That Prince Jing’s Mansion was truly a hell that devoured people without spitting out their bones!
Returning to the Moon Gazing Tower, the black oil-paper umbrella Zhu Changsheng always carried with her emitted waves of cold air.
She had Shui Yao and Fu Xin close the doors and windows, then opened the oil-paper umbrella.
The umbrella immediately rose into the air.
A blurred, indistinct figure appeared beneath the oil-paper umbrella.
It was a young soldier clad in armor, around eighteen or nineteen years old, with handsome features, sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, and an aura of righteous integrity.
However…
Beneath the armor, at the neck, there was a stitched wound. His battle armor was tattered, and it was impossible to tell how many heroic souls’ blood had splattered onto his face, staining his war robes.
He held up the oil-paper umbrella, standing before Zhu Changsheng, his eyes dim and expressionless.
His name was Wei Siheng, the military strategist known for both wisdom and courage, the “Si” in “commanding a hundred thousand troops like tigers and panthers,” with the courtesy name Wei Yuan.
A young hero of the Great Jin Kingdom renowned for his military achievements, the eldest son of the Wei family born to a concubine, and the one who had been childhood sweethearts with his legitimate younger sister Zhu Yuanshu, betrothed to her. He was the Young General Wei who had been beheaded by enemy forces and died in battle outside Linshui Pass.
His corpse could not be recovered, for he had been dismembered and brutally tortured to death by the enemy. After his death, his flesh was devoured by eagles and dogs, leaving his bones incomplete and his soul damaged.
Zhu Changsheng helped collect his remains, restored his face, reattached his head, reconstructed his torso, remolded his body, gathered his nearly scattered three souls and seven spirits, and then sealed his soul within this black oil-paper umbrella, guiding him home to see the person he missed most…
“You have already seen her. In another ten days, once your corpse is transported back, I will send you back to the Wei…”
“Master Zhu, why did you agree to marry me?”
Before Zhu Changsheng could finish her words, Wei Yuan parted his lips, his soul body asking weakly.
Zhu Changsheng stood up, walked to the table, and turned her back to Wei Yuan: “I am a person with a hard fate, one who brings misfortune to relatives, bearing the Fate Pattern of the Celestial Lone Baleful Star. When I left the mountain, my master repeatedly warned me not to marry.”
She glanced back slightly: “But my master never said I could not marry a dead man. Coincidentally, my legitimate younger sister Yuan Shu is unwilling to marry into the Wei Mansion. If the Zhu family were to break off the engagement now, we would surely incur the emperor’s displeasure. Out of consideration for your Wei family’s past achievements, it would not be impossible for the emperor to execute the Zhu family’s nine clans as compensation to the Wei Mansion. In any case, I cannot escape the fate of being beheaded. Rather than that, it might as well be me who marries.”
Wei Yuan’s soul froze.
At that moment, Zhu Yuanshu’s voice came from outside the courtyard: “I’m looking for my elder sister. She’s inside, right?”
Startled, Wei Yuan’s soul body shrank back into the umbrella.
The umbrella closed by itself with a “snap” and fell to the ground.
Simultaneously, Zhu Yuanshu, ignoring the protests of Shui Yao and Fu Xin, pushed open the door: “Why is it closed? It’s pitch dark in here, like seeing a ghost.”
Zhu Changsheng picked up the black umbrella and stored it away on the bed.
Remembering what Wei Yuan had entrusted her with, she took out an expensive jade bracelet and turned around, intending to hand it to Zhu Yuanshu.
Suddenly, Zhu Yuanshu waved her hand and called to the maids outside the courtyard: “Bring the things in.”
Two large chests were carried in from outside and placed heavily before Zhu Changsheng.
Puzzled, Zhu Changsheng instinctively tightened her grip on the jade bracelet: “What is this, younger sister?”Zhu Yuanshu looked up with a face full of disdain. “I’ve heard that after someone dies, all their belongings should be thrown away or burned—not a single item kept—so their lingering soul doesn’t follow you for a lifetime. The living would otherwise suffer from their yin energy, dragging down their fortune. Since elder sister is marrying into the Wei Mansion, these things were all given to me by Wei Yuan while he was alive. You can take them along with the dowry into the Wei family, just consider it as your younger sister’s wedding gift to you.”
Her tone was malicious, filled with utter hatred for Wei Yuan.
Zhu Changsheng instinctively glanced at the black umbrella.
Wei Yuan’s soul had regained its senses and could hear the sounds from the outside world. It seemed Zhu Yuanshu no longer wanted this jade bracelet either.
“You and Young General Wei…”
“I have no relationship with him.” She had come specifically to make this clear to Zhu Changsheng. “Mother and I have discussed it, and Father has gone to the ancestral residence to add you to the family registry. Since you are the legitimate eldest daughter of the Zhu family, I will be the second daughter of the Zhu residence, raised on the estate. If anyone asks about you, don’t let the truth slip.”
