Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Any family in the capital with even the slightest standing was unwilling to marry into the Zhao Family.
On the night before my wedding, my mother held me and cried for half the night. “I’m not only afraid those concubines will mistreat you. I’m also afraid the Marquis won’t truly cherish you…”
“Since they already have Marquis Zhao’s heart, then Zhen’er won’t ask for love or devotion. I only want the wealth and glory of the marquis’s household.
“Mother, I am your daughter. How could a daughter of the Li family be inferior to anyone else?”
I comforted my mother for half the night, then teased her a little before she finally stopped crying.
In truth, I was uneasy too.
Zhao Yunyan was thirty this year. Though he had never taken a wife, he had already taken one beloved concubine, and kept another woman outside the household.
That beloved concubine was his childhood sweetheart, who had grown up with him. Gentle and understanding, she and Zhao Yunyan were naturally deeply in love, and they even had a five-year-old daughter.
The woman outside had come into his life three years ago. Zhao Yunyan had been provoked by troublemakers in a teahouse, and the pipa girl there had saved the hero like a beauty from a tale. She injured the hand she used to play the pipa, only to discover afterward that Zhao Yunyan was actually a Marquis.
The pipa girl was bold and fierce, like a rose. She said she had no regard for the riches and honor of noble houses, nor did she care for status. She acknowledged only Zhao Yunyan himself.
One gentle, understanding childhood sweetheart. One dazzling, passionate red rose.
Between them, they split his heart in two.
There was no place for me in Zhao Yunyan’s heart.
Yet on the second day, when the wedding procession came to fetch me, the sedan bearers nearly dropped the bridal sedan.
The sedan curtain swayed, lifting at one corner, and I caught sight of a figure in red upstairs.
She made no attempt to avoid my gaze. Instead, she looked straight back at me openly, brazenly.
“What happened?” I asked from inside the sedan.
“Miss, someone threw down a pair of dead wild geese from upstairs and frightened the bearers.”
She was the one who had thrown them.
Afraid of missing the auspicious hour, the Zhao Family did not stop to argue with that woman.
During the wedding ceremony, Zhao Yunyan’s mother was especially pleased with the marriage she had arranged. Taking the chance, she slid the jade bangle on her wrist-so green it seemed almost ready to drip water-onto mine.
Everyone echoed her praise, saying how well-bred the daughter of the Li family was, and what a blessed match this was.
Only when I entered the bridal chamber did everything abruptly fall silent.
Through the hazy red veil, I finally saw my husband, Zhao Yunyan.
He picked up the weighing rod to lift my veil.
Just then, someone reported from outside that Concubine Xu’s chest hurt and asked him to go over.
Zhao Yunyan left in a hurry, without sparing me another glance.
The wind from the closing door sent the dragon-and-phoenix wedding candles swaying violently, and silence once again filled the room.
I took off my phoenix coronet, removed my wedding robes, and picked up a few pastries to eat.
The two maidservants I had brought as part of my dowry, Dongqing and Chunming, were indignant on my behalf. Seeing that I did not seem to care much, Chunming cursed him a few more times before angrily making the bed for me.
“It’s better to sleep alone anyway. At least Young Master won’t steal our young lady’s quilt!”
Her words were so naive that Dongqing and I exchanged a smile.
Unexpectedly, when I went to pay respects and serve tea the next day, Old Madam Zhao learned of the matter and reprimanded Zhao Yunyan right in front of me.
I hurriedly said that I had been the one to let Zhao Yunyan go, but to my surprise, Old Madam Zhao immediately praised me for being magnanimous and not petty.
One rebuke and one praise-by the time they reached Zhao Yunyan’s ears, they had become a scheme I had devised to put on a virtuous act.
Sure enough, the moment we stepped out of Old Madam Zhao’s Shoukang Hall, Zhao Yunyan’s expression turned cold.
“Li Zhen’er, I never wanted to marry you. I only did it to put my mother at ease.
“I hadn’t intended to treat you harshly. I thought it would be enough if we kept up appearances.
“Yes, you’re clever. With a few little tricks, you can make my mother like you.
“But what I despise most is a woman like you, full of hidden schemes!”
He gave me no courtesy at all and left with a flick of his sleeve.
“Prepare the carriage. We’re going to Willow Lane in the West City.”
Willow Lane in the West City was where his outside woman lived.
He was making it perfectly clear: even if he did not go to Concubine Xu, he would never step into my bedchamber.
Beside me, Chunming was so anxious she was about to cry.
“Chunming, you are not allowed to cry in front of others.”
Chunming held it in the whole way back, her head lowered.
Once we returned to my Lanzhu Pavilion, Chunming finally could not help herself. She hugged Dongqing and choked out, “When has our young lady ever suffered such a great grievance? Young Master didn’t even avoid doing it in front of so many people! He made our young lady lose face.
“I refuse to call him Young Master anymore. What kind of Young Master is he?”
Dongqing only asked me worriedly, “Miss, what should we do?”
On the way back, I had already worked out a plan.
While Chunming and Dongqing were speaking, I had finished writing a letter home.
“Dongqing, take this letter to Mother. Chunming, go to the kitchen and stew two bowls of bird’s nest. Use the best blood-red bird’s nest.”
This marriage had been requested by Old Madam Zhao through an imperial decree, and it had been arranged in a hurry. I did not know much about the Zhao Mansion.
In the inner courtyard, as on the battlefield, attacking the heart was the highest strategy; open battle was the lowest.
From my recent visits to pay respects and chat with my mother-in-law, along with the letters from my mother, I had gained a rough understanding of Old Madam Zhao and Zhao Yunyan.
It turned out that, aside from that beloved concubine and the woman outside,
Zhao Yunyan had another regret he could never let go of in this life.