Transmigration: The Fate of the Villainess

“Miss.”

“She’s back?” Bai Yu glanced at her other personal maid, who had disappeared since early in the morning. Up until now, Xiao Xi was the only one helping her get dressed.

“How did it go?”

“I’ve bought those male servants’ silence, miss. At dawn, I paid that maid’s friend to pretend that she came across her in the parlor room so that she would see the state she was in before taking her to receive treatment.”

Bai Yu nodded, satisfied. Xiao Chang was meticulous in her every action. Despite not serving Bai Yu for long, she could already understand her personality. She could carry out orders and take care of the aftermath without having to be reminded. “Did anyone see those maids?”

“Yes, miss. Other servants in the mansion were all gossiping that she was already defiled.”

“What about her friend?”

“I have ordered her to deny everything and to protect her friend by saying that miss has taken back the order. I also told the male servants from last night to spread the rumor.”

.....

“Mm.” Bai Yu nodded.

“Will this be fine, miss? That maid’s reputation is one thing, but the servants will see miss as a controlling woman.”

Bai Yu smiled and shook her head to Xiao Xi, who was still worried after hearing her plan to deceive everyone in the mansion last night. “I had hoped so.”

“But what if the gossip spreads outside the mansion, miss?” Xiao Chang, too, even though she was the person who had carried out the plan, could not feel at ease at the thought of her miss’ reputation being dragged down for punishing a disrespectful maid.

“That’s why I have one side spreading the gossip and the other denying it by saying that I had taken back my order.”

The people within Bai Mansion had already known of her tantrums and wickedness. Though she had truly ordered the punishment, a dispute occurred. There was one side who argued that she had revoked it afterward, and the maid was still pure, while another claimed the maid was already defiled because of her order. The disagreement would then distract people from the truth and make them focus on Bai Yu being a controlling daughter who would not allow any women near her father.

“My mother never likes it when my father has other women. But she did not want others to see her as a possessive wife who forbade her husband from having a concubine, so she had to agree with my father first, then take revenge on those women later.”

Xiao Xi and Xiao Chang nodded in agreement. The first Furen had always been aggressive toward other Furens, but she strangely never objected when the master spent the night with any of them.

From the start, Yue Mei used the reasoning that she did not love Bai Han to let him do everything as he pleased. While Yue Mei never stopped him, she also never befriended any of his women. She would pick on them, sometimes bully, but no one could criticize her since those were within her power to do.

The only thing she could not do was stop women from approaching Bai Han. If she forbade Bai Han from having concubines or tried to push the women away, people would start to talk. And word of mouth was a terrifying problem in this era.

Bai Yu knew her mother had a way of dealing with women who were involved with her father. What she could not do was deal with women who were ‘aiming to’ become involved with her father. And so, Bai Yu would step in and handle it instead of her mother. Nipping the problem in the bud was always a good thing, and from now on, another misunderstanding would not occur between her parents again.

Her plan had started the moment she came back to Bai Mansion. Before coming to serve her, Xiao Chang was a maid who had many connections within the mansion, and so she would know which maid was trying to become another concubine for her father. Bai Han was the only man in the mansion, and he was still handsome despite being more than forty years old.

Every maid in the city wanted to have a husband with good status. And being the master’s concubine was the best one could achieve. Bai Yu was not surprised that Li Rong could easily betray Yue Mei. She was the same as many maids in the mansion who dreamed of being intimate with Bai Han.

Bai Yu would satisfy them and give them hope by giving this pretty maid who had been eyeing her father an ‘opportunity’. She created a situation where they would both be alone together, and obviously, that woman would take the bait, not realizing that she was under the eyes of Bai Yu’s people. Luckily, her father refused her and made the plan proceed much more smoothly. Bai Yu punished that maid in front of everyone by saying that she would find a husband for her if her father did not like her. And obviously, the word ‘fight’ would spur people’s imaginations.

Xiao Chang was the one to carry out everything. She was the one who brought that maid to the parlor room while her father hurried away. It was also her who set the stage for the ‘fight’ among the male servants who were paid to act like they had defiled that maid. After she had fainted, Xiao Chang then went to report to Bai Yu that everything went as planned, and no one else saw it.

