The Useless Alpha’s Yandere Wife - Chapter 3

Jiang Yan surveyed the storeroom, crammed with fabrics, vases, trinkets, and furniture of all kinds, and immediately knew Miss Diao had ulterior motives.

So what? she thought. An outdoor blogger like me isn’t going to be intimidated by a little hardship.

Since I’m here, I might as well make the best of it. First, I need to set up a place to sleep.

She scanned the room and her gaze landed on a mahogany bed. It was a double bed with carved railings on three sides. Jiang Yan immediately dragged it out from the jumble of furniture.

Without electricity in this era, she needed to get settled before nightfall.

After positioning the mahogany bed, she opened the windows to air out the room. Though not covered in dust, it clearly hadn’t been cleaned in ages.

Fortunately, the bed came with a thick wool felt mattress. Otherwise, she’d have had a hard time getting used to sleeping on bare wood. They say a hundred lifetimes of karma are needed to share a boat, and a thousand to share a pillow. Eldest Miss Tan is truly heartless to discard me like worn-out shoes.

Finding half a bolt of light gray fine cotton, she layered it three times over the felt mattress to make a makeshift bedsheet, finally making the bed look somewhat presentable.

Before Jiang Yan could even catch her breath, Ying Hong entered with two young maids, carrying a rolled-up bedding bundle for her.

“Oh? Miss Jiang, why are you doing this yourself? Chunhua, Qiuyue, hurry and tidy up Miss Jiang’s room,” Ying Hong said with practiced sincerity, her words dripping with veiled malice.

Ying Hong had sensed something was amiss yesterday. But with the Second Miss already sharing a bed with the County Princess, she couldn’t escape to warn Miss Jiang. She was confined to the courtyard, forbidden from leaving.

Now, brought back to the Prime Minister’s Residence, she didn’t know how to face her mistress.

Staring at this new master, she dared not acknowledge her without Miss Jiang’s express permission.

The two maids swiftly spread the bedding and brought in daily necessities like a washbasin.

Seeing this, Jiang Yan knew her days of confinement in the storeroom were far from over.

No one came to call her for dinner before bedtime. After waiting for three hours, Jiang Yan ventured to the kitchen herself.

The servants at Tan Manor didn’t recognize their new mistress. Without hesitation, she lifted the pot lid and helped herself to three meat buns.

“Wait! Who are you?” A stern-faced matron blocked Jiang Yan’s path, her eyes sweeping over the meat buns in Jiang Yan’s hand.

“The steward asked me to bring him two buns,” Jiang Yan blurted out, improvising. “He said he was too busy serving the Prime Minister to eat properly.” Having overheard some gossip about the kitchen matron being the steward’s wife, she hoped this lie would work.

To her surprise, the blind cat had indeed stumbled upon a dead mouse—the very matron standing before her. Upon hearing that the steward hadn’t eaten his fill, she immediately urged, “He’s still hungry? Then hurry and take more food to him!”

“Right away!” the matron replied, vanishing in a flash. Three meals a day on an empty stomach? Even a steel man couldn’t endure that! she grumbled inwardly, cursing Eldest Miss Tan’s cruelty. Is she trying to starve me to death?

What did I do to deserve this?

An orphan who had clawed her way to financial independence for just two years, she had been inexplicably transported here by fate. There’s no logic to any of this!

Her RV, her fans, her money—all gone, replaced by a shrewish wife. She wanted to curse the heavens, but the words remained trapped in her heart.

A grand gift right from the start? Is this some kind of consolation prize? Since I’ve been single for so long, they’re forcing a wife on me?

At least she remained an Alpha, spared the agony of adapting to a new identity. Otherwise, it would have been adding insult to injury.

Jiang Yan, dizzy with hunger, devoured all three meat buns on the way back.

She even got lost!

Just as she reached the entrance, she bumped into Ying Hong, who had come to deliver food. The young maid placed a food box on the low table beside the bed.

“My mistress remembered Miss Jiang hadn’t eaten yet and specially sent me to bring you some food.”

“I’m truly grateful to her, and to both of you,” Jiang Yan said politely, touching her stomach. Yet her words carried an undercurrent of barely suppressed resentment.

After Ying Hong left, Jiang Yan glanced at the food box. Inside were two meat buns and a bowl of vegetable and egg drop soup. It was clear the Eldest Miss had forgotten about her and hastily ordered the kitchen to prepare a random soup. But Jiang Yan was no ordinary woman; Tan Qianyue’s petty tricks wouldn’t faze her. With her adaptable nature, she dismissed the Eldest Miss’s schemes with a shrug.

She drank the egg drop soup while it was still hot, standing in the spacious storeroom. A wave of homesickness washed over her as she thought of the meticulously managed accounts she had left behind.

Removing her embroidered sash and setting aside her blue-and-white robe, she washed up and finally lay down on the bed. The night breeze carried the fragrance of flowers from the courtyard, and Jiang Yan gazed at the starry sky for a long time before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, Imperial Censor Jiang hurried anxiously to the main gate, awaiting the arrival of the Prime Minister’s carriage.

The entire Jiang Manor trembled in anticipation of the Prime Minister’s visit. How could they possibly handle this crisis?

Yesterday, after waiting a long time for the two new brides to come and offer tea, they only learned from a servant that the bride had been switched. The original concubine’s daughter had been replaced with the legitimate daughter, startling Imperial Censor Jiang so much that he dropped his teacup.

Today, Prime Minister Tan had likely come to demand retribution.

“Prime Minister, please come in! Please come in!” Madam Jiang greeted him with a fawning smile, bowing deeply as she led him inside.

