Before entering the nightmare, Wen Shuyu had once had a hazy dream the night before.
In that dream, he returned to that old countryside house. Inside, on a straw mat lay his critically ill mother. He, still not tall enough to reach the stove, stood on tiptoe as he carefully boiled medicinal soup.
The entire courtyard was filled with a bitter, medicinal smell.
The Wen family had, for three generations, served as chief ministers. Their disciples filled the land, and in the capital they lived in even greater splendor than royal nobility. Outsiders only knew that Wen Shuyu bore the surname Xie and came from a prestigious noble lineage.
Yet no one knew that at seven years old, he had been expelled by his clan and forced to survive in the countryside with his mother, so poor they could not even afford a single liter of rice.
His mother had developed a mental illness and was rarely lucid. Most days, she would beat and curse him without restraint.
With his small hands, he struggled to fan the fire. Beneath his feet stood the only wooden stool in the house, already rotten from within. At that moment, it finally could no longer hold, and snapped apart.
Wen Shuyu lost his balance and crashed heavily to the ground, rolling once through the muddy earth, his body covered in damp dirt.
He did not cry, nor did he make a sound. He only lowered his gaze, lips tightly pressed, his young face carrying a stubbornness far beyond his years.
In just a few days, he had fallen from a carefree young noble into someone struggling merely to survive. Those hands that once tossed gold and jade carelessly were now covered in scars.
He hated the ruthless heavens. He hated even more that he was still alive. The only person who had ever loved him was his mother when she was not ill, and now she, too, was nearing death…
Wen Shuyu truly did not know when this walking-dead existence would ever end.
A soft white handkerchief brushed across his cheek, wiping away the dirt.
He slowly lifted his head, meeting the smiling eyes of a young girl. Her bright, lively deer-like eyes shone brilliantly on her face.
“My name is Tang Li.”
She shook the bag of meat and grain in her hands, smiling brightly. “From now on, we’re neighbors!”
After that, she became his only friend. They grew up together, gathered medicinal herbs on the mountain to sell for money, and fought back against other children who bullied them.
Wen Shuyu thought he had finally walked out of that dim, suffocating room and seen a ray of light meant for him.
Yet that sudden happiness was fleeting. The year after his mother died, the girl’s alcoholic father sold her off to a family as a child bride.
That household’s courtyard walls were so high he could never climb them. She was trapped inside that cage, deprived of freedom. Through the thick wall, he could hear her crying every day.
In his youthful impulsiveness, he picked up a long blade and charged alone into that residence. He did not understand patience, nor long-term planning.
He only knew she was suffering, and he had to save her.
Countless sticks broke his spine. Blood filled his mouth. Yet the young man still stubbornly looked toward the girl who was crying heartbreakingly, using his last breath to say,
“It’s my fault… I made you sad again…”
He did not want her to be sad. He wanted to find a way to pull her out from behind those high walls.
So, in the dead of night, he carried the only belongings from his home and headed north to the capital to study. When he achieved success, he would use everything he had to exchange for her freedom.
But the young man forgot that fate had never favored him.
When he returned after passing the imperial examinations and came back to that wall, the girl was unwilling to leave.
She said she had fallen in love with someone else, that she could not leave her husband…
That night, he stood beneath the crabapple tree they had planted together as children until dawn.
Back in the capital, within just a few years, he became Imperial Tutor, and the youngest Grand Chancellor of the dynasty. Even the old factions of the Wen family came to curry favor, bringing gold, silver, and beautiful women, all of which he rejected without hesitation.
He did not know what he was waiting for, but his heart always felt empty.
Later, he heard that her husband had earned military merit at the frontier and returned to the capital as a newly titled general with his entire family.
He watched her love another man.
She knelt and submitted before that man, endured the abuse of her mother-in-law and the humiliation from concubines, caring for nothing but desperately trying to keep a husband who did not love her.
Wen Shuyu still softened.
He set a deadly trap for her husband. As long as the man died, even if he had to bear infamy, he did not care.
Unexpectedly, she loved that man deeply enough to block a fatal sword for him, dying in his place.
Yet her cold-hearted husband showed no emotion at all. He discarded her, still breathing but barely alive, into a mass grave like a worthless object.
On that rainy night, Wen Shuyu rode two horses to exhaustion, crossing mountains and rivers to reach the burial site. His hands trembled uncontrollably as he held her, his heart as if being carved out piece by piece.
And then he heard her say, “Wen Shuyu…”
“You hurt the person I love most. I hate you to death!”
That year, the newly crowned young Chancellor, after stabilizing everything for the newly ascended young empress, chose without any reason to die alongside an obscure abandoned woman. It was unprecedented in history. People in the streets whispered that he had gone mad.
Wen Shuyu looked at his hand, now pushed away.
