Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Dingbei Marquis Estate was far from peaceful today. Everyone was saying the Young Marquis Lu Chenzhou had been possessed by evil spirits-because the moment he woke, he asked who had ambushed him, then asked where the Marchioness was.

Everyone in the manor, from top to bottom, looked utterly stunned.

For one thing, no one would dare come to the marquis estate to ambush the Young Marquis.

For another, the Young Marquis had yet to take a wife. Where could a Marchioness have come from?

“Perhaps the Marquis meant the Old Marchioness? The Old Marchioness went into the mountains to offer incense early this morning with the young miss and the cousin miss.”

Lu Chenzhou’s personal attendant answered with extreme caution.

Lu Chenzhou already had a splitting headache, and everything made him impatient. Hearing the attendant’s reply only made his irritation flare higher. “Are you deaf? I did not ask about the Old Marchioness. I asked about the Marchioness.”

“The… Marchioness? Marquis, you have not yet taken a wife. There is no Marchioness in the manor.”

As the attendant said this, his calves nearly started trembling.

Lu Chenzhou froze. He glanced at the attendant. This was the man who usually served at his side, and he would not lie to deceive him. If he said there was no Marchioness in the manor, then there truly was no Marchioness.

But he clearly remembered that he had long since married Shen Jin, the daughter of the Wuxing Shen Clan. After their marriage, because the two of them did not get along, Shen Jin had moved back to her natal home for a short stay half a month ago. Soon after, she had sent word that she wanted a divorce.

He and née Shen had been married for three years and still had no children. His mother, the Old Marchioness, had long been considering having him repudiate his wife and marry another.

He had originally still been somewhat hesitant, but when née Shen asked for a divorce, he simply went along with it. The two families agreed to sign the divorce papers at the Shen Family Villa.

After the documents were signed, he and Shen Jin each departed in their own carriage. Just as he was leaving the villa, a band of villains burst out from nowhere and rammed into his carriage. By the time he woke again, he was already lying in bed.

He had assumed the servants at home had rescued him and brought him back. But from what his attendant said, that was evidently not the case.

Lu Chenzhou rubbed his forehead and instinctively asked the attendant, “What day is it today? Why did Mother and the others go to the mountain temple to offer incense?”

The attendant bowed as he replied, “Today is the first anniversary of the cousin miss’s birth mother’s passing. The Old Marchioness took the cousin miss to the temple to add oil for the lamps and incense for the offerings.”

The cousin miss was the daughter of the Old Marchioness’s younger sister. Her surname was Liu, and her given name was Wanrou. She was blessed with a lovely appearance, but unfortunately, her health was somewhat frail.

After her mother died of illness, the Old Marchioness pitied her for having no one to cherish her and brought her to the Dingbei Marquis Estate for a short stay. Who would have thought that short stay would last until now?

But Lu Chenzhou remembered that Liu Wanrou’s mother-his maternal aunt-had already been dead for four years. Why did the attendant say it had been one year?

He frowned, then asked the attendant again, “Is today not the Third Year of Deguang?”

The attendant was taken aback and wondered if he had misheard. “The palace only changed the era name at the beginning of the year. Counting from then, this year is the First Year of Deguang.”

The First Year of Deguang. How was that possible?

He and née Shen had married in the First Year of Deguang. More than three years had passed since then. It should have been the Third Year of Deguang. How had he gone to sleep and woken up back in the First Year of Deguang?

Lu Chenzhou sat on the bed in a daze, still unable to make sense of what had happened, when he suddenly heard the attendant continue, “There is one more matter. Before the Old Marchioness left, she instructed us to tell the Marquis that Jingnan Marquis Manor sent an invitation two days ago saying the Old Marquis is celebrating his birthday today. The Old Marchioness is unwell and must also go up the mountain, so she will not attend. She asks the Marquis to prepare a gift and go offer birthday congratulations.”

The Old Marquis of Jingnan Marquis Manor was celebrating his birthday?

Lu Chenzhou’s brows lifted. He remembered now. The Old Marquis of Jingnan Marquis Manor had held his sixtieth birthday banquet in the First Year of Deguang. That day, his mother had likewise claimed illness and declined to go, leaving him to bring the congratulatory gift to Jingnan Marquis Manor.

Just as a little serving maid delivering dishes bumped into him and soiled his clothes, forcing him to change, he unfortunately fell into Shen Jin’s scheme. By accident, he entered the same room as her, and the scene was witnessed by a group of female guests who had come to offer birthday congratulations. Because of that, he had no choice but to marry Shen Jin.

In earlier years, the Shen Family had also been a distinguished and influential clan in the capital. Unfortunately, the men of the family had no ambition. By Shen Jin’s generation, the Shen Family had already become a setting sun, its circumstances bleak and declining.

Under normal circumstances, with Shen Jin’s status and standing, she could never have formed a marriage connection with the Dingbei Marquis Estate.

Therefore, in Lu Chenzhou’s view, Shen Jin had resorted to such a despicable trick precisely because she wanted to marry into a higher-ranking family.

He resented being plotted against, and he resented Shen Jin’s scheming and social climbing even more. From the very beginning, husband and wife had not met pleasantly. After the marriage, he avoided entering Shen Jin’s rooms whenever he could and ignored Shen Jin whenever possible.

Other couples treated each other with courtesy as honored guests, while he and Shen Jin treated each other with courtesy as cold as ice. In the end, for their marriage to conclude in divorce was, to Lu Chenzhou, already the most satisfactory ending.

Now that he had returned to three years ago in a single turn of fate, even Lu Chenzhou, who had always prided himself on his composure and restraint, could not conceal his excitement.

In the First Year of Deguang, the Crown Prince was deposed, and their Dingbei Marquis Estate chose the wrong side by backing Prince Lang for the throne.

In the end, Prince Lang was discovered to be hiding an imperial dragon robe, and it nearly implicated the entire Dingbei Marquis Estate in annihilation. Fortunately, at the critical moment, Lu Chenzhou made a decisive choice and turned to support Prince Jin instead, thereby preserving his family’s lives. Even so, it was an indisputable fact that the Dingbei Marquis Estate was gravely weakened afterward.

From then on, there had not been a single moment when he did not regret it. If he had known Prince Lang was so incapable of great things, he would rather have stayed neutral than supported him.

Now, if he had truly returned to three years ago, then since he knew the outcome, the Dingbei Marquis Estate would certainly not repeat the same mistake.

And neither would he.

“Prepare a congratulatory gift and find someone reliable to deliver it to Jingnan Marquis Manor. If anyone asks, say the Old Marchioness is unwell, and that I have accompanied her up the mountain to recuperate.”

He wanted to see: if he did not go to Jingnan Marquis Manor, how would Shen Jin scheme her way into marrying him this time!