“Lord Jiang, there’s no need for such formality,” Prime Minister Tan said with a friendly demeanor. “After all, we’re now family through marriage. Though there was indeed a mishap, we can only attribute it to fate’s cruel hand.” Prime Minister Tan, still hoping to arrange for the Jiang family’s daughter to marry into his household, naturally maintained a cordial facade.

“You speak truly, Prime Minister,” Madam Jiang replied. “My unworthy daughter could never be worthy of your precious eldest daughter. It was truly an honor for us to aspire to such a match. But rest assured, the Jiang family will never mistreat your daughter.” Rumor had it that Prime Minister Tan doted most on his legitimate daughter. Now that their family’s troublemaker had crushed his darling’s heart, they had no choice but to humble themselves!

“Lord Jiang, you flatter us,” Prime Minister Tan said with a modest smile, his lips pressed into a thin line. “As long as the younger generation is happy, we elders can rest easy. We ask for nothing more.”

“It’s good that the Prime Minister approves of this marriage. It’s good. But is my wayward daughter at the Prime Minister’s Residence?” Though their daughter was troublesome, she was still their own flesh and bl00d, and they had a duty to care for her.

“Ahem, I came here precisely to discuss this matter with Lord Jiang.”

“Whatever you require, Prime Minister, just name it.” Imperial Censor Jiang nearly pounded his chest in assurance, but his smile froze on his face the next moment.

“As I understand it, Jiang Manor has another daughter capable of upholding the family name. Therefore, the eldest daughter will remain here and marry into the Tan Family.” Prime Minister Tan wasn’t negotiating; he was informing.

“Ah? What’s going on here?” Madam Jiang was dumbfounded, while Jiang Yan’s birth mother, standing behind Imperial Censor Jiang, widened her eyes, her middle-aged beauty still striking.

“Lord Jiang must know that the Tan Family’s legitimate daughter is betrothed to the County Princess. Can your daughter possibly compare to the County Princess?” Prime Minister Tan lowered his voice, radiating an unspoken authority.

“N-no, of course not. She can’t compare, she can’t compare.”

“The young couple has already agreed to this arrangement. Otherwise, my daughter would have dragged the Noble Consort into investigating this matter thoroughly, which would have brought disgrace upon all three families. It’s better to make the best of a bad situation. Having Miss Jiang marry into the Tan Family isn’t exactly a hardship, wouldn’t you agree, Lord Jiang?” Prime Minister Tan glanced sideways at Imperial Censor Jiang.

“Heh heh, not wronged at all, not wronged at all,” Imperial Censor Jiang said with a forced smile, inwardly cursing both the Prime Minister and Jiang Yan. Why did I agree to this?

After Prime Minister Tan left, Madam Yu, Jiang Yan’s mother, threw a fit in her bedroom, smashing things and beating Lord Jiang.

Today, the Eldest Miss didn’t come to make trouble, leaving Jiang Yan, unfamiliar with her surroundings, feeling strangely empty with nothing to do.

Her room was conveniently located near a bathing pool. She could simply fetch water from the adjacent room to wash herself and her hair.

Thanks to the Eldest Miss, Jiang Yan now lived a life of luxury, where food appeared at her mouth and clothes were laid out for her. Her days consisted solely of eating and admiring flowers, leaving her, a woman accustomed to constant activity, feeling restless and uncomfortable.

That night, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Suddenly, a ding sounded in her mind, and a large, colorful holographic screen materialized before her eyes. Startled, she sat up and reached out to touch the glowing screen.

But the screen had no physical form; her hand passed right through it.

Jiang Yan suppressed her pounding heart and glanced around like a thief, making sure no one had noticed the light. Only then did she begin to examine the strange object more closely.

The horizontal screen, roughly a meter long, displayed a familiar live streaming interface, but it wasn’t her original account.

The feed showed her current appearance, allowing Jiang Yan to finally see her own face.

It was a clear and pristine face, utterly at odds with her true personality. In her previous life, this face had been her primary asset in making a living as a streamer.

The Original Host’s features bore a striking resemblance to her own—five parts similar, three parts superior, and two parts younger. Her twenty-five-year-old soul had been transplanted into a seventeen-year-old body. Was this some kind of transdimensional perk?

Her collagen-rich skin glowed like polished jade, smooth and flawless. Soft, arched brows framed innocent almond-shaped eyes, brimming with youthful vitality.

A slender, high-bridged nose and rosy lips with pearly white teeth lent her an air of delicate artistry. Her radiant youthfulness felt as refreshing as a summer breeze.

The Original Host went to brothels with her degenerate friends, wearing this face? Jiang Yan scoffed inwardly. I wonder if she even made any money.

She couldn’t fathom how such a pure, innocent face had earned her a scandalous reputation throughout the city. It was a true waste of natural beauty.

This wasn’t the time to study faces. The device before her resembled an improved live-streaming system, but after half a day, not a single fan had joined. If she was going to rely on this thing for her livelihood, she needed to figure out how to activate it.

Frustrated, she tried various methods, but the screen remained unchanged, showing only her own one-woman show.

Sigh, even freebies should come with instructions! How am I supposed to guess how to use this thing? After studying it for ages, the device remained as lifeless as ever. Jiang Yan’s initial excitement gradually turned into resignation.

On the third day after the wedding, Imperial Censor Jiang had Jiang Yan’s belongings packed up and sent to Tan Manor, effectively sparing her the customary return visit.

However, just because things had quieted down on their end didn’t mean her half-sister was willing to let things rest. What was the point of victory if you couldn’t flaunt it?

On the day of the return visit, Tan Xue’er arrived at the manor with the County Princess.

Meanwhile, the Eldest Miss, who had been silent all this time, was having a terrible day. She had buried herself completely under the covers, her brow furrowed in a tight knot, her face and neck drenched in sweat.