After Rebirth, My Wife Turned Out to Be Myself - Extra 2

Suddenly having an extra person around, no… an extra soul, and a soul that could chatter incessantly all day long, Xie Wan really shouldn’t be used to it. She still preferred quiet.

Perhaps it was because ‘she’ was herself, which was why Xie Wan was exceptionally tolerant. Looking at the ‘Empress’ sitting opposite her, dressed in dignified and grand imperial yellow, yet her mouth never stopped, Xie Wan thought this.

“Yes, yes, place the piece right here!”

Following her instructions, Xie Wan placed her piece on the corresponding spot.

Then, she picked up her own piece and placed it in another unexpected position.

“Checkmate,” Xie Wan said calmly.

Anyu: “…”

Lost again!

“Again!” The Empress rolled up her sleeves, refusing to admit defeat.

Xie Wan remained unperturbed, collecting all the pieces from the board one by one.

Qingcui watched her mistress playing both sides of the game by herself, and not only that, but after ‘checkmate’, she started all over again. This scene made Qingcui’s heart pound.

“Mistress, Qingcui will go pour you some tea.”

Xie Wan nodded.

Qingcui hurried away, but Anyu glanced at her retreating back and whispered, “Why does Qingcui seem a little afraid of you?”

Xie Wan: “Is it strange?”

“If you smile more, maybe she won’t be afraid,” Anyu said, tilting her head.

“Why should I smile…” Xie Wan furrowed her brow.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t smiled at all after being in the palace for so long?” Anyu’s heart ached instantly.

Xie Wan looked as if she had heard something she found very confusing.

Smile?

Why smile?

“Don’t worry about the Xie family. Although their situation isn’t good and Emperor Ruiming sees them as a thorn in her side, Father holds military power, so Chu Long wouldn’t dare do anything,” Anyu said softly. “If… it’s because the palace is boring, then I’ll keep you company and talk.”

“Mm.”

Seeing her still looking indifferent, Anyu pouted. “Did Younger Aunt send this chess set to you in the palace?”

“Mm.”

After another affirmative sound, Xie Wan finally looked at her. “Haven’t you experienced it?”

Anyu intuitively felt she wasn’t just talking about the chess set, so she asked, “What?”

“This chess set, this situation.” In Xie Wan’s view, the Empress before her was practically not the same person as herself, except for the face. Experience shapes a person’s temperament. The person before her looked older than her, yet had a touch of innocence and liveliness. Rather than being the same person, she was more like herself before entering the palace at sixteen.

“No,” Anyu said, sitting in her spot, cupping her face, and smiling as if she remembered something. “After I entered the palace, I was always protected. In my timeline, everyone in the Xie family was very well, and later… the world was also peaceful.”

Her smile was bright, but Xie Wan lowered her gaze. Protected by others… and even became Empress. It seemed logical enough.

“When are you going back?”

“I don’t know,” Anyu tilted her head. “What’s wrong? Are you tired of me? Let me tell you, I can not only read rare books, but I can also practice martial arts with you! Don’t underestimate me, I became the most formidable general in Da Yue in the future.”

“You’re the Empress, how could you become a general?” Xie Wan caught the key point and asked.

Anyu chuckled playfully, “Because my Emperor allowed me to be a general.”

Xie Wan: “…”

Xie Wan was speechless for a moment. Allowing the inner palace to participate in politics was already absurd, let alone letting the Empress become a general… Xie Wan really wanted to ask if the Chu Long in her timeline was crazy, but seeing the smile in her eyes and the joy that surfaced when she thought of that person, she didn’t ask. At least she confirmed one thing: the Empress was different from her, and the world she came from was also different from hers. Perhaps even the Chu Long of that era was different from Emperor Ruiming here.

“So, do you want to practice martial arts with me? Not only can I teach you more martial arts, but I can also teach you tactics, and even tell you the weaknesses of West Jin and East Ming!”

She was full of enthusiasm.

Looking at the ‘Empress”s expression, Xie Wan couldn’t bring herself to refuse. She thought that perhaps the West Jin and East Ming in her world were also different from the ones here. However… her enthusiasm was hard to decline, so she might as well listen.

“Let me start from when I first entered the palace…”

At night, the soul from the outside world slept soundly.

She had been here for a long time.

Still, no one had discovered her existence.

Xie Wan looked at the soul curled up on the bed in her Wanyi Palace and sighed softly.

Suddenly, there was a soft sound outside the window.

Xie Wan got up and walked out quietly.

The person in night clothes avoided the hidden guards and quietly came before her.

“Master, we found it.”

“Speak.”

“Master, there are indeed traces of smuggled weapons in the bandit lairs in the Lingbei area.”

“…Intercept them.”

The hidden guard paused, then said, “Master, we don’t have enough manpower to deal with the Lingbei bandits. Without a court crackdown, I’m afraid…”

“Intercept the smuggled goods.”

