As evening approached, a wedding procession consisting of four or five people walked crookedly along a muddy country path, playing a lifeless suona.
Inside a sedan chair that was drafty on all sides and had red paint peeling away, Song Xia was shaken until she felt dizzy and nauseous. Fortunately, her body had probably been starving for several days, so there was nothing in her stomach to vomit out and stain her wedding gown.
“Oh my, your Xiaxia is truly blessed! The old scholar didn’t fancy daughters from so many good families, yet he took a fancy to your Xiaxia. This must be a blessing cultivated over a past life!”
“Oh, Granny Wang, look at what you’re saying. Our Xiaxia is cherished by her brother and me. All that good food and drink—even what I couldn’t bear to give my own children was given to her. How else could she have grown up so pretty and caught the old scholar’s eye?”
“Indeed, indeed. This girl really ought to thank you properly. Who in the countryside could hook such a good match? It all comes down to her sister-in-law doting on her sister-in-law’s sister-in-law—otherwise, who would ever get a turn at such a fine match?”
Listening to the conversation between the two women outside the sedan chair, Song Xia felt a bitter taste in her mouth.
Just yesterday, she had been riding an agricultural tractor, singing all the way to the countryside with her fellow students and mentors for a research trip. Then, to avoid a sheep that suddenly dashed out on the road, the driver yanked the steering wheel hard. The tractor flipped, she was violently thrown out, and the moment she opened her eyes, she had arrived in this place that clearly wasn’t modern times.
Before Song Xia could even figure out the situation, a woman claiming to be her sister-in-law gave her a thorough scolding, forced a brand-new, bright red wedding dress onto her, and shoved her into this broken sedan chair.
Holding her head, Song Xia cursed her bad luck—she had just time-traveled only to be sold off!
From the conversation between her sister-in-law and Granny Wang, Song Xia pieced together the general sequence of events.
Scholar Shen’s nephew, Shen Huaijing, had been exceptionally clever since childhood, but unfortunately suffered from a weak constitution. Everything was fine until recently, when a traveling Taoist priest passed by. Upon seeing Shen Huaijing, the priest prophesied that his days were numbered. The Shen family was terrified and begged the priest for a method to break the curse. The priest left behind the two words “blessing in disguise” (chongxi) and floated away gracefully.
Consequently, Scholar Shen and his wife calculated numerous birth dates and searched through various young ladies, ultimately settling on an engagement with Song Xiaxia from the Song family, with the wedding taking place today.
Song Xia was baffled. How could such seemingly decent uncle and aunt find a country girl like her for their nephew? There had to be something fishy going on here!
However, Song Xia secretly glanced outside: two sedan-bearer coolies, a burly Granny Wang, her own brother and sister-in-law from this world, plus herself—who didn’t know the way and had been starving for days—meant escape was completely out of the question!
Song Xia felt a little despairful. When other people time-traveled, they ascended to immortality, became flying immortals, princesses, or generals. Why was it that after time-traveling, not only was she too starved to walk, but she was also sold off to a sickly weakling?!
Abandoning any thoughts of running away, Song Xia clutched her rumbling stomach and decided to go to the Shen estate first to see how things played out.
The shabby five-person wedding squad was blowing and beating instruments as they just reached the county town gate, only to be enveloped by the groom’s welcoming entourage.
Song Xia was forcefully dragged out of the broken sedan chair by her sister-in-law and shoved into a spacious, comfortable new sedan chair. Although Sister-in-law Song packed quite a punch, her mouth kept gushing, “Oh, Xiaxia, you really are blessed to be able to ride in such a fine sedan chair.”
That sour tone made Song Xia cast a surprised glance at Sister-in-law Song. Surely Sister-in-law Song didn’t genuinely believe she was going off to enjoy a life of luxury?
Sister-in-law Song hadn’t expected that her previously submissive sister-in-law, who never even dared to lift her head at home, would actually widen her eyes to stare at her. Taken aback for a moment, she didn’t even hear the steward of Scholar Shen’s family speaking.
“Sister-in-law Song? Sister-in-law Song? Madame Qin of the Song family!”
