Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The early-summer sun was pleasantly warm, yet I felt cold all over.

The reason was that my legitimate younger sister was sobbing in our parents’ arms, kicking up a fuss because she wanted to marry my fiancé.

Her every cry sounded as if it might break our parents’ hearts.

And kneeling off to the side was none other than my fiancé, Xiao Liu.

His back was ramrod straight. When he looked at my sister, his eyes were filled with tenderness as soft as water. “In all my life, I have never met a woman as innocent and moving as Wanqing. In this lifetime, I wish only to take her as my proper match. I beg Miss Wenyu to grant us this kindness.”

The moment he said this, my sister cried even harder. Through her sobs, she repeated the same few lines over and over: she had wronged me, but she and Lord Xiao truly loved each other, and she begged me to let them be together.

She made it sound as if I were the villain trying to tear apart a pair of lovebirds.

Seeing this, Mother looked so distressed it nearly spilled from her eyes. She quickly turned to offer me a way down, though a faint warning hid in her gaze.

“Wenyu, as the elder sister, you must learn to give way to your younger sister. Since Lord Xiao sincerely loves Qing’er, just take it that the engagement between you never counted.”

For a moment, every gaze in the room fell on me. Beneath my sleeves, my hands clenched into fists. Only after a long while did I draw a deep breath and calm myself. Then I said to them, “As you wish.”

Father’s expression changed at once, and he rebuked me sharply. “Liu Wenyu, is that any way to speak to your parents?”

At this, my younger sister suddenly gave a miserable smile. “Father, Mother, Sister must blame me. Wanqing cannot disregard Sister’s feelings. In this life, I can only have no fate with Lord Xiao.”

Xiao Liu’s face changed with anxiety. When he looked at me, a trace of resentment had entered his eyes. “There has never been any affection between Miss Wenyu and me. Even if we were forced together, we would only become a resentful couple. Why will you not grant us your blessing?”

Looking at the two of them like that, I found it especially laughable.

If I had not slept lightly last night and gone for a stroll in the central courtyard, where I overheard Liu Wanqing and my younger brothers discussing how they would bring Xiao Liu here to pressure me in person, I might really have believed she felt guilty.

I ignored her and brushed past them, heading straight for the front gate. I had only just opened the courtyard door a crack when my biased father barked at me to stop.

When I turned back, my face was already streaked with tears, and my voice had changed into a sob. “Since my sister has already gone behind my back, her legitimate elder sister, and privately pledged herself to Young Master Xiao, since everything that should have happened has already happened, and Father and Mother told me to yield, and I have yielded-what more do you want from me?”

My wailing was loud, with every sign that I might sob myself into a faint.

Mother sensed that things were going badly and tried to come over to comfort me, pretending she wanted to quiet me down.

But she did not expect me to lean my shoulder back and knock the doors open.

Outside stood several noble young ladies from the most powerful families in the capital, all staring in utter shock.

In particular, the one at their head was famous for loving gossip.

Early this morning, I had sent them invitations, saying only that the lotus flowers in my courtyard had bloomed and asking them to come admire them.

And now, every ugly scandal in my courtyard was laid out openly before them.

Excitement stirred in the noble ladies’ eyes.

My younger sister, who had been crying as if she were on the verge of death just moments ago, looked like she was truly about to faint now.

But I beat her to it. After giving the noble ladies outside the courtyard a smile of utter despair, I turned and fainted into the arms of my maid, Rong’er.