“But Master, this matter is difficult to investigate. The movements of those smuggling weapons are elusive. Unless we infiltrate some people into the bandit strongholds, but that’s not something that can be done in a day…”

Xie Wan frowned, took out a brocade pouch from her bosom, “After you reach Lingbei, go find this person.”

The hidden guard was stunned.

What is this? A brocade pouch strategy?

Although he found it incredible that his master would write a ‘commission’ like a brocade pouch, seeing his master’s serious expression, the hidden guard could only put the brocade pouch away.

They didn’t talk much more.

Xie Wan turned and walked back into the room.

She had written many such brocade pouches. They were all written word for word according to the ‘Empress”s instructions. Some of them she didn’t even understand the purpose of, but the Empress told her she would understand later.

The soul that appeared unexpectedly, revealing heavenly secrets like this, would it really be alright?

Xie Wan lowered her gaze.

“Do you believe what I said now?” Suddenly, the originally sleeping Xie Anyu spoke up, lying on the bed and looking at her with a smile.

Xie Wan: “I never said I didn’t believe you.”

“I originally thought you were isolated and helpless in the palace. Now it seems your reach extends quite far.” Anyu smiled. She wasn’t surprised; Her Majesty was a very capable person after all. This person was the future Regent King of Da Yue.

“Just do everything according to the brocade pouches I wrote for you. Maybe… you can escape your current predicament,” Anyu said, though she wasn’t entirely certain in her heart.

She couldn’t touch Her Majesty, so she thought she was just a mere observer here. But they could talk and converse, and she could even have Her Majesty place the chess pieces where she wanted. So… did that mean everything could change? Could she really use the memories in her mind to change Her Majesty’s future?

“Everything will only be conclusive after the hidden guard returns,” Xie Wan said.

Anyu was dissatisfied upon hearing this. “You don’t believe what I said? What if you really catch that smuggler according to my brocade pouch?”

“Catching him… will yield a few batches of weapons. Other than that, it won’t change anything,” Xie Wan said with unusual calmness.

Anyu was speechless.

But mostly, she was frustrated.

That was true. Her Majesty was right. The current Her Majesty wasn’t the Her Majesty. The people she could use were limited, and her own situation wasn’t exactly smooth sailing; she didn’t have the surplus capacity to change the current state of Da Yue.

Anyu stopped talking, only to see Xie Wan taking off her boots and outer robe, preparing to lie down.

Anyu: “…”

Anyu quietly shrank inwards a bit. Xie Wan didn’t notice, but the tips of her ears were slightly red.

It was her own body, no doubt, so she was naturally most familiar with it.

But now, residing in this body, was Her Majesty!

Xie Wan: “?”

“What are you hiding from…”

The Empress coughed lightly and said, “Afraid you’ll press down on me.”

“…” This time it was Xie Wan’s turn to be speechless.

“Keep telling the story.”

Anyu tilted her head. “Tell what?”

“Tell me what happened in your timeline. What happened after you led troops to reinforce the northern border…”

Anyu immediately perked up. “The northern border had a ceasefire. The three states sent envoys to Jinghe to sign a truce treaty. The imperial envoy from Da Yue… was Her Majesty.”

“And Her Majesty, she even gave me a Snow Plum Blossom.” Anyu carefully glanced at her, revealing a smile. “Snow Plum Blossoms are tokens of betrothal.”

Xie Wan lay flat, closing her eyes, and said in an indifferent tone, “Then congratulations, you got what you wished for.”

“Heh heh.”

“One moment she says she treats you like a child and righteously refuses you, the next she travels thousands of miles to visit and even gives you flowers. Only someone as easily fooled as you would fall for that.”

Anyu’s eyes widened.

Then she burst out laughing. “Are you feeling indignant on my behalf?”

“But you don’t understand. She was willing to accept my affection. Even if she wanted to deceive me, I would be happy.” Besides, Her Majesty wouldn’t deceive her, because that would be defying the world’s disapproval; that was falling in love with herself.

Xie Wan lowered her gaze and remained silent.

She watched Anyu talk about ‘her Emperor’ with a smile, and felt inexplicably displeased in her heart.

In the future, she would leave here and go back to be someone’s Empress. She wouldn’t stay in this palace forever accompanying herself.

The moonlight was bright, and Xie Wan’s eyes deepened.

“Since you’ve finally come back, aren’t you going to see her?”

“Who?”

“Your Emperor, her past appearance.” The seventeen-year-old Xie Wan turned her head away. “Why stay in Wanyi Palace all the time?”

Anyu’s expression softened. “Mm, you’re right. Maybe the reason I could come back here was to see the past version of Her Majesty.”

Xie Wan’s expression became even worse than when she wasn’t smiling.

Anyu secretly chuckled to herself.

She thought, she wouldn’t say it.

She couldn’t tell her that the Emperor she longed for was herself. The seventeen-year-old Her Majesty might not be able to accept this fact.

Falling in love with oneself—that was something even the twenty-seven-year-old Her Majesty struggled with for a very long time before she could accept it.