“Oh, oh, yes!” While inwardly cursing that little hussy for climbing up high branches and daring to use that kind of look on her, Sister-in-law Song scrambled to answer the steward.
“You few, dropping her off right here is enough. The estate has distinguished guests today and isn’t convenient for hosting. We’ve also signed a written contract; from now on, Miss Song is a member of our household. Miss Song is coming to our family as a cherished young mistress, so don’t dwell on it or grieve anymore.” Taking one look at the group’s demeanor, the steward immediately sized them up. Knowing they likely didn’t hold deep affection for the sold girl, he tossed over a few extra copper coins as a tip.
Sure enough, Sister-in-law Song—who had been hesitant and on the verge of saying something else—immediately beamed with joy as she accepted the money. While repeating, “Good, good, good,” she pulled Elder Brother Song aside to let the procession pass.
Seated inside the spacious and comfortable bright red bridal sedan, Song Xia was carried smoothly past the five dust-covered figures. Just as the wind happened to blow open the curtain, Song Xia caught sight of her original body’s brother—Elder Brother Song—who looked as though he wanted to step forward, only to be yanked back by Sister-in-law Song. After Sister-in-law Song whispered something low to him, he lowered his head and stopped even looking at the sedan chair.
A spot inside Song Xia’s heart collapsed with a resounding crash. Tears rolled down uncontrollably in large drops, aching so sharply she could barely breathe.
With tears streaming down her face, Song Xia whispered softly, “The ones who should be grieving are them. The one in the wrong isn’t you.” After a long moment, Song Xia felt her whole body grow light. She knew that the very last shred of the original soul had also departed.
Wiping away her tears, Song Xia addressed the two Song Xias—the one vanishing into this world and the one vanishing from her own world: “I will definitely live a good life!”
The rest of the wedding ceremony was a hazy blur for Song Xia, dragged through it step-by-step by two matrons. Having never thought about getting married in her previous life, Song Xia now experienced an authentic—and slightly bizarre—Chinese wedding firsthand.
Because her future husband was frail, Song Xia’s ceremonial bowing partner was a large rooster.
Song Xia found it utterly absurd. When feudalism that had been crushed for decades was displayed so blatantly before her eyes, she just wanted to run away.
Suppressing the urge to bolt through the door and barely managing to complete the entire ritual, she was led into the backyard bridal chamber, where she finally met the legendary Shen Huaijing—her husband.
Shen Huaijing’s original facial features were upright and handsome, but due to his illness, his complexion was exceptionally pale and sickly. While others might not find it particularly attractive, to a modern soul like Song Xia—who had laid eyes on all kinds of handsome men—Shen Huaijing looked exceptionally good; born in modern times, that face alone could easily land him a gig as a minor celebrity.
Seeing that Shen Huaijing seemed quite gravely ill, he wasn’t wearing wedding attire, but merely a simple cyan casual tunic. He half-leaned against the head of the bed, seemingly unable to even stand up, yet his gaze was very strange, carrying a half-smile as he watched her walk in.
The matrons escorted Song Xia into the room, gave a few instructions on how she needed to tend to Young Master Shen, and then left. Only the completely unacquainted, newly wedded couple remained, staring at each other in silence.
In reality, Song Xia’s eyes were currently filled entirely with the exquisite and appetizing tea pastries on the table. Seeing the matrons depart, Song Xia discarded any concern for how her “husband” might view her and bolted straight to the table to devour the food voraciously.
She was truly starving; her vision was flickering black in patches and her stomach was wracked with cramps. She had no idea how long this body had gone without a proper meal, and Song Xia privately suspected whether the original owner might have starved to death.
Just as Song Xia was burying her head in enthusiastic eating, a crisp, cold voice shattered cleanly into her ears.
“Your belt is loose,” Shen Huaijing reminded her indifferently.
Song Xia hurriedly looked down. Her belt had come undone at some point, hanging loosely around her waist while her outer robe also gaped open wide, exposing the undergarment beneath.
Song Xia’s clothes actually didn’t fit her properly. Sister-in-law Song was too lazy to tidy her up, and having never laid eyes on such fine garments before, neither of them knew how to wear them correctly. Thus, Song Xia’s wedding dress had simply been bunched and tied together haphazardly. Through the rigorous wedding rituals just concluded, the garments had shifted and slipped open.
