Being a second wife is difficult: I'm busy raising children in the Earl's mansion.

[Domestic power struggles + slow and steady relationship + stepmother's comeback + raising children + slow-burn]

When she entered the household as a concubine, no one in the entire family took her seriously.

The legitimate son doesn't call her mother, the illegitimate son avoids her when he sees her, and the concubines are polite to her but scrutinizing to her.

Even my mother-in-law said, "You need to understand the rules first before we talk about anything else."

Jiang Wan didn't make a fuss; she acknowledged the people she was supposed to acknowledge and knelt down as required by the rules.

Everyone thought she was an easy target.

It wasn't until her illegitimate son developed a high fever in the middle of the night that she, despite her mother-in-law's displeasure, broke down the doctor's door in the dead of night;

Until the eldest daughter fell off the artificial hill, she carried the child back into the house, applied medicine, and coaxed her to sleep, without letting the wet nurse touch her at all.

It wasn't until the old lady said in front of the entire clan, "From now on, she will be in charge of everything in the mansion."

The legitimate son brought her homework to her desk, respectfully calling her "Mother." The illegitimate son carved a wooden bird and insisted on giving it to her. The eldest daughter also tugged at her sleeve and refused to let go.

Everyone in the manor said that Jiang Wan was resourceful, but she knew that it was just a matter of putting herself in others' shoes.

As for the gossip comparing her to Mrs. Gu, she never took it to heart.

She knew from the beginning that the living could not win against the dead.

But the living don't need to fight with the dead.