Chapter 1

After my eldest sister died, Mother worried day and night, barely able to eat or sleep.

Every time I saw those dark circles under her eyes and the way she looked at me, wanting to speak but holding back, I grew thoroughly annoyed.

All these years, my sister had grown up pampered at our parents’ side, while I had been raised at Jiayu Pass by our maternal grandparents.

Mother already owed me enough. Yet when I finally came home, instead of finding me a proper husband, she wanted me to become my brother-in-law’s second wife?

At least she and Father still had enough scruples not to ask outright. They simply sighed in front of me every day.

Resentful, I thought of writing to Grandfather and taking my people back to Jiayu Pass. Surely my parents would have nothing to say to that.

But then I happened to notice the silver in Mother’s hair, the gloom on her face, and Father’s increasingly stooped back. In the end, I couldn’t quite harden my heart.

Fine. I would consider it repayment for bringing me into the world.

So I spoke plainly. “I can marry into the Earl of Jinyang’s household. But everything must be done my way!”

Mother covered her face and wept with relief. “My child! I knew you still cared about us…”

“Stop,” I said coldly. “Let’s settle the unpleasant details now and spare ourselves the quarrels later.”

She wiped her tears awkwardly. “You’re such a good child in every way, except for that temper. You’re far too much like your grandfather…”

Then she hastened to add, “It would be wonderful if you agreed. You know how busy your brother-in-law is with his official duties. He has no time for the children. Yun is only six. Without a mother to guide her, how will she ever find a good husband? And You is only three. How is he to grow up properly? If they fall into a stepmother’s hands, your sister in the afterlife… she would never rest in peace…”

As she spoke, the tears threatened to start again.

I sighed. My head hurt even more.

My sister really had been unfortunate.

Gentle, beautiful, kind, and virtuous, she had always treated me well, though we had spent little time together.

Her husband was Zhao Yuhua, heir to the Earl of Jinyang. A fine-looking man accomplished in both civil and military affairs, he was now vice minister at the Ministry of Justice.

Their families were well matched, and they had two adorable children. Almost everyone envied the marriage.

But my sister was frail. Early last year, a chill had taken her life.

Now that my brother-in-law’s mourning period was over, the earl’s household had sent word that they wished to continue the alliance between our families.

Mother had not been keen at first. She knew me well enough to understand that, after a childhood of freedom, I had no wish to live in a grand, restrictive household.

But she worried far too much about the two children my sister had left behind.

The earl’s family was a complicated one. His wife was in poor health, and Lady Li, wife of the second son, managed the household.

Lady Li also had a son, two years older than You. She was particularly fond of getting her own way and stealing the limelight.

My sister’s two children spent their days shut up in their own courtyard, cared for by their nurses, growing ever more timid and provincial.

Once a stepmother arrived, life would become still harder for them.

I considered it from every angle and could not stop worrying. It would cost me only ten years, after all.

In ten years, Yun would be old enough to marry, and You would have grown up.

I would be twenty-six then. I could simply return to Jiayu Pass.