The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

”Alright.”

Xiao Yuan wrote a letter to Wei Xing and sent it to Wuyuan, while Anning had the maids set the table for a meal.

After sending out the letter, Xiao Yuan dined with Anning, but after a few bites, Anning felt a wave of nausea.

She quickly checked her own pulse.

”Let me see.”

Xiao Yuan also took Anning’s wrist to check her pulse, and after that, his face lit up with joy: ”We are going to have a child.”

Anning nodded and smiled: ”Yes.”

The letter Xiao Yuan sent reached Wuyuan, and after reading it, Wei Xing burned it.

Then he racked his brains trying to make Mr. Wei realize that Xin Lan was not carrying his child.

However, at this crucial moment, Mr. Wei seemed slow to react, never suspecting anything, which made Wei Xing so anxious that his throat soon turned red and speaking became painful.

In a fit of anger, he decided to ignore it.

Anning and Xiao Yuan stayed in Xincheng County for six years.

During these six years, neither of them returned to Wuyuan or went to the Capital.

While Wuyuan remained peaceful, the Capital was another story altogether.

In the Capital, all princes fought fiercely for the throne over these six years, leading to bloodshed. During this period, Emperor Jianyuan deposed two princes and confined another.

Throughout these six years, Xiao Yuan governed Xincheng County excellently, developing a sea trade route that prospered maritime trade, which more than doubled the size of Xincheng County and allowed its people to thrive.

Thanks to Xiao Yuan’s good governance and Bai En’s efforts in the Capital, when his term in Xincheng County ended, he was rapidly promoted several ranks, leaping from seventh-rank County Magistrate to fifth-rank Prefect.

Xiao Yuan and Anning decided to return to Wuyuan before taking up the new post.

After all, being away from home for six years, they needed to return to visit.

The couple packed their belongings and set off for their hometown with their son Wei Lang.

Upon returning, Anning discovered that Xin Lan was not living well.

Because Wei Xing had spoken up several times before, Mr. Wei gradually began suspecting and felt unsettle looking at the son Xin Lan gave birth to for him, Wei Yan.

Unclear if it was a psychological factor, the more he looked at Wei Yan, the less he thought the child resembled him.

However, after investigating everyone in the household, he found no evidence of an affair involving Xin Lan, so he could only endure it.

As Mr. Wei already harbored suspicions against Xin Lan, naturally, he didn’t treat her well.

Moreover, Wei Xing and Wei Susu often caused trouble, putting obstacles in Xin Lan’s way, and the Old Madam also disliked Xin Lan, making her life difficult for years. When Anning met her, six years had aged Xin Lan ten or twenty years, showing how oppressive her life had been.

No matter how oppressed Xin Lan felt, Anning wouldn’t spare her because of it.

Within a few days of returning to Wuyuan, Anning found Xin Lan’s adulterer.

In reality, he was no adulterer; Xin Lan herself didn’t know the child was not Mr. Wei’s.

It all stemmed from Xin Hui.

Xin Hui was up to no good, indulging in gambling and vices that exhausted the family’s wealth, which angered Scholar Xin to death, and then leaned on Xin Lan for support.

Xin Lan didn’t have much money, unable to sustain Xin Hui’s squandering ways. Once, when Xin Hui asked her for money, Xin Lan scolded him, and Xin Hui bore a grudge.

Coincidentally, Xin Hui owed money to someone called Wu Sanlang, who admirably fancied Xin Lan, even after her marriage.

Xin Hui and Wu Sanlang were on good terms, and after Xin Hui vented to Wu Sanlang, Wu Sanlang seized the opportunity to concoct a plan with Xin Hui, offering him money to lure Xin Lan out, enabling Wu Sanlang to have his way with her.

Xin Hui, for the sake of money, did such despicable acts.

Using the pretext of arranging a marriage for Xin Yun, he tricked Xin Lan into visiting home.

After Xin Lan returned, Xin Hui treated her generously, buying fine food and wine, but he drugged them.

Xin Lan never suspected her own brother’s deceit and had no guard up.

After dinner, she lost consciousness, and Wu Sanlang came to the Xin home to sleep with Xin Lan.

Upon waking with discomfort, Xin Lan, muddled by a headache and confusion, thought little of it and went back home.

Arriving in Wuyuan, Anning’s first task was uncovering Wei Yan’s biological father, and then having Xiao Yuan expose the truth.

Upon knowing Wei Yan wasn’t his biological son, Mr. Wei felt a weight lift from his heart, but also felt anger, shame, and hatred.

Mr. Wei valued his reputation and refrained from speaking about his wife sleeping with another man, being a Prefect of Wuyuan, it was easy to convict someone.

He first accused the Wu Family, imprisoning and torturing Wu Sanlang.

Then, he arrested Xin Hui.

While Anning and Xiao Yuan took up their post in Jiangnan, Mr. Wei had already sent Wei Yan away.

Publicly, it was said Mr. Wei’s youngest son died of illness, but he didn’t have the heart to kill the child, instead finding a childless couple to send Wei Yan far away.

Next was Xin Lan.

Mr. Wei didn’t cast her out, choosing instead to weaken her through illness.

After Anning and Xiao Yuan had been in Jiangnan for two years, Xin Lan breathed her last breath from the torment.

By this time, the court’s situation had become clear.

The elder princes, having fought to mutual ruin, were either deposed or imprisoned.

Then Emperor Jianyuan appointed the Eleventh Prince raised by Empress Chu as Crown Prince, two years later, Emperor Jianyuan passed, and the Eleventh Prince ascended the throne.

The Eleventh Prince was mediocre and weak; Empress Chu took this opportunity to rule from behind the curtains.

By this time, Xiao Yuan had entered the Capital as a Capital Official, serving as the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but with the Minister of Revenue being frail and sickly, Xiao Yuan managed all affairs.

Xiao Yuan supported Empress Chu in secret, and with her own network built over the years, along with Bai En’s cooperation, it wasn’t long before Empress Chu controlled the court. Any officials who opposed were purged by her and Bai En.

After another seven or eight years, Empress Chu deposed the little Emperor and ascended the throne herself as Empress.