Chapter 2

I was determined to marry that wastrel from Lin’an named Shen Lian, just as Wei Xuan was determined to save the Wang family’s daughter even if it killed him.

My mind was made up.

The people of the capital had once said only that Wei Xuan had lost his senses. Now they said the same of me.

Wei Xuan, it seemed, believed in one rule for the powerful and another for everyone else. He found time in his busy schedule to seek me out.

His opening words were blunt.

“Chu Hong, have you lost your mind?”

He understood that I, too, had been reborn, but he could not understand my choice.

“What is that Shen fellow worth? Even if he saved your life, he is not worth sacrificing the rest of it.”

Beside the willow embankment, countless slender branches trailed through rain silvered by the light.

Holding my umbrella, I looked at Wei Xuan.

He was very handsome in his youth, with sword-shaped brows and bright eyes. His skin was fresh as pear-blossom paper, forever painted over with blue-green landscapes of wealth and splendor.

His family’s glory and eminence had taught him to treasure himself—and to treasure the son who carried the same paternal bloodline.

That was why, when disaster struck, his first instinct had been to protect our son.

In his eyes, no matter how good a wife might be, she was still a daughter married in from someone else’s family. No matter how dearly he loved a daughter, she would eventually marry into another family.

Only our younger son, though not born of the woman he loved, was truly one with him.

When his wings spread in merciful protection, he took only one fledgling beneath them.

Our daughter grew distant from him afterward. Even by the time he died, she had never again called him “Papa” as she had in childhood. Our younger son said he closed his eyes with that regret still in his heart.

Regret. Truly?

The cold wind drove the rain sideways, filling the air with the raw scent of water.

“Chu Hong?”

Displeased by my distraction, he drew his long brows together and reached for me with the easy familiarity he had possessed when we were husband and wife.

I shifted aside to avoid a falling drop of rain and, in the same motion, avoided his touch.

“Marriage follows one’s parents’ command and the matchmaker’s word.”

Smiling, I reminded him, “It is hardly a matter that requires your concern, is it, Elder Brother?”

Drip.

A raindrop struck Wei Xuan’s frozen fingertip.

Elder Brother.

In name, we were now brother and sister. I still wore at my waist the jade pendant his mother had given me.

Yet the title seemed to make him uncomfortable. He deliberately looked away, lowered his stiff fingers, and hid them in his broad sleeve.

When he spoke, he persisted in the same refrain. “Chu Hong, we were husband and wife once. I truly want what is best for you.”

He coaxed me with earnest patience, as if he genuinely feared that I might take a wrong turn and suffer for it.

“Believe me. I would never harm you. That man has accomplished nothing and is unfit to marry. He saved you and Niannian, and I will remember that debt. Let me repay him. I can give him a title and a future. Would that not be enough?”

No.

I shook my head calmly.

How did he still fail to understand? He and I had no Niannian now, no children, no marriage.

It was not a question of whether he wished to bestow a favor. This was no longer any concern of his.

Wei Xuan drew a deep breath. The gloom of the rain seemed to gather heavily around his eyes.

“Think it over. Even your moth—your mother refuses to approve of him. Can he possibly be a good man? If you insist on marrying now, I…”

He adjusted his tone, forcing himself to sound calm.

“When I have time, I will choose a suitable young gentleman from a great family for you.”

I slowly raised a brow, surprised that he had grown generous enough to make such a concession.

Another lifetime had certainly broadened my former husband and newfound brother’s mind.

But perhaps he simply had no time. We had spoken only briefly when the pampered darling in his outer residence ran into trouble again and sent someone to fetch him.

The young servant arrived on a galloping horse, drenched and bedraggled. “Young Master, with you gone, Miss Wang vomits every dose of medicine we give her. The imperial physician is so vexed that two more hairs have turned white. He says he wants to quit!”

Perhaps embarrassed that the servant had shouted the intimate affairs of his private household for all to hear, Wei Xuan shot him a glare.

He turned back to me, seemingly unsure how to take his leave.

In our previous life, whenever he wished to go, I had always swallowed my hurt and considerately told him, “Go.”

This time, I merely smiled. Like any stranger, I did not remain where I was to watch him depart.

I left first.