Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My sister did not spare so much as a glance for Shen Qi’s spectacular expression. Her heart ached for me. She hurried over and took my hand.

“Don’t be afraid, Yuanyuan. I’ll summon an imperial physician for some ointment at once.”

At once was right. If she waited any longer, my hand would be healed before the physician arrived.

I was the youngest child in the family, with several elder brothers and one elder sister. The entire household had spoiled me from birth. In their eyes, I truly was this delicate and fragile.

My sister did not even ask why I had slapped Shen Qi for no apparent reason. If I had hit him, then he must have done something wrong. And since I did not like him, naturally she did not like him either.

But Shen Qi had just saved her life. Looking troubled, my sister said to him, “My little sister is mischievous. I hope Young Master Shen can forgive her.”

He had finally managed to make her look at him, only for her to see him standing there in disgrace with a handprint on his face. His beloved had asked for forgiveness on my behalf, so Shen Qi could only swallow his resentment and grant it.

He was furious. For the rest of the journey, he watched me with a dark expression.

It appeared he had not been fully reborn. He had only remembered fragments of his previous life. I guessed the only part he remembered was saving the wrong person.

If he remembered a little more, he would recall the days after I first married into the Shen family, when his mother began tormenting me the very morning I served her tea.

The woman had no sense at all. Instead of cherishing a daughter-in-law from a noble house, she decided I had been raised too delicately to endure hardship and needed to be put in my place so I would become obedient.

When I offered her hot tea, she deliberately refused to take the cup, watching until the heat made me frown.

I refused to indulge her. I smashed the teacup and walked away.

When Shen Qi returned that day, I complained to him tearfully. “Husband, your mother bullied me!”

He paused, as if the form of address made him uncomfortable. Then he coldly accused me of being spoiled, insolent, and disrespectful to my elders. Somehow, everything was my fault.

I could not bear the slightest grievance. Tears spilled from my eyes at once, but he ignored me.

Whenever I cried, people had always crowded around to comfort me.

Only Shen Qi ignored me. He left me there alone. But at the time, I loved him—simply and wholeheartedly.

Unable to endure his coldness, I yielded for once and served the tea again. His mother smiled kindly on the surface, but the triumph beneath it was impossible to hide. Even with Shen Qi watching, she left me holding the cup aloft for a long time.

When we finally left, my palm was scarlet and my fingertips throbbed. Out of habit, I raised my hand to him and complained in a coaxing voice.

“Look. My hand is burned red. It hurts so much…”

I waited for him to comfort me.

Shen Qi acted as if he had heard nothing and hurried away.

I stayed where I was, watching the expectation in my eyes fade into loneliness.

Life in the Shen household was miserable. Only after I married him did I discover that a distant female cousin had been taken in by the family. She pretended to be frail every day and seized every chance to approach Shen Qi. That old woman, his mother, favored her and disliked me, and she never stopped making trouble for me.

When others bullied me, Shen Qi never defended me. When I fought back, he condemned me for being spoiled and rude. I loved him so much and feared his dislike so deeply that I slowly smothered my temper and suppressed my nature. Even when I was wronged, I no longer dared to retaliate or speak. I learned to swallow broken teeth with blood.

Little by little, I stopped crying. Shen Qi would never comfort me; he only found my tears noisy and irritating. With no one to soothe me, I somehow learned to be strong. Yet the feelings I locked inside festered until I became quiet and withdrawn.

Bit by bit, I turned into someone pitiful and meek, someone I no longer recognized.

If Shen Qi could remember those days, he would understand that the slap was no more than he deserved. I had delivered it for the woman I once was.

My father was Duke Rong. My mother and the empress were sisters born of the same parents. Both the emperor and empress doted on me, and my parents, brothers, and sister indulged me without limit. I was noble, beautiful, and so thoroughly favored that people tolerated me no matter how unreasonably I behaved.

Plenty of people loved me. What did it matter if Shen Qi did not?

I had been born to live boldly and imperiously. If I was wronged, someone would defend me. If I cried, someone would always comfort me.

In this new life, I had finally become who I was always meant to be.

As our return to the capital drew near, Shen Qi found me in private. He seemed to have finally realized something.

“Zhu Yuan, you were reborn too, weren’t you?”

At last I was certain. Shen Qi had indeed been reborn, but unlike me, he did not remember everything. His memories of the previous life returned piece by piece. After sleeping for several days at the retreat, he had just remembered my early days in the Shen household.

Back then, I had loved him with such open, blazing devotion.

Now that we knew each other’s secret, Shen Qi did not believe I hated him or wanted revenge. He naturally assumed he had seen through me: I loved him too much, and in this life, I was jealous because he had saved my sister instead of me. That was why I was maliciously targeting him.

Shen Qi regarded me with a complicated gaze, then rejected me in the most direct way possible before I had even said a word.

“In our last life, I saved you only because I mistook you for someone else. Your sister was the one I meant to save, and she is the one I love. This life has set things right. You and I have nothing to do with each other. I hope you will stop pestering me.”

He added, “Zhu Yuan, no matter how much you love me, I will never return your feelings. Give up.”