Chapter 3: Hitting Two Sparrows With One Stone

"How are you feeling?" Madam Gao asked. Her face showed her deep worry. She also looked tired due to the lack of sleep and continuous tears.

"Tired." She answered with a raspy voice. She tried to talk more but she was just too exhausted to do so. "Mother, I want to be alone, for now." She spoke slowly, enduring the pain.

Li Mao understood that her daughter needed time to think, however, it would be a challenge to move around on her own. "But it would be hard to…," she tried to persuade her.

"Please mother." She knew that her mother did not want to leave her alone, but Gao Lan Mei insisted and eventually, Li Mao relented with a heavy heart.

Her eyes stayed on her reluctantly leaving "mother". She knew that her new life was given by this family. Returning the favor was her responsibility. It was a new feeling for her to be cared for like that. Every time her mother had looked at her sadly and helplessly earlier, she felt a strange warmth in her heart. The feeling of someone else being concerned for her was foreign, but not unpleasant.

Judging from the previous owner's memory, her mother was in her late forties but still looked like she was in her late twenties. Her husband surely doted on his wife and daughter a lot.

Her "father" as she remembers it, was a minister. Though he was very strict with other people, that was not the case with his wife and child. Through the years, her "father" had not taken a second wife or a concubine despite not having a son. This is also the case after knowing that his wife could not give birth anymore.

She then looked around the room. It was dark because of the thick curtains, but she preferred it this way. There's also the strong smell of medicine coming from the bowls near the bed. Though this was the case, this is still perfectly fine for Gao Lan Mei. It was comfortable for her as she was used to the smell of these types of bitter herbs.

Next, as she assessed her physical condition, Gao Lan Mei frowned. That wolf beast had really intended for the original body's owner to die. Her body could now be likened to a living corpse. Without spiritual energy, it would take a while for it to recover.

She tried to touch her aching face and judging by the pain, the wounds were deep. The type that would leave scars and might not be removed for a lifetime.

For the original Gao Lan Mei, it would have been a near-impossible task, but that's not the case for the new owner of the body. She just needed the right medicine and spiritual energy to remove the scars and it would be like they were never there in the first place.

On the other hand, she had never cared about her appearance before, so why bother caring now?

Her left rib was broken, that was also the case with her left forearm and right leg. Aside from losing too much blood, her internal organs were also damaged.

'I might be a cripple,' Gao Lan Mei thought. 'Do not worry, since I am now the one using your body, I will make them regret looking down on you. We will start collecting debt immediately.'

Gao Lan Mei knew that the first thing she needed to do was collect resources. 'Feng Jin, you know what to do,' she mentally called.

There were many things to take care of, especially since she was starting a new life. 'Let's start by hitting two sparrows with one stone.'

'Yes miss,' the soft voice of a child answered from within her consciousness, then a small shadow moved out of Gao Lan Mei's body.

…

At the second prince's manor, a little brown sparrow could be found perched on a redwood tree branch. It was watching curiously at the servants running around like headless chickens. They were hurriedly filling and passing buckets of water that the guards were using to stop a fire lit in the treasury.

If not for the current situation, anyone who saw the small bird-like that would feel strange, as it was well known that sparrows were afraid of fire and didn't like smoke.

When one looked closely, they would see a large ring around the sparrow's neck.