The Matriarch Returns

[Story Complete] (Next book: A Double Heir. Add it to your collection if it sounds interesting!) 1: The Shen family, whose patriarch was the Grand Secretary, was wiped out after getting caught up in the struggle for the throne. Shen Anning, the posthumous child of the family, was sent to the countryside under cover of night to escape. Fifteen years later, the Shen family was exonerated, and Shen Anning was brought back to the capital to marry Lu Sui'an, the heir apparent to a marquis, to whom she had been betrothed as a child. * 2: Raised in a poor farming household, Shen Anning could not read and had rough manners. Compared with Meng Anran, the adopted daughter raised in luxury at the marquis's residence, she was like a wild boar in a pigsty. She caused no end of embarrassment after marrying into the household, and her husband liked her even less for it. Just as Shen Anning was doing her utmost to keep her head down and win over everyone in the household, young and old alike, she suddenly had a strange dream. She dreamed that she spent five whole years taking care of every little thing herself, serving her husband, showing filial respect to her parents-in-law, and accommodating her husband's brothers' wives and sisters. She exhausted herself, only to fall ill with consumption the day before she was finally supposed to take charge of the household and become its mistress. * 3: During the two years after she fell ill, Lu Sui'an took Meng, the adopted daughter, as a concubine at his elders' arrangement. Meng gave birth to a daughter and soon had another child on the way. As Shen Anning was breathing her last, news reached her that Meng was to be raised to the position of principal wife. Only then did she learn that Meng was the daughter of the Shen family's former steward. All along, the marquis's household had mistaken Meng for Shen Anning, the girl they had rescued and raised in luxury as their future daughter-in-law for more than twenty years. For the seven years since Shen Anning married into the family, she had been kept in the dark. She had spent all that time trying to please an impostor, making herself the biggest joke of all. Before she died, Meng leaned close to Shen Anning's ear and smiled sweetly with the air of a victor. "Sister-in-law, you've kept my Ziyou all to yourself for seven whole years. It's time to give him back to me. I've waited so long for this day!" Then she added, "Actually, you should have died twenty years ago, shouldn't you? Go join your Grand Secretary family in the underworld." As she spoke, her face twisted with hatred. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it hard over Shen Anning's mouth and nose. Shen Anning screamed herself awake from the dream, drenched in cold sweat. When she opened her eyes, she saw the empty room where she had spent so many years alone. Her body and heart ached, and despair filled her. At the same time, she vowed to live differently in this life and never let the nightmare come true. * 4: Lu Sui'an disliked the crude Shen, but he had a weak stomach. Day after day, Shen had nursed him with bowls of country-style sweet potato porridge, and his stomach had improved considerably. One day, for the first time, he went over expecting to be fed, only to find that Shen had taken ill. It was the first time she had left him disappointed. His stomach twinged with pain, but he had no choice but to give up and leave, bearing the discomfort. Little did he know, in this life, he had nearly lost the chance to ever taste that sweet potato porridge again. Theme: Love yourself, and you can be loved.