Chapter 3

In Lin’an, Uncle was equally astonished.

He sent three letters in succession.

Three questions, one after another.

[Is Hong’er truly willing to marry him?

[Little Sister, you did not lose your temper?

[This is terribly embarrassing. Perhaps I should contribute a share of the dowry?]

A vein throbbed at Mother’s temple. Swallowing her anger, she opened the last letter. The Shen family’s list of betrothal gifts was enclosed.

She skimmed a few lines, and the veins on her forehead miraculously smoothed away.

“Merciful heavens…”

Mother stared blankly at the page.

I looked over curiously and froze as well.

The densely written list contained fortunes in gold and silver, treasures, paintings, calligraphy, fields, estates, and entire vaults of coin. It was dizzying.

Even an imperial princess could hardly expect more.

Mother murmured, “I was so busy investigating his character that I forgot to ask about his family’s wealth. If the Shen family is this rich, would that money-grubbing old fox your uncle truly have the heart to hand such a match to his niece?”

Only after we finished reading every letter did we learn the reason.

In tiny, aggrieved characters, Uncle had explained:

[They insist on Hong’er. I offered two of my concubine-born daughters as secondary wives, and they refused. Hmph.]

Mother was tempted.

She began calculating carefully.

“Shen Lian is the legitimate son of the senior branch. No mother, plenty of money. He was once simple-minded, so he should be easy to coax. The younger branches are honest and manageable. And Lin’an is our own family’s territory, so no one can bully you.”

Mother clapped her hands. Her attitude reversed completely, and she smiled.

“An excellent husband!”

I smiled with her, my eyes curving.

My gaze settled thoughtfully on the words, [They insist on Hong’er.]

My marriage was soon arranged.

The capital was far from Lin’an. To make the wedding easier and spare us a punishing journey later, Grandfather wrote early, asking Mother and me to come to Lin’an to prepare.

When Wei Xuan saw that I would not be dissuaded, his expression chilled and he stopped interfering.

By coincidence—or perhaps not—the day my family announced my wedding date, he announced his as well. The dates were very close. In fact, his wedding fell on the very day Mother and I planned to leave the capital.

Moving the entire household to Lin’an required endless preparations. Across the street, the Wei family was equally busy preparing to welcome a bride.

We would not be able to attend their wedding feast, so we sent our gift before departing.

As our carriage passed the Wei residence, wedding music began to rise from within.

Pipes, strings, singing, and drums rang out in jubilant celebration.

I passed through that music just as I passed beyond my former life, whose happiness had never been quite happiness, and welcomed a new dawn breaking through the mist.

The boat was about to leave.

I was nervous.

After all, my only impression of Shen Lian came from the days when Longcheng was under siege, when he had served as a deputy general who enjoyed wine and drinking games in the commanding general’s camp.

By then, his family had probably fallen into decline. He always made his rounds of the city looking indolent and half asleep. When I remembered that he had once approached Grandfather to ask for my hand, I had regarded it with dismissive contempt.

Yet he had never mentioned it.

Even when he drank himself senseless enough to tumble into a wine vat, he never once suggested that there had been anything between us.

Whenever his patrol brought him past our home, he would simply see my child rush outside, clamoring for the apricots beside the gate while I struggled in vain to reach them.

Then he would kindly stop. Amid the child’s cheers, he would smile faintly and carefully pour a whole fold of ripe apricots from his robe into those little palms.

The next time I saw him, he had come running back to find me and traded his death for my life.

I could not help wondering.

What would he be like now, at barely twenty?

Would those eyes already hold the same weariness that wine had steeped into them in our former life?

Would we come to know each other’s true natures and love each other for the rest of our lives?

The boat’s bell chimed as it swayed. The sail rose into the wind.

I let out a silent breath, took Mother’s hand, and stepped toward the boarding plank.

In the distance, hoofbeats thundered toward us.

Someone seemed to call my name. The wind was too strong, whipping the brilliant wedding robes around him into a wild blur of crimson.

Wei Xuan fell from his horse, stumbled to his feet, and ran toward me.

Wait, he said. Wait, Chu Hong.

But the boat’s rope had already been cast off, just as he had released my hand while fleeing for his life in our former existence. There was no holding it back.

Splash.

To everyone’s horror, he leaped into the water. One hand clamped around the gunwale while the other seized my sleeve and pulled me off balance toward him.

Water sprayed over his cheeks, slipping down them like tracks of tears.

His black hair clung around his face in disarray as he looked up and begged me.

“Stay.

“I will marry you.”

Just as he had in our previous life.