched her eldest daughter weep in grief. Xie Lan, who had been standing by the doorway, walked to the bedside, lifted his robe, and knelt on both knees, kowtowing to her.

Someone ran to the Xie residence to deliver the news. Xie Sheng said coldly, “I’ve already severed ties with the Marquis Manor. What does her death have to do with me? Go find Xie Chuan.”

Xie Sheng, who had been indulging himself in the pleasure quarters, burst out laughing and clapped his hands when he heard of his mother’s death. “Finally dead! She had smallpox—whoever goes near her gets infected. I haven’t dared return home for days. Now I can finally go back.”

The messenger then ran to the Lin residence, where Xie Wanyi had married, but was turned away at the closed gates, not even granted a meeting.

Wei Zhaorong’s soul followed the messenger, witnessing everything.

Her heart felt hollow.

She had shown favoritism all her life, and this was the end she received.

She could blame no one—only herself.

A tear fell from her dried-up eyes. In old age, she neither clung to life nor feared death. She only wished for a dignified funeral.

When the old Marquis Xie Bo’an died, how grand his funeral had been.

Filial sons and worthy grandsons had lined up in dozens, and the funeral procession had stretched for a full li.

As for her—after death, she would likely not even have a decent coffin.

She hated it. Her soul hovered above the Marquis Manor, unwilling to leave.

Yet unexpectedly, Xie Wanrou and Xie Lan joined hands to give her a magnificent funeral.

“Rou’er, Lan’er, I wronged you. If… if there is a next life…”

As the wooden coffin was lowered into the earth, Wei Zhaorong’s unfinished words faded into nothingness.

“Mother, Mother? Please say something.”

Wasn’t she dead? Who was calling her?

Wei Zhaorong opened her eyes to see the person before her—it was her eldest son, Xie Chuan, the very one who had abandoned her in the side courtyard without a second thought.

But why did Xie Chuan look younger?

“Mother? Mother?” Xie Chuan’s large face loomed close, startling Wei Zhaorong.

“Mother, your son wants to marry Liu Yi’er, but that jealous shrew Dou Shuyao absolutely refuses. You must teach her a proper lesson!”

Wei Zhaorong froze for a moment.

Had she… been reborn?