Transmigration: Eavesdropping on Inner Thoughts? The Matriarch Goes on a Rampage

Wen Jiushu, a cultivator of the Dao, transmigrates into the body of a cannon-fodder matriarch in a novel she once read. She finds herself married to the Marquis of Pingnan for only half a month, yet already three months pregnant. Her husband left for an imperial assignment in the south immediately after the wedding, meaning she never consummated the marriage. The current mistress of the household, Meng Shi, the late Marquis's second wife and stepmother to the Marquis's sons, sees this as an opportunity to eliminate Wen Jiushu. Meng Shi accuses Wen Jiushu of adultery and attempts to force her to drink an abortifacient to preserve the family's honor and her own control over the estate.

Instead of resisting, Wen Jiushu drinks the medicine calmly, revealing that she has consumed eight similar bowls before and is immune to their effects. She realizes the child in her womb cannot be aborted due to karmic ties, but she also identifies the Shen family members as "short-lived ghosts" destined for tragic ends. When Meng Shi's steward, Lin, attempts to bind her, Wen Jiushu slaps him and exposes Meng Shi's own infidelity with the steward, noting that the children Meng Shi claims are hers were actually fathered by Lin. This confrontation shocks Shen Yunhuai, the Marquis's younger brother, who has recently gained the ability to hear Wen Jiushu's inner thoughts. He realizes his stepmother has been manipulating him into a wastrel to secure the inheritance for her illegitimate son.

Shen Yunhuai shifts his allegiance, defending Wen Jiushu against his mother's attempts to divorce her. He suspects the pregnancy is legitimate and wants to uncover the truth about his family's corruption. The conflict escalates when Meng Shi and Steward Lin engage in an affair in the ancestral hall, angering the spirits. A fire breaks out, destroying the hall, and the Old Marquis's grave is struck by lightning. Wen Jiushu uses her Daoist abilities to cleanse the resentment from the grave and seal the coffin, further proving her competence and mystic powers to Shen Yunhuai.

Following these events, Shen Yunhuai strips Meng Shi of her authority, renaming her "Old Madam" and appointing Wen Jiushu as the new mistress of the household. He transfers the account books and keys to Wen Jiushu, allowing her to manage the estate. Meanwhile, Meng Shi, who is pregnant with Lin's child, attempts to have a physician kill Wen Jiushu's unborn child, but Shen Yunhuai intercepts the medicine and gives it to Wen Jiushu, who recognizes it as a pregnancy tonic. Meng Shi subsequently miscarries due to her own indiscretions, and the physician who treated her is found dead in a lake, likely killed by Shen Yunhuai to silence him.

Wen Jiushu, uninterested in family drama, focuses on her cultivation and the wealth her merchant mother has sent her. She plans to wait for the Marquis's return to finalize a divorce and leave the household. However, Shen Yunhuai becomes increasingly dependent on her insights, using her inner monologue to navigate the treacherous family politics. He begins to purge the household of Meng Shi's loyalists and investigate the transfer of family assets to her illegitimate son. The story follows their uneasy alliance as Wen Jiushu seeks freedom while Shen Yunhuai seeks to save his family from its doomed fate, all while rumors of Wen Jiushu's infidelity spread through the capital.