Could this be what the system called “losing oneself”?
The nightmare had erased her memories…
What exactly had she gone through?
Wen Shuyu’s face was half hidden in shadow under the light, his complexion even paler than before.
It was all his fault for being too late. That was why Tang Li…
He wanted to immediately tell her everything and take her away from this terrifying place.
But the system had repeatedly warned him: he must not reveal his identity as an outsider within the Paper Bridal Attendant’s dream.
He only had twelve hours to find the exit.
If he wanted to take her with him, the first step was to gain her trust.
But Tang Li clearly already saw him as a lecher. Not only was she wary of him, there was even a trace of disgust in her expression.
What should he do…?
At that moment, inspiration suddenly flashed through Wen Shuyu’s mind.
He lowered his head slightly, lips gently pressed together, long lashes hiding his eyes. He looked utterly heartbroken, as if he had been deeply wounded by love.
To anyone watching, he looked like an innocent young man wronged beyond measure.
And yet, he had done nothing of the sort!
Tang Li was completely confused. She finally spoke, her voice tense and slightly stammering.
“You… what do you mean?”
“…You really don’t remember me?”
The young man before her spoke hoarsely, sorrow spilling from his eyes. Even Tang Li, who had just been furious, suddenly lost her confidence.
Could it be…
Did he really know her?
She hesitated, then asked again,
“Should I remember you?”
As soon as she said that, the sadness in his eyes deepened even more, as if it might overflow at any moment.
“You… the necklace on your neck… the one engraved with a crabapple flower… that was the engagement token I gave you before I left…”
“I only went out with my master to seek medicine… how could you… forget me!”
His voice grew more choked as he spoke, tears glimmering faintly under his lashes, as though utterly heartbroken by her cruelty.
“….”
That didn’t look like an act at all.
Could it be that she really had wronged him?
Tang Li began to doubt herself. She tried hard to search her memories.
But no matter how she thought, there was only emptiness.
The madam had said she had hit her head while delivering medicine to the young master yesterday, so she truly could not remember whether she had ever had a fiancé.
As for the necklace he mentioned, she did have one, hidden beneath her inner clothes, never shown to anyone.
If he even knew the pattern on it, it must mean they were truly close.
And besides, with a face like his, there would be no need for deception…
After a long moment of hesitation, her guarded expression finally softened.
“I bumped my head yesterday and can’t remember certain things… but since you even know that… I’ll trust you a little.”
“Li’er…”
Wen Shuyu lifted his gaze, looking at her with deep affection. The air between them seemed to thicken with unspoken emotion.
Tang Li’s cheeks flushed slightly. She cleared her throat.
“I was too impulsive earlier… does your face still hurt?”
“It’s fine.”
Wen Shuyu had guessed correctly.
Earlier, he had noticed that the maids in the courtyard all wore wooden tag necklaces. When he first entered the nightmare, he had nearly been bumped into by a maid carrying hot water. As she staggered, the wooden tag slipped out from her collar.
He heard the woman call her Yingchun. On her wooden tag was carved a flower of spring blossoms.
The madam called Tang Li “Haitang,” so he guessed she likely wore a similar wooden tag, and that it might bear a crabapple flower.
And indeed, he was right.
As for the so-called engagement token, the story of going out to seek medicine—all of it had been fabricated by him.
Yet his expression remained calm and flawless, his performance so convincing that she saw no flaw at all.
Tang Li believed him completely.
Wen Shuyu sat in the small eastern side room, adding herbs into a medicine pot.
Everything in the Paper Bridal Attendant’s dream was distorted and strange compared to reality.
Just like now, time was flowing at a bizarre speed.
Through the window, he watched Tang Li outside. One moment she was in a peach blossom bun sweeping fallen petals, the next she was wearing summer clothes, laughing as she chased butterflies.
Then she leaned by the window with a smile, holding several pomegranates, tiptoeing to offer them to him.
He reached out to take them, but the next instant, a snowball hit his neck, making him shiver violently.
“Ah Yu! You’re so silly, you didn’t even dodge.”
Tang Li, now bundled in thick winter clothes, stood beneath the moon gate in the distance with hands on her hips, her dimples vivid and lively.
In just a moment, the scenery had cycled through all four seasons.
Time here flowed like sand slipping through one’s fingers—the tighter he tried to hold it, the faster it slipped away.
“Li’er…”
Wen Shuyu murmured softly.
His gaze lingered greedily on her. Such radiant Tang Li… he had not seen in a long time.
The awakened her would only think of the man who had hurt her.
Even if she occasionally gave him a sliver of warmth, it would always be fleeting.
If possible, he wished to remain trapped in this illusion forever.
Unfortunately, it was all only part of the nightmare.
They would eventually leave.