Chapter 1

My sister faltered, as though it had never occurred to her that I might refuse.

After a moment, she caught my sleeve and gave it a couple of tugs.

“Dear Qingyao, the white deer makes me look so dull. I don’t like it.”

“Aren’t you always saying red is too showy? Swapping would suit us both.”

It was true that I disliked bright colors.

Mother often said an unmarried girl should be modest and dignified. Her clothes must not draw the eye, her words must not be frivolous, and even her steps must be measured.

At first, she had taught all those rules to my sister.

As the eldest daughter of Father’s principal wife, my sister faced especially strict expectations.

Unfortunately, she had been born fearless.

She would lower her eyes and meekly agree when scolded, then turn around and climb trees, ride horses, or scale the wall to see the lantern festival.

Unable to make anything of her, Mother had pinned all her hopes on me instead.

Over time, I had been trained into obedience and propriety.

All my sister had to do was tug my sleeve and call me “dear Qingyao,” and I could rarely refuse her anything.

It had been the same in my previous life.

I gave her the red fox mask and put on the white deer myself. At the hunting grounds, I stayed quietly beside Mother and listened to the ladies of other households chat.

My sister rode into the woods.

When the downpour struck that afternoon, she couldn’t get back in time and sheltered in a cave with Xiao Chengxiao, Prince Su’s heir.

They were trapped there for four hours.

When she returned, her hair was dripping and her expression grim. The first thing she said was,

“Prince Su’s heir is out of his mind.”

Apparently, there had been only one dry rock in the cave. Neither would give way, and they had argued over it for a full hour.

Xiao Chengxiao said she didn’t behave like a girl. She said he had wasted his years studying the sages if he still didn’t understand common courtesy.

Before leaving, she had deliberately stamped on his foot.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh. I thought it was no more than an amusing incident.

Yet on the seventh day after the spring hunt, Xiao Chengxiao came to our door in person.

He brought eighty loads of betrothal gifts carried on shoulder poles and bowed before Father and Mother.

“I had the pleasure of meeting the second Miss Shen during the spring hunt.”

“I have lost my heart to her, and I ask to make her my wife.”

The hall fell silent.

Hidden behind a screen, I looked bewilderedly at my sister.

Her eyes curved with a smile, and she nudged my shoulder.

“Who would have guessed?”

“He argued so fiercely with me that day. All along, he’d already noticed you.”

My cheeks burned.

I couldn’t even remember having met Xiao Chengxiao.

But our parents were delighted, my sister approved, and Prince Su’s household had observed every courtesy.

Everyone said it was a match made in heaven.

And so I married him.