Though nothing was exposed, Song Xia still felt a prickle of shame as she re-wrapped her clothes and tugged the belt hard into a dead knot.
Lifting her head afterward, she caught a glimpse of Shen Huaijing’s expression—a mix of speechlessness and an “I knew it” look. Song Xia felt it was completely unwarranted, yet realized he had acted out of kindness in reminding her, so she shouldn’t judge a gentleman with a petty mind.
“Thank you.” Song Xia’s voice was gentle and mellow. Hearing her voice, Shen Huaijing raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
“What is your name?”
“Song Xia.”
“Alright, Miss Song, would you mind sleeping on the couch tonight? I’m not accustomed to sharing a bed with others.”
“Mm-hmm, I understand.” Song Xia’s normally steady voice carried a trace of delight. She couldn’t have asked for anything better and cheerfully agreed to it on the spot.
This response surprised Shen Huaijing yet again, though he quickly went to lie down and rest with an air of indifference. This must just be another ploy to catch his attention, he figured.
Whether he took in a new bride or not, Shen Huaijing thought, it merely amounted to having an extra maid around the house.
Conversely, Song Xia happily continued eating, feeling that this request was practically a godsend. Although she had mentally prepared herself and his looks were top-tier, her heart still deeply resisted the notion of being someone else’s wife. If he had insisted on sharing the bed tonight, Song Xia had been ready to test whether she could beat him up, seeing as Shen Huaijing was a sickly weakling. But now that Shen Huaijing had taken the initiative to request separate beds, it directly solved her immediate crisis.
Forget sleeping on the couch—even if it were the floor or the courtyard, she wouldn’t mind! Back then, to protect her “graduation thesis”—newly cultivated wheat—she and her senior fellow apprentice had taken turns sleeping in a crude shack on the experimental plots for two whole months!
A couch was nothing; it even came with a mattress and quilt!
Happily humming to herself, Song Xia alternated bites of pastry with sips of tea, flashing her very first genuine smile since time-traveling. In her heart, she couldn’t help calculating that marrying this sickly weakling wasn’t half bad—at least she hadn’t been sold off to some old man, blind man, or cripple. Still, since Old Master Shen wanted a wife for his nephew simply to have someone care for him, she couldn’t let herself stay chained to his side forever!
Song Xia figured she would first scout out the surrounding circumstances around Shen Huaijing, see if there were any alternative paths out, and save up some money along the way. Since she majored in agronomy and knew a bit about medicinal herbs, if worst came to worst, she could concoct some remedies for him to see if she could nurse his health back into better shape. When the time came, they could calmly negotiate a divorce, and she could strike out on her own to run a small business for a living.
Resting her chin in her hand, Song Xia continued pondering. She had been a lone wanderer without attachments in that other world; since she had transmigrated here, she was going to live well and carve out a life entirely her own.
It wasn’t until the first crowing of a rooster at dawn that Song Xia realized she had actually fallen asleep right at the table while deep in thought.
Perhaps because her biological clock in this body had kicked in, Song Xia found that once the rooster crowed, she couldn’t fall back asleep. Stripping off the cumbersome, crooked layers of her new wedding outerwear, Song Xia picked up a cup of overnight tea and slowly strolled around to admire the room where she would be living for the foreseeable future. When she reached the bedside, she couldn’t resist sneaking a few glances at her “husband.”
Shen Huaijing was an exceptionally neat sleeper, lying flat on his back with his hands placed at his sides. Perhaps tormented by illness, even in his dreams his brow remained slightly furrowed, making him look rather uncomfortable.
Song Xia sighed inwardly, thinking that heaven really was fair: while she possessed an ordinary appearance, she had been granted a second chance at life; and while Shen Huaijing possessed striking good looks, unfortunately he was plagued by chronic illness and profound suffering.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Song Xia couldn’t help clicking her tongue out loud in thought. No sooner had she made the sound than Shen Huaijing abruptly opened his eyes, grabbed Song Xia by the arm, and flipped her down onto the bed!