Instead of returning to sleep after her mother's departure, Xinyi began her spiritual cultivation.

Cultivating in this world required circulating the spiritual energy within one's body, while absorbing the free spiritual energy in the air through one's pores before melding them together into one.

Since the real Xinyi had hardly cultivated in her life, there was no muscle memory or familiarity with the practice, so Xinyi had to start from scratch, which meant merely familiarising herself with the spiritual energy within her.

More time passed and during the final two months of her mother's pregnancy, her mother finally asked a maid to take over her visits to Xinyi's courtyard.

On the maid's first visit, Xinyi looked and behaved very sickly and weak with the help of makeup.

She acted like she was afflicted with some contagious disease and advised the maid, out of good faith, to forget about her and that it was okay to keep it a secret.

The maid was more than happy to obey.

Convinced that no one would come by her courtyard anymore, Xinyi took this chance to revamp her room. She got rid of the heavy sandalwood incense, changed the deep yellow curtain drapes to light gray ones that looked close to silver, added pink freesia flowers into some of the empty vases, and opened the windows wide to air out the room.

A nice and cool spring breeze breathed life into the room.

By this time, Xinyi managed to cultivate enough spiritual energy within her to qualify as part of the Earth realm. However, she only recently started her martial arts practice, so it would take a little longer before she could determine her level.

Xinyi could only thank her lucky stars that she had learnt martial arts in her original world so it should not take as long for her to learn moves in this life.

During this entire period, BaoBao witnessed Xinyi's non-stop hard work and determination. She delved into work and that was all she thought about. There were no stray thoughts at all. Although he had witnessed the same behaviour through her memories, going through it with her was a completely different experience.

Unbeknownst to them, the favourable feelings that BaoBao had towards her continued to grow, and with time, he also became more comfortable with her.

Another two months passed, and her mother's baby was born.

Hearing that it was a boy, Xinyi decided that this was her chance to end her nocturnal lifestyle.

With a baby boy, Xinyi knew that her mother would be guaranteed a life of comfort even if she was not favoured. So, her mother no longer needed her to earn the pity and compassion of others. Xinyi would be neglected. At least until she was useful in the story again.

Xinyi stole a small pot that was never used in the kitchen and built a stove for herself in the back of her courtyard behind her house. It looked shabby but she did not mind as long as it served its purpose.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Now, she could cook her food during the day as well, instead of only surviving on one meal a day.

An idea to test how much of a neglected character she was came to mind.

Xinyi took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were grey like it was in her original world. Her hair was much longer and sleeker. Her features were also a little daintier.

‘I actually don't look too bad.’

After she used a little make-up powder to hide the rosiness of her cheeks, she left her courtyard to stroll around her home.

None of the servants bothered with her since they recognised her as a miss of the household.

She came across the daughter of the first concubine, Chen MeiRuo. She was a meek and quiet girl only two years older than her and already at the high-level Sky realm.

"JieJie." Xinyi greeted her with a polite small bow.

MeiRuo nodded back with a soft smile, then left.

After that, Xinyi came across the daughter of the main wife, Chen ZiYao, and the daughter of the third concubine, Chen HuiShan.

They were still 14 years old, but Xinyi could already tell that they were blooming into fine young ladies, especially HuiShan who had started off as an ugly duckling based on the original soul's memories.

Xinyi found it fishy that ZiYao would be so friendly with HuiShan when she had many reasons to dislike her.

The ones whom their father brought to parties, social gatherings, and shopping trips were often HuiShan and her mother. These opportunities allowed HuiShan to become acquainted with important people.

Normally, such opportunities would go to the children of the main wife. However, because HuiShan and her mother were very well-liked, everyone decided to close one eye to their father's obvious display of favoritism. Otherwise, her father's reputation would have taken a hit for such unconventional behaviour.

Among the people that HuiShan got acquainted with, there were the two people that made her father immensely proud of her.

One was the 6th prince of the royal family, WangWei.

Although he was only the 6th prince, many people recognised his potential, including the emperor, and that earned WangWei a lot of support that was enough to make the crown prince feel threatened.

The other was the prodigious son of the commander of the troops protecting the West border, who was also WangWei's trusted aide, ZhangYong. He was groomed from a young age to take over his father's position and had steadily gained merits over the years by his father's side.

Besides the lost opportunities, HuiShan outshined ZiYao, which was part of the reason for drawing the attention of WangWei and ZhangYong.

HuiShan gave off a warm and friendly aura. She was a natural people person and showed talent in both cultivation and arts that women were expected to be good at.

In contrast, ZiYao was more of the perfect female that was expected in society. She was pretty, demure, skillful in the various art forms, and has a glib tongue.

However, people could not stop comparing the girls since they were the same age.

Xinyi walked directly past the two girls, but the two paid no mind.

No one wondered how Xinyi could suddenly be healthy enough to walk around without anyone's support.

'It’s safe.’

Xinyi could venture beyond her courtyard from now on, and she already had an idea of where she could do her readings.

Another month passed and a full-month celebration was held for the newborn baby, Chen EnLai.

Although it was a huge celebration where many people of notable positions were invited, Xinyi was not expected to make an appearance. Apparently, she was still the sickly bedridden absent daughter in everyone's minds.

While everyone was all dolled up, only Xinyi was dressed simply with her long hair kept up in a simple style. She did not even bother with any makeup anymore and had been going around bare faced for days.

Xinyi was now deep into her reading, below the plum blossom tree by a small pond that was tucked away and separate from the main compound.

Xinyi liked reading here. There was little to no human traffic. Anyone lounging here would have nothing to sit on, besides the grass. Meanwhile, there was a prettier, more convenient, and well-maintained gazebo within the main compound.

[WangWei and ZhangYong are approaching.] BaoBao broke into her thoughts.

[They rejected being entertained in the sitting room. They’re now strolling around the estate while waiting for HuiShan. She's still busy greeting the incoming guests.]

Xinyi glanced up from her boo and soon saw the two men that BaoBao had alerted her to.