This morning, Xiao Chang then spread the rumor that the maid was ‘fought over’ all night until she fainted, so her friend had to bring her back to the servant’s quarter and nurse her. The scene of her friend carrying her back in a compromising state would send the message that ‘If you want to share a bed with the master, the first miss will give you several husbands.’ Let’s see if there’s someone who dares challenge her!

“What if she insists that she’s still pure?” Xiao Xi could not shake her worry.

“No one will believe her,” Xiao Chang said. “The state she was in...it’s impossible that anyone who saw that would think she was not defiled. And Miss’ order last night was loud and clear. No one will believe she can escape from the order.”

“Xiao Chang’s right...” Bai Yu tilted her face in front of the bronze mirror, nonchalantly observing her make-up done by Xiao Xi. “...But if you’re still worried, I have another way to shut her up.”

“W...What is that?”

“Kill her.”

“Miss!”

“I’m joking, hahahaha.” Bai Yu burst out laughing when she saw her puppy maid’s eyes bulging wide. Xiao Chang stifled her laughter with her hand as she was afraid her sister would get angry. “Miss, please don’t joke like that. Miss might be a bit spoiled, but not so evil to the point of being able to kill a person, right?” Xiao Xi sighed. Her face was still pale from the shock.

“I have a better method than that. There’s no need for you to worry.” Back at Da Chu, she had taken many lives already, and so she did not agree that she could not kill people. Bai Yu only changed the subject, directing it back to the maid who had yet to wake up.

Bai Yu’s plan this time was to discourage the women who had been aiming for the concubine title. It would be good if the effect extended to protecting Bai He as well if one day he came back here. It would be a lie to say that the loss of her reputation this time did not affect her at all. But she was raised in a world where everyone could protect their own rights, so it was not too hard to sacrifice a bit of reputation for something she deserved.

She had a good example of monogamy. That was why she believed that it was possible for this world to be the same as what she had seen in her past life. Not everyone would be able to accomplish it, but at least she and her mother refused to be tormented by this any longer. She would protect her reputation, but trading some for a happy marriage was worth it. Let them know that Miss Bai Yu was controlling. If anyone wanted to marry her, he would have to know how to deal with this wicked and controlling woman.

“Xiao Chang, tell that male servant you paid last night to bring that maid to Li Rong’s residence.”

“Li Rong?” Xiao Xi tilted her head. “The third miss’ mother?”

“That’s right.” Bai Yu smiled. “Let her stay with Li Rong. Give her the same punishment as Li Rong’s, the one my mother had ordered so that others will know they’re the same. She might say that she’s still pure, but no one will believe her. Everyone has understood.”

Bai Yu smiled to herself in the mirror. The wicked sneer she had often used in the films now reappeared in real life.

“Birds of the same feather must flock together.”

—————–

“Greetings to mother.”

“Come, I’ve prepared you snacks.”

“Yes, mother.”

Bai Yu followed the tug from her mother’s hand around hers and walked toward the training ground she had used every day during her stay here. Right now, the gazebo felt livelier than when she was here, much like the Meihua residence that seemed to rejoice at the return of its true owner.

“I heard you punished a disrespectful maid.”

“Yes, mother. I’ve already taken care of everything before coming here.”

“You shouldn’t have marred your reputation for a father like him.”

Bai Yu put her hand on the back of her mother’s tightened fist. “I’m fine. Father also didn’t respond to her invitation as you might have thought.”

“Yu-er,” her mother softly called. Those eyes gazing at her were brimmed with tears. “I’m sorry for making you go through this.”

“No, mother.” Bai Yu shook her head. “It was me who had asked to be there.” She squeezed her mother’s hand.

“No matter what mother has gone through, I will eliminate it all from now on.”

Yue Mei said nothing, only giving her a tearful smile. Bai Yu hugged her and let her cry silently.

She knew they were not tears of gratefulness. They were the tears of a woman whose husband took another woman after she had left for only three days. Though Bai Yu had said she had control over everything and had insisted that Bai Han was not interested in the maid, Yue Mei’s heart was battered, nonetheless.