When Chu Nianci brought dinner to her husband, Lin Jingrui, she saw the cold and aloof man, who resembled an ascetic monk, pinning her half-sister against the desk…
His broad, bare back arched like a drawn bowstring to its limit, and he let out a deeply suppressed groan.
She stood frozen by the window, watching.
The north wind whipped snowflakes against her cheeks like knives, and Chu Nianci felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen solid.
The moans, like the night wind, felt unreal—as if it were all a dream.
She watched Lin Jingrui…
Her husband, whom she had waited for half a year. In this moment, his usually cold and distant face was filled with the wild satisfaction of a lion.
His movements were rough and unrestrained, as if he were an entirely different person.
Nothing like the proper and disciplined heir of the Lin family.
Watching the two of them nearly meld into one, Chu Nianci suddenly felt bitterly cold.
So this was the winter in the capital—cold enough to seep into the very marrow of her bones.
She averted her gaze, slowly curling her already frozen fingers into her sleeves.
Then, she heard Chu Shunqing’s delicate, soft voice: “Lin Lang, do you prefer my sister, or do you prefer me?”
“Right now, of course it’s you…” he replied.
The rest of his words were scattered by the wind.
Chu Nianci didn’t catch them, nor did she want to.
She tightened her soaked cloak around herself and looked at her shadow on the ground—already shattered beyond repair.
Returning from the study, she was so distraught that she nearly tripped.
She retched violently but only managed to spit up a few mouthfuls of clear water.
Taking out the jade pendant that symbolized their love from her inner garment,
the warm jade now felt like a block of ice in her hand.
Without hesitation, she threw it under the bridge.
Watching the pendant disappear into the pitch-black lake water,
the cold in her heart finally eased slightly.
Back in her bedroom, she drank a few sips of tea and lay down, drifting into a long and distant dream—a dream of her entire life.
She saw her grand wedding the next day.
She saw him treating her with icy respect.
She saw, ten years later, her mother-in-law, Lady Xie, forcing her to drink a bowl of red-crowned crane poison.
She saw, on her deathbed, hearing the imperial decree conferring upon her the title of First-Rank Lady.
“Wake up! Don’t you dare pretend to be dead for me.”
“My brother and I are swapping wives tonight.”
The nauseating stench of alcohol mixed with vulgar words pierced her ears, and Chu Nianci coughed violently as she woke…
A pockmarked, ugly face was inches from hers.
Instinctively, she drove the golden needle from her ring hard into the other person’s Fengchi acupoint.
The pockmarked man collapsed without even a groan.
Chu Nianci sat up, coughing violently, tears streaming from her eyes.
She looked around—rosewood furniture, a curio cabinet, the plaque on the wall inscribed with “Grace and Prosperity”…
For a moment, she was dazed and confused.
Suddenly, she remembered—this was the Cheng’en Earl’s residence, her main courtyard, Weiruixuan.
A wave of dizziness washed over her. Just like in her past life, she had been poisoned with an aphrodisiac.
She quickly changed the golden needle and inserted it into another acupoint.
The drug’s effects were suppressed.
Her gaze fell back on the man on the floor…
The eldest son of the household, Lin Jingfan.
A year ago, he had deserted the army, disfigured his face, and lived in the rear courtyard as a groom…
Her mother-in-law, Lady Xie, had sent him to ruin her chastity.
Staggering to the curio cabinet, she grasped the plum vase and gave it a gentle twist. The cabinet slowly slid aside, revealing a hidden chamber behind it.
This was a secret room known only to her in the entire residence.
Just as she dragged Lin Jingfan into the chamber,
hurried footsteps sounded at the door.
Thud, thud… Heavy knocking echoed.
“Open the door!” It was Lin Jingrui’s voice, cold and tinged with anger. “If you don’t open it, I’ll break it down!”
Chu Nianci closed the hidden door, turned around, and pulled open the bedroom door.
Lin Jingrui strode swiftly to the bedside, yanked back the covers, and seeing the empty bed, let out a sigh of relief.
The disappointment in Chu Nianci’s heart instantly turned to resentment.
In her past life, he had seen the groom, slapped her without asking for an explanation, and stormed off in a rage.
If she hadn’t handed over half her dowry, she might not even have held onto the empty title of a noblewoman.
“Utterly disgraceful,” Lin Jingrui said with a stern face, sitting down coldly.
“Why did you barge in here in the middle of the night to scold me?” Chu Nianci quickly suppressed her anger, regained her composure, and slowly walked to the table to sit down.
In this life, she hadn’t given Lin Jingrui any leverage against her.
She wanted to see what excuses this heartless man could still come up with to settle her half-sister, Chu Shunqing.
Chu Nianci watched the man with a cold gaze.
He wore a deep blue casual robe, his dark hair tightly bound with a jade crown. With his emerald-like brows and starry eyes, his aloof and distant demeanor, this coldly handsome face that had once captivated her now carried a trace of anger.
“What were you making a fuss about with Mother this afternoon?” he began with an accusation.
“During the epidemic relief in Nanzhao, I contracted the plague, and it was thanks to Shunqing’s intervention that I survived.”