“And one more thing…”
“Although that short-lived ghost and I were childhood friends, he followed his father to war at the age of eleven, and I haven’t seen him for eight years. He means nothing to me. As for the marriage arrangement, it was only verbal. After you marry into the Wei Mansion, you must not back out. Otherwise, I will find a way to make you crash into his coffin and be buried with Wei Yuan.”
Zhu Changsheng shook her head, disagreeing with Zhu Yuanshu’s words.
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanshu frowned and asked, “What do you mean? Are you trying to go back on your word?”
Zhu Changsheng’s icy eyes were clear and sharp, her words cutting. “The Great Jin Kingdom reveres martial prowess, and the Wei Family is the foremost military family of Great Jin. Successive emperors have cherished loyal generals. Your public rejection of the marriage was already an act of disloyalty to the Emperor. Now, you show no fear, calling Wei Yuan ‘short-lived ghost’ at every turn, and speaking arrogantly to me, your elder sister. A person who is disloyal, unjust, and heartless should quickly tuck their tail and hide in their room for self-reflection, yet you come to my room spouting such nonsense. Do you think I, Zhu Changsheng, am a soft persimmon for you to squeeze as you please?”
“You…” Zhu Yuanshu widened her eyes, not expecting Zhu Changsheng to bind her with the principles of loyalty to family and country.
Recalling the hardships she endured after marrying into the Wei Mansion in her past life, and thinking about how Zhu Changsheng would marry into a better situation than she did, her heart was filled with resentment.
Why did Zhu Changsheng have to stand on moral high ground, accusing her of being disloyal, unjust, and heartless?
But then she remembered that Zhu Changsheng would soon live the life she had endured in her past life, suffering the same pains she had once borne. Zhu Yuanshu’s anger slowly subsided.
She curled her lips into a cold smile. “Elder sister is so righteous. That’s just as well. Mother has already sent someone to invite Master Guangji to choose your wedding date. In this chest is the wedding dress gifted by the Wei family. I suppose elder sister hasn’t prepared a wedding dress for herself, so you can use this one. Rest assured and prepare for your wedding. Hah!”
Zhu Yuanshu gave a smug smile and turned to leave the dimly lit room.
At the same time, Zhu Changsheng opened the black oil-paper umbrella.
The soul beneath the umbrella looked even paler than before.
Zhu Yuanshu, who had just stepped over the threshold, felt a chill run down her spine, as if a pair of eyes in the room were still watching her. Without looking back, she quickened her pace and left the Moon Gazing Tower.
Wei Yuan lowered his head, watching Zhu Yuanshu’s retreating figure without a word.
Seeing this, Zhu Changsheng spoke to comfort him. “You and she are now separated by life and death. There’s no need for you to cling to her too much. Everyone has their own fate.”
“I know,” Wei Yuan replied, his entire body radiating yin energy, his eyes downcast and his spirits low.It was not because Zhu Yuanshu’s words had wounded his heart, but because he and Zhu Yuanshu were now separated by life and death, unable to fulfill the promise made in his letter: “In the end, I have failed her. Seeing her let go of everything, I can now depart in peace, so she need not linger in sorrow or attachment.”
They had grown up together, and his parents had always told him that she would one day be his wife.
He, too, had treated her with sincerity and earnestness, eagerly awaiting the day she would grow up so he could marry her.
But he had died on the battlefield, betraying her trust.
“Thank you, Miss Zhu,” Wei Yuan slowly raised his head to look at Zhu Changsheng. Noticing the jade bracelet in her hand, he added, “These things are of no use to her now. I suppose they could be pawned for some silver, which could serve as burial expenses for helping me with my remains. As for the marriage between you and me, could you teach me how to send a dream? I wish to enter a dream to petition the Emperor to annul the marriage alliance between the Wei and Zhu families. I will ensure that you, Miss Zhu, are not implicated in any crime punishable by death, nor will the Zhu family be affected.”
Zhu Changsheng frowned, her gaze fixed intently on Wei Yuan, and she spoke frankly, “I intend to marry a dead man. If you, Wei Yuan, were still alive, I would never choose you as my husband.”
“Why?” Wei Yuan’s soul trembled, his face filled with confusion.
Zhu Changsheng turned around, facing the bronze mirror, and stared at the reflection within.
She was dressed in a water-blue gown, but the reflection in the bronze mirror showed a completely different appearance.
Wei Yuan was startled to see that the person in the mirror did not resemble Zhu Changsheng’s current appearance: “You… the person in the mirror…”
The figure in the mirror wore an embroidered white-gold wide-sleeved robe and a light purple skirt, with golden floral hair ornaments adorning her temples, pearl and jade hairpins, and large peony hair flowers embellishing the sides of her hair.
Though adorned with pearls and delicate makeup, a look that should have been dignified and elegant, her face was as pale as a corpse, her body emaciated like a skeleton, devoid of any vitality of a living person.
This was her appearance before her death—the former Concubine of Prince Jing, who was later enfeoffed as the Noble Consort Ti after Prince Jing ascended the throne.
Yet behind this empty title lay a meticulously planned scheme to exchange her life…