Chapter 1

During the thirty years I spent confined to that country estate, I kept turning one question over in my mind.

I was the eldest legitimate daughter of a duke, and marrying the young Marquis of Annan had been a step down for me. By rights, I should have had anything I wanted. So how had I ended up like that?

My husband, Zhao Shizhai, had a new wife. The two of them lived in perfect harmony, and had probably long since forgotten both my face and my voice.

Once my parents allowed Zhao Shizhai to take a co-wife, they stopped caring whether I lived or died. They even adopted that co-wife as their own daughter and acted as though I had never been born.

My child had been only five months in my womb, just old enough to begin kicking, when it left me in a pool of blood.

In less than two years after marrying into the Marquis of Annan’s household, I went from the graceful, universally admired daughter of a duke to a laughingstock discussed over tea.

Had I simply been fated to suffer?

I endured those thirty years as if I were being boiled alive, then died with my bitterness unresolved.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Lin Manrou—the woman with whom I had once fought so bitterly.

She was young and beautiful, dressed in a fashionable jacket and skirt embroidered with flowering branches. Standing behind my husband, she looked at me with outward respect, but the smug curve of her lips betrayed her triumph.

Dazed, I realized that I had been reborn.

Just as he had in my previous life, Zhao Shizhai said, “Ah-Wu, Manrou has already given herself to me. I don’t want to fail her, nor do I wish to deceive you, so I came to discuss this with you. May I raise Manrou to the position of concubine? Then you’ll have someone to keep you company in the inner household as well.”

In my previous life, I had been furious.

Right in front of Zhao Shizhai, I slapped Lin Manrou and demanded that she be driven out of the estate.

Lin Manrou was an orphan. Years ago, her father had sacrificed his life to save the old marquis. To repay that debt, the household had taken her in and raised her.

Driving her away would not only leave her with nowhere to go, but also invite accusations that the Marquis of Annan’s household was heartless and ungrateful.

So in my previous life, I had failed to expel Lin Manrou and had instead been rebuked by my mother-in-law.

That slap was what began the open and secret warfare between Lin Manrou and me.

“Of course.” I smiled at them both. “In fact, I was thinking the same thing. Manrou is no longer young, and people will gossip if the household keeps supporting her indefinitely. Her father was our benefactor. Even if she enters as a concubine, we must observe the proper courtesies. Why don’t we have the accounts office prepare the money and hold a splendid little wedding for her?”

Lin Manrou’s eyes lit up. “My lady, you’re not angry?”

“Now that I am married, my husband must naturally come first. If he wishes to honor you, wouldn’t my anger only embarrass him?” I said solemnly. “As the daughter of a duke, I was raised with at least this much generosity.”

Then I turned to Zhao Shizhai with a smile. “Shizhai, today must be the first and last time. Taking concubines too often will make others think you are ruled by lust. If a censor reports you, His Majesty will think less of you. It will also damage my family’s reputation and make it difficult for me to answer to them.”

Zhao Shizhai had never imagined I would agree so readily.

There was no joy in his face. Instead, regret flickered in his eyes.

He had been certain that a proud, highborn lady like me would never agree to share her husband only a year into our marriage. And because Lin Manrou was no docile creature, he had brought her before me to demand a title.

He had deliberately meant to set Lin Manrou and me against each other. Yet in my previous life, rage had blinded me so completely that I had noticed nothing.

Now that I had agreed at once, he probably had no idea how to continue his little performance.

“Ah-Wu, are you truly willing?” Zhao Shizhai asked.

I rose and took Lin Manrou by the hand. “Why choose a later day when we can do it today? Let us go tell Mother now.”

We went to Ci’an Courtyard, where I told my mother-in-law that Zhao Shizhai wished to take Lin Manrou as a concubine.

She frowned and shook her head. “Who takes a concubine after only one year of marriage? Shizhai, Ah-Wu is your wife. You must consider her feelings.”

“Mother, I have agreed,” I said.

My mother-in-law looked from me to Lin Manrou, whom Zhao Shizhai was shielding behind him. At my urging, she finally consented.

I brought over the almanac and consulted it with her. We set the concubine-taking ceremony for the seventh day of the eleventh month—only five days away.

Lin Manrou was ecstatic, believing her years of longing had finally borne fruit. Zhao Shizhai, however, looked only dejected.

I made an excuse for him. “My husband must truly adore Manrou. He is so happy that he doesn’t know what to do with himself.”

Zhao Shizhai came back to his senses, claimed he had official business to attend to, and rose to leave for his study.

I guessed he was going to discuss his next move with the woman he actually loved, so I deliberately gave Lin Manrou an order. “Concubine Lin, now that your position is official, you may take over grinding ink and tending the brazier in the study. It gets cold in there.”

“Thank you, my lady.” Delighted, Lin Manrou hurried after him.

Once they were gone, my mother-in-law drew my head against her and consoled me. “My child, you have been wronged today.”

At the thought of all I had suffered in my previous life, my eyes immediately reddened. Choking back tears, I said, “Mother, since I married him, I am his wife. If I refuse today, he will pine for her day and night, and sooner or later I will have to yield. By then, all that quarrelling will have worn away our affection as husband and wife. Better to agree now and let him remember my kindness.”

“What a good child,” she said. “Shizhai is young and doesn’t know how to cherish you, but I do.”

She summoned the steward, had the storehouse keys and account books brought over, and placed management of the household in my hands. Then she gave me the deeds to several jewelry shops and said they would be my private property from then on.

She was compensating me on her son’s behalf.

I accepted everything, and my mother-in-law relaxed.

“Ah-Wu, don’t worry,” she said. “I will give Shizhai a stern talking-to and make him remember how well you have treated him.”