The Reborn Matriarch: When My Cousin Moved In, I Still Ruled the Household

Jiang Wanwei is reborn six months after marrying into the Gu family and realizes she’s standing at the first fork in the road from her previous life.

Her cousin lives in the neighboring courtyard, and her husband has already started casting wandering glances her way.

She was raised by her aunt and uncle, spoiled from childhood, with a blunt, fiery temper that could flare at the slightest provocation. In her previous life, she exploded on the spot and slammed the door on her way back to her parents’ home, creating a rift between herself and her husband that lasted half their lives.

Her older sister put an arm around her and advised, “You have a fiery temper, little sister. Stay home and avoid social gatherings. Keeping to the household is the sensible thing to do.” She believed every word. She stopped going out and making connections, and spent twenty years trapped in the inner household.

What did it get her? Her eldest daughter was bullied and ground down by her in-laws. Her husband forced their third daughter to marry the cousin’s son, and both mother and child died in childbirth. Her second son was framed during the imperial examinations and barred from taking them for life. She died young from grief and rage, while her husband promptly married her cousin. Everything she had ended up in someone else’s hands.

Reborn, she rubbed her temples and finally saw clearly.

Her first move was to serve tea to her mother-in-law, a commandery princess, and learn how to build connections and navigate the household.

Her cousin? She wouldn’t drive her away. She’d elevate her to the status of her husband’s concubine and let him get sick of her on his own. When her older sister came to offer concern again, Jiang Wanwei smiled and played along. Then she went out to banquets, made friends, and paved the way for her children.

In this life, she wanted only two things: stay close to her mother-in-law and raise her children well, protecting everything that had belonged to her in her previous life, one thing at a time.