“She used ancient prescriptions to control the outbreak, and the Empress has already appointed her as the only female imperial physician. Naturally, she cannot be placed beneath you.”
“My elder brother passed away, and I am marrying on his behalf to give Shunqing a proper status. What’s wrong with that? Don’t be so jealous.”
Listening to Lin Jingrui utter these cold words in a calm tone, Chu Nianci’s hands turned icy.
No excuse.
He had still forced it out.
So, when one plan failed,
he simply took advantage of the situation.
Her heart grew cold, and the pain faded away.
Instead of lashing out in fury as she had in her past life, Chu Nianci sneered and asked, “Are you truly only giving her a status, and not consummating the marriage?”
Lin Jingrui frowned, his noble and aloof face showing a hint of displeasure. “For the sake of continuing my brother’s lineage, of course, I must…”
At this point, Lin Jingrui looked slightly embarrassed.
“Though we will share a husband, we will live in separate courtyards, keeping our distance and not interfering with each other.”
Chu Nianci nearly let out a cold laugh.
“Share a husband?” she mocked.
“When Chu Shunqing was still unmarried, she repeatedly claimed she wanted ‘one man for a lifetime.’ Now she’s willing to share a husband with me?”
“Shunqing is reasonable and won’t be jealous or petty,” Lin Jingrui replied, his tone slightly annoyed.
Chu Nianci covered her sneer with a handkerchief.
He had no understanding of his beloved half-sister.
In her past life, it was precisely because of this “sharing a husband” that Chu Shunqing found countless ways to compete with her openly and secretly.
“Then do you still remember the promise you once made to me?” she asked softly.
A year ago, when she was sixteen, he had come to Yangzhou to propose marriage, publicly swearing, “If I can marry Ci’er, I will never betray her.”
It was because she believed those words
that she traveled thousands of miles with a dowry worth millions to marry into the Chengen Bo Manor.
Before they could formally wed, he was ordered to go to Nanzhao for epidemic relief, leaving behind a handwritten letter before his departure: “Ci’er, wait for me.”
The words still echoed in her ears, yet now he wanted to marry her half-sister.
Lin Jingrui lowered his long lashes.
But only for a moment before he looked up again. “I will keep my promise and marry you, and I will also marry Shunqing. But in this lifetime, there will only be you and her. I will take no other concubines. I hope you can accept this.”
Chu Nianci lowered her long lashes, hiding the mockery in her eyes.
In this lifetime, only me and my sister.
Never taking another concubine.
Back then, she had believed those words, exhausting herself managing the household for him and planning his future.
But after he rose to the highest ranks of the court, one concubine after another was brought into the household.
Before I even reached thirty, I had aged prematurely, my beauty faded, and he cast me aside like a worn-out shoe. In the end, my mother-in-law forced me to drink a bowl of red-crowned crane poison, and I perished, my fragrance extinguished.
All that youthful sincerity had ultimately been fed to the dogs.
And Chu Shunqing actually believed his words.
She saw me as a thorn wedged between the two of them.
Day after day, she sought reasons to provoke me, transforming from a lovestruck beauty into a bitter, malicious, and jealous woman.
In the end, she even tried to harm my child because of a miscarriage.
Seeing her lowered brows and silence, Lin Jingrui thought she had accepted it, and his tone softened slightly. “Don’t worry, Shunqing and I have observed propriety. The day after tomorrow, I will consummate the marriage with you first. If you are fortunate enough to conceive the legitimate eldest son early, Shunqing will never surpass you.”
Observed propriety?
Chu Nianci nearly vomited at the words.
The scene from the study earlier flashed before her eyes.
In her past life, she had believed his claim that he married in his brother’s stead out of necessity.
Suppressing the urge to spit in his face, she calmly asked, “What about Shunqing? She’s been back for days. Why hasn’t she come to see me?”
“Shunqing is busy tending to Mother’s health and also has to enter the palace to check on the Empress’s well-being. She has no time for idle chatter with you.”
Tending to health?
Checking on the Empress’s well-being?
Chu Nianci sneered inwardly.
Her mother-in-law, Lady Xie, suffered from a chronic illness.
She herself had attended to her day and night, yet Lady Xie, merely for the sake of her dowry, had tried to have the groom’s son ruin her chastity.
Without the Wind-Dispelling Pills, Chu Shunqing would likely struggle to even maintain the stability of the illness.
Her title as a disciple of the Medicine King was not for nothing.
Chu Nianci spoke with calm detachment, “May I have a few words with my sister?”
Under the warm, yellow candlelight, her eyes sparkled with intelligence and clarity, a vivid beauty mark gracing the space between her brows, and her crimson lips lightly pressed together like the newly bloomed stamens of a begonia.
Lin Jingrui was momentarily dazzled by her radiant beauty and instinctively reached out to grasp her wrist.
But before his hand could touch her, a sharp pain shot through his fingertips.
He withdrew his hand and looked at Chu Nianci, only to see her dark eyes cold and distant, which left him feeling awkward.
Just then, a delicate laugh sounded at the doorway.
“Sister wants to see me? I’ve been wanting to see you too, Sister.”
Before the words had fully faded, a beautiful woman lifted the curtain and entered.