1 – Rebirth
Shen Qiu had married.
As the legitimate eldest daughter of the Shen family in the Great Yin Kingdom, she had been betrothed to Ye Chen three months prior.
The Duke Manor was draped with red curtains. Ye Chen was the youngest duke in the Great Yin Kingdom, and his future was naturally boundless. Moreover, Shen Qiu knew that Ye Chen had loved another woman for many years, but it wasn’t she who had torn them apart. From what Shen Qiu understood, that woman was also getting married today, and her engagement had been settled two years ago.
Thus, Ye Chen was filled with hatred. Even when he returned to the bedroom earlier—supposedly their wedding night—the mockery and resentment in his eyes were unmistakably real.
After the consummation, he fell into a deep sleep.
Shen Qiu looked at the blue and purple bite marks on her body. They were not tender reminders of intimacy but rather Ye Chen’s outpouring of his dissatisfaction with this marriage.
“Young Lady,” the maid Xing Er entered with a medicine bowl, interrupting Shen Qiu’s thoughts.
Shen Qiu hurriedly covered her wounds with her clothes. Xing Er placed the medicine bowl on the table and looked at Shen Qiu with concern.
Shen Qiu glanced at the medicine bowl on the table and reached to drink it, but Xing Er pressed her hand down urgently, saying, “Young Lady, when I was preparing the medicine, I saw safflower in it. This is birth control soup—you mustn’t drink it!”
Shen Qiu smiled bitterly, pushing Xing Er’s hand away, and said, “I know. Drinking birth control soup now is better than having to drink an abortion potion after becoming pregnant, isn’t it?”
Xing Er stared in disbelief, her mouth agape, and asked, “Why? Young Lady, you’ve never done anything to wrong the Duke. Why would he treat you like this?”
Shen Qiu murmured, “Yes, why? I want to know why too.”
Suddenly, Ye Chen’s voice came from the bed, indistinct like a dream. Shen Qiu merely glanced over, then picked up the bowl, took a deep breath, and was about to drink when Ye Chen abruptly leaped from the bed and slapped the bowl to the ground.
He then grabbed Shen Qiu’s shoulders, his eyes red, and urgently asked, “Did you drink it? Did you?”
Shen Qiu looked at the shattered bowl on the floor and said, “I didn’t have time to drink it, Duke…” Before Shen Qiu could finish, Ye Chen suddenly embraced her.
He kept repeating, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Thank goodness, thank goodness you didn’t drink it.”
Shen Qiu was startled by Ye Chen’s sudden behavior but quickly composed herself.
Seeing that Ye Chen showed no intention of letting go, she said, “Duke, did you have a nightmare? If you’re awake now, please release me. I’ll have Xing Er prepare the medicine again.”
Ye Chen slowly released Shen Qiu, looked at her, and said, “Are you foolish? If someone tells you to drink something, you just drink it? That was birth control soup, and you still wanted to drink it?”
Shen Qiu looked at Ye Chen suspiciously and said, “Wasn’t it you, Duke, who told me to drink it? Didn’t you threaten me with the Shen family to make me drink it?”
Upon hearing this, Ye Chen slapped himself hard and said, “I’m a scoundrel. I shouldn’t have said those hurtful things to you, and I certainly shouldn’t have made you drink that damned birth control soup. That’s poison! Why were you so obedient?”
Shen Qiu looked at Ye Chen, unsure what had come over him, and repeated, “But… it was you who told me to drink it!”
Ye Chen froze for a moment, then said, “Please, forget everything that happened before now. Look at me anew, alright? I promise, from now on, I will never say another word to hurt you or do anything to cause you pain, alright?”Shen Qiu was now even more bewildered, staring at Ye Chen with increasingly suspicious eyes. Ye Chen took a deep breath and looked at Shen Qiu, saying, “Before this, the Ye Chen you saