chapter 3
After the wedding, Song Lin’an finally got what he wanted and made up for the regret of his previous life.
I was sincerely happy for him.
After all, he did not have many good days left.
I was broad-minded by nature and never held grudges, especially against a man who would be dead within a few years.
Yet when he accompanied my elder half sister home after the wedding, he greeted me with open hostility.
He looked flushed with newlywed happiness, but his eyes held all the bleak loneliness of the northern desert.
I smiled. “Brother-in-law, have you not been sleeping well?”
He reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “Wei Yan! Others may not know your true face, but I do. Stop pretending to be kind in front of me!”
Only then did I remember that an imperial censor had impeached him, implicating the crown prince as well.
His last few days had not been pleasant.
I gave an awkward smile. “Brother-in-law, eat and drink while you can. There may not be a long future ahead.”
His eyes widened, his nostrils flared, and he stormed away with a furious sweep of his sleeve, not forgetting to spit, “Vicious woman.”
Heaven was my witness—what had I ever done that was vicious?
Even the famously wronged Dou E had suffered less injustice than I had.
Song Lin’an began taking revenge with a passion. He could not harm me directly, so he spread rumors everywhere and tried to destroy my reputation.
It did not matter. I had always been magnanimous.
More important matters demanded my attention.
Although the Second Prince would ultimately win the throne, his road to victory had been brutal. The frontier had been under threat for some time, and he was still holding the line with fifty thousand soldiers.
The empress and crown prince feared him, so they had secretly delayed his provisions.
I had no great ambitions, but I did possess a certain talent for business. I could not use the Wei family’s silver directly, yet my private fortune was more than enough to support him.
If I did him a favor now, it would be much easier to bargain for lives later.
Before leaving the capital, I went to Grandmother and Father and poured out my sorrow.
“First my marriage was stolen, then my reputation was ruined. All I want now is to stay at my estate and recover in peace. Please allow me to go.”
I wept so bitterly that both of them were moved.
Father took his anger out on his concubine and beat her again. “Look at the daughter you raised! She seduced her own sister’s fiancé. She has married well, but what is to become of the other Wei girls?”
The concubine could not utter a word.
I now had the perfect excuse to leave the capital.
Three days later, the managers of my various shops came to see me, all exceedingly respectful.
How could they not be, when I always paid so generously?
“Proprietor, all the supplies are ready—medicinal herbs, rice, oil, dried meat, padded clothing. Everything you requested has been prepared.”
I did not hurry to the frontier.
Heaven, as the sages said, first tormented the mind and exhausted the body of anyone destined for great responsibility.
Since the Second Prince was Heaven’s chosen son, a little suffering was only proper. By arriving slowly, I was testing his character.
Thus, when the Second Prince had been driven to the end of his strength and was a breath away from death, I descended upon him as if riding a rainbow-colored cloud.
I crouched down, cradled his head, and smiled tenderly. “Your Highness, I am Wei Yan. I have come to save you.”
The guards traveling with me were first-rate fighters. They escorted him safely back to our camp and even saved his eyebrow.
In our previous life, an enemy blade had split his left brow and nearly cost him an eye.
He would have escaped whether I came or not, but with me there, his ordeal held a little more warmth.
“Wei Yan…”
Even unconscious, he murmured my name.
No wonder he became the final victor. Like me, the Second Prince was kindhearted and knew how to repay a debt.
When he woke, I happened to enter with a bowl of shredded-chicken congee. A trace of tenderness softened his sharp, dark eyes.
People always revealed their vulnerable side in their darkest hour.
My heart ached for him, so I fed him personally.
“Your Highness, my caravan happened to pass through a nearby town. When I heard you were fighting the enemy to the death, I came to lend what little help I could.”
“You must recover fully, Your Highness, and then crush the enemy in one decisive blow.”
I paused, knitting my brows as though uncertain.
“There is something else. I do not know whether I should say it.”