Xuan Yuan Dynasty
Capital City
General’s Mansion
Zhai Xing Yuan. Sunlight streamed through the windows, bathing the entire room in a layer of golden light.
Xia Xing’er lay lazily on a pearwood chaise lounge, one arm pillowing her head, the other gently waving a feather fan. Her slender figure was wrapped in a bright red dress as she gazed at the man standing before her—her newlywed husband, whom she had waited for three years.
Helian Zhi stood tall and imposing, still clad in his slightly worn battle armor. His handsome face held a trace of apologetic resolve. “Xing’er, I’m sorry, but you can no longer be the sole mistress of the General’s Mansion. Soon, I will marry Qingyu.”
Xia Xing’er slowly rose from the chaise lounge, sitting upright with her hands folded in her lap. Her eyes were dark and unreadable as she asked calmly, “Our marriage was decreed by the Empress Dowager. May I ask why I cannot remain the sole mistress of the General’s Mansion?”
Helian Zhi frowned. “You will still be the lady of the mansion, equal in status to Qingyu. She and I developed feelings for each other on the battlefield, and our hearts are aligned. I will petition His Majesty with my military achievements to grant this. In truth, I need not seek your opinion, but I returned specifically to inform you out of respect. Do not be ungrateful.”
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Xia Xing’er’s lips. “You and her, hearts aligned… Do you still remember what you said to me before you left for battle?”
Three years ago, on their wedding night, he had led reinforcements to the front lines. Before departing, he lifted her red bridal veil and vowed to her: “One lifetime, one pair—only Xing’er in this life.”
Helian Zhi looked slightly embarrassed. “Forget those words. Marrying you was due to the Empress Dowager’s decree, not my own wish. At that time, I did not understand what love was. The General’s Mansion needed a mistress, and you happened to be suitable—until I met Qingyu.”
As he spoke of his beloved, his eyes filled with deep affection, like an unbreakable fog. He continued, “She is unlike any other woman in the world. I have fallen deeply in love with her and cannot live without her. I hope Xing’er can understand and accept this.”
Xia Xing’er was amused by his shameless words.
“Then, is your Qingyu willing to be a concubine?”
Helian Zhi frowned in displeasure. “What concubine? Don’t make it sound so crude. She will be an equal wife, no different in status from you.” By the end, his frustration boiled over, and he nearly shouted.
Xia Xing’er smiled playfully. “Can’t handle it already? As far as I know, according to the laws of the Xuan Yuan Dynasty, an equal wife is still a concubine. Are the laws you follow different from what I know?”
Ignoring his increasingly grim expression, Xia Xing’er pressed on, “Have you sought the opinions of Father and Mother?”
“Father and Mother naturally agree. Qingyu is sincere, lovely, and understanding. Mother likes her very much. Speaking with her has even improved Mother’s health.”
They all agreed? Then what had her three years of devotion amounted to? Her sincere heart had been fed to dogs.
Xia Xing’er asked in a calm tone, “Is she in the mansion now?”
Whenever Helian Zhi spoke of Ye Qingyu, his tone unconsciously softened. “She is speaking with Mother. Mother likes her very much.”
Xia Xing’er couldn’t quite describe her own feelings, but she said, “Improved? When you left for battle, she was so ill she couldn’t even get out of bed. All the physicians in the capital, even the imperial doctors, were at a loss. It was I who sought out a divine healer to treat her. I stayed by her side day and night, sharing meals and living quarters, personally caring for her until her condition improved.”
She said these things not to claim credit, but merely to state a fact, recounting the hardships she had endured over the past three years.
Helian Zhi’s eyes were filled with sincerity: “Now that she sees Qingyu, her condition has improved even more. I know you’ve worked hard these past three years.”
As he spoke, he reached out to take Xia Xing’er’s hand, but she disdainfully avoided it.
Seeing Xia Xing’er evade his outstretched hand, Helian Zhi thought she was angry with him.
“Xing’er, you are just a delicate young lady raised in the inner chambers, while Qingyu is a female general. You don’t need to fear that she will take over your household management authority—she disdains engaging in petty schemes with a sheltered woman like you.”
Xing’er retorted, “She disdains scheming against a sheltered woman like me? Then why does she want to steal the husband of such a sheltered woman?”
“She disdains competing with me for household management authority? Do you think I care about the authority to manage your general’s household?”
The general’s residence had been an empty shell since she married into it. Just one of the medicinal pills the elderly madam consumed cost dozens of taels of silver, and the daily expenses, clothing, food, and social interactions of everyone else in the household required a significant amount of money.
All of this had been subsidized with her own dowry. She never expected that in the end, she would be repaid like this.
Helian Zhi had lost his patience: “Enough, I’ve said all I needed to say. Whether you agree or not won’t change the outcome. I am determined to marry Qingyu.”
With that, he turned and stormed out.
Xing’er watched his departing figure, feeling nothing but irony.
“Miss, the young master is truly too much!” Chunliu wiped her tears as she approached Xia Xing’er.
Xing’er glanced at her calmly and spoke slowly, “I haven’t even cried, so why are you crying? Go fetch my dowry list.”
“Miss, why do you need the dowry list?” Chunliu didn’t understand.
“You silly girl, of course, I need the dowry list to sort and organize our belongings. Why should we stay in such a household, slaving away for them?”
Xing’er gently tapped Chunliu on the forehead.
Chunliu covered her forehead and let out a soft whimper.
“But this marriage was arranged by Madam, who begged the Empress Dowager to bestow it, hoping you would marry, have children, and live a peaceful, stable life.”
Mentioning her mother, Xing’er’s eyes filled with tears, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
Her father, Xia Chengsheng, and her mother, Liu Youran, had shared a loving marriage their entire lives, truly embodying the ideal of “one lifetime, one love.”
They had three sons and one daughter in total, and each of her three elder brothers was exceptionally talented and distinguished.
Although she was a girl, her father had raised her like a son from a young age. At the age of five, he sent her to Mei Shan to study.
She became proficient in everything—music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, literature, military strategy, and martial arts.
At fifteen, she completed her studies and descended the mountain. Her mother hoped she would, like other noble young ladies, find a good husband, support him, and raise children.
Although she was reluctant, under her mother’s hopeful gaze, she eventually compromised.
She spent an entire year learning the principles of obedience and the responsibilities of managing a household as the primary wife.
Once word spread that the eldest daughter of Chang Xin Hou was seeking a husband, suitors flocked to her door. In the end, she chose Helian Zhi—first, because his family was simple, and second, because he swore to her father and mother that he would cherish Xing’er alone for the rest of his life and never take a concubine.
Yet, in just three short years, that man had broken his vow. How ironic.
In three days, her father, mother, elder brothers, and sisters-in-law would all be exiled, ultimately meeting tragic deaths along the way.
That’s right, she, Xia Xing’er, was reborn. Everything that happened today had occurred in her previous life as well.
What had she done then?
Given her original temperament, she would have chosen to shatter like jade rather than remain intact as a tile. Yet, to reassure her father and mother, she agreed to let Ye Qingyu marry into the family as an equal wife.
She even paid the betrothal gifts from her own dowry. But how did they repay her?