Chapter 2
Chapter 2
I had been reborn.
Reborn on the wedding night between Shen Xu and me.
Just as in my previous life.
The bridal veil was lifted, and the first thing I saw was Shen Xu’s face, cold to the extreme.
The moment he opened his mouth, he said he was tired and wanted to rest.
I could not tell whether this was reality or a dream.
But the face before me was far too hateful. Without the slightest hesitation, I slapped him across it.
Because I had used too much force, a numbing pain spread through my hand.
On Shen Xu’s originally jade-like face, five clear finger marks appeared.
So it was not a dream.
Joy flashed through my heart, and I raised my hand to slap him again.
Shen Xu was stunned.
He seized my wrist, his gaze turning faintly cold.
“What madness has gotten into you?”
I smiled coldly.
“Nothing. My hand was itchy, that is all.”
Shen Xu stared in disbelief, rarely showing such a lost expression.
I pressed on and spoke nonsense without even blinking.
“Did my father not tell you? I suffer from a madness. If I go a day without hitting someone, my hand itches unbearably.”
“Since you promised my father that you would care for me for the rest of my life, you should naturally accept being hit by me with a willing heart!”
Shen Xu was furious. “What nonsense are you spouting?”
“We have known each other for so many years. How could I not know you had such an illness?”
I rolled my eyes. “That is a funny thing to say. If I had let you know, how could I have made you marry me willingly?”
“But there is no need for you to feel wronged. My father raised you for so long. Consider this your repayment. Your skin is thick and your flesh is tough anyway. What harm can a couple of slaps do?”
He was beside himself. “Are you not afraid I will divorce you?”
I leisurely drank a cup of wedding wine. “Then divorce me. In order to marry me, you turned down the marriage proposal from the Vice Minister of Personnel’s family. Everyone knows I am the daughter of your respected teacher. If you divorce me, do you still want your reputation?”
He glared at me hatefully and held back for a long time, only managing to spit out one word. “You!”
Calm and composed, I thought to myself that this was exactly what it meant to lift a stone only to drop it on one’s own foot.
Shen Xu had married me because my family background was humble.
My father was the Chancellor of the Imperial College.
He had only one daughter in his life: me.
Shen Xu was originally a distant clansman from my mother’s family.
Because his birth mother had committed adultery and joined her lover in poisoning his father, the clan seized his family’s property and drove him out.
One year, when my father accompanied my mother back to her hometown, he saw how pitiful Shen Xu was and brought him back to study at his side.
At first, my father had also considered taking him as a live-in son-in-law.
But Shen Xu was extremely talented in his studies.
By the laws of our dynasty, although live-in sons-in-law were not forbidden from taking the imperial examinations, they could not enter court as officials.
My father feared delaying his future, so he gave up the idea.
He simply supported Shen Xu’s studies wholeheartedly, treating it as a good deed, hoping only that Shen Xu would look after me in the future.
Shen Xu and I grew up together as childhood companions.
Shen Xu was handsome and talented, and I had always admired him.
But my father told me to put that thought away.
He said Shen Xu was no fish meant for a pond; sooner or later, he would soar into the sky.
As for me, I was ordinary in every way. If I married Shen Xu, he feared we would not be a good match.
He only wished that I would one day marry into a solid household, find a kind and honest husband, and live this life in peace.
Although I was sad, my father was already gravely ill at the time. I truly did not want to go against his wishes, so I forced myself to bury my feelings and treated Shen Xu only as an elder brother.
Later, Shen Xu truly passed the examinations with top honors and became the youngest Tanhua Scholar of the dynasty.
In an instant, he became the most sought-after man in the capital.
Even the Vice Minister of Personnel’s family sent someone to propose marriage.
My father asked Shen Xu what he wanted.
But Shen Xu said that his heart belonged to me.
He begged my father to marry me to him.
I was overjoyed. All I could think about was how to be a virtuous wife to him.
Never did I imagine that the good man I loved with all my heart had only ever treated me as a pawn to hide his shameful feelings for the Empress.
My birth was humble, my parents were dead, and I had no brothers. I truly was the perfect person for him to knead and shape as he pleased.