The moment the vermilion-red gates of the Lu residence closed behind her, the composure Lu Jiaojiao had desperately maintained throughout the journey completely crumbled.
She did not even have time to remove her cloak. Gathering up her cumbersome skirt, she hurried through the corridors and courtyards, making a beeline for the main room where her mother, Madam Chen, was staying.
“Mother—!”
Her voice arrived before she did.
Madam Chen had just risen when her daughter threw herself into her arms, her warm tears instantly soaking the front of her clothes.
“Mother! Jiaojiao won’t marry him! I’d rather cut off my hair and become a nun, spending the rest of my life praying before Buddha, than marry that damned Ironhead!”
Lu Jiaojiao lifted her tear-streaked face, her voice choked with sobs, utterly broken and resistant.
Startled by this sudden outburst, Madam Chen’s heart jumped. She hurriedly covered her daughter’s mouth and lowered her voice.
“My little ancestor! Keep your voice down! Walls have ears. This marriage was personally bestowed by His Majesty himself—how can you say such reckless things? Stop crying, quickly!”
Being scolded by her mother only made Lu Jiaojiao feel even more aggrieved.
She forcefully broke free of her mother’s grip and turned around, only to see her elder brother, Lu Yao, leaning casually against the doorframe, looking as though he had come to watch a good show.
She immediately changed direction and rushed toward him as if she had found her savior, grabbing his sleeve tightly as though it were the last lifeline she had left.
“Brother! Brother, you have to help me! You’ve watched him bully me ever since we were children. You know better than anyone!”
“That Huo Shiran… that damned Ironhead! He stole my horse, ruined my bow, and… and even made fun of me in front of everyone, saying my handwriting looked like a chicken scratching around! I hate him so much! If I marry him, my whole life will be ruined! Brother, you love Jiaojiao the most. Please think of something. Could you beg Father to ask His Majesty to cancel this marriage?”
She cried so pitifully that her voice had become hoarse. She was genuinely panicking.
Seeing his younger sister in such a rare and utterly disheveled state, Lu Yao felt both heartbroken and amused.
He reached out and roughly wiped the tears from her face with the slightly calloused pads of his fingers. Yet his tone carried the easygoing humor characteristic of a military household.
“Well, well, look at our Third Miss Lu, who’s never been afraid of heaven or earth. You actually have your day, huh? All right, stop bawling.”
He continued, “The Grand General Huo’s household has only two sons. If they happened to have an unmarried daughter as well, I’d say nothing and jump into this ‘pit of fire’ for you myself. I’d take this engagement off your hands and call it a favor to my dear sister.”
His words were deliberately flippant, but they shattered the last bit of hope Lu Jiaojiao had been clinging to.
Indeed, the Huo family had few children. They had only Huo Shiran and his elder brother, both sons.
Her own family, meanwhile, was no better suited to take her place. Her eldest brother, Lu Yao, was already married with children; her second brother, Lu Baiyang, was still under twenty and had a mischievous disposition; her eldest and second sisters had both already married and left home.
That left only her—the youngest of the siblings, the Third Miss who had been doted on by the entire family. She was of a suitable age, from a matching family background, and thus had become the perfect candidate for His Majesty’s attempt to “comfort a meritorious subject” by arbitrarily arranging a marriage.
This so-called “honor” left her nowhere to hide and no way to escape.
The thought of being tied for the rest of her life to that “Ironhead,” the man who opposed her at every turn, made Lu Jiaojiao’s vision go dark. For the first time, she truly felt desperate.
After all the fuss, in the end, an arm simply could not twist a thigh.
Exhausted both physically and emotionally, Lu Jiaojiao returned to her boudoir. The forceful spirit she had maintained in front of her parents and brothers instantly drained away.
She closed the door behind her, shutting out all the noise and helplessness of the outside world. Then, as though every ounce of strength had been drained from her body, she threw herself onto the carved canopy bed covered with soft, plush quilts.
Grievance, anger, unwillingness…
All kinds of emotions churned in her heart like boiling water before ultimately turning into scalding tears that spilled uncontrollably from her eyes. They landed with soft smacks on the cool, smooth silk pillowcase, quickly spreading into small dark patches of moisture.
“I should never have played that zither!”
Even the maidservants listening outside were startled by their young mistress’s cry.
She had only recently celebrated her sixteenth birthday. At an age when a young girl was naturally filled with hazy dreams about the future and her future husband, Lu Jiaojiao had already been dealt such a blow.
And Huo Shiran—the fellow three years older than her—was practically the inescapable nightmare of her life!
As far back as she could remember, the two of them had been bickering and fighting. They had gone from trading blows in the sandy grounds of the military camp to squabbling in the streets of the capital, never having shared a moment of peace.
Her thoughts drifted, and she remembered the person she had secretly hidden in the depths of her heart—the eldest son of the refined and scholarly Gu family, Gu Cheng.
What a graceful gentleman he was! Gentle as jade, elegant in speech and manner, he matched the image of an ideal husband she had always held in her heart perfectly.
Even catching a distant glimpse of him at the occasional banquet was enough to make her heart beat a little faster.
But now, that hazy yet beautiful face was like rosy clouds torn apart by a violent wind, rapidly fading away. In its place appeared Huo Shiran’s provoking, infuriating grin—the face that made her grind her teeth in hatred!
That brute! That good-for-nothing who knew nothing but how to wield swords and spears, and who was always mocking her for not being ladylike enough!
And now, everything was settled. With the imperial decree issued, all her girlish fantasies and every hope she had held for the future had been shattered in an instant.
Not only did she have to marry someone she detested beyond words, but she would also be bound to him for the rest of her life.
Just imagining having to face Huo Shiran for the next several decades made Lu Jiaojiao feel as though her future were completely bleak.
She buried her face deep into the soft bedding and let out a muffled, despairing sob.
How had her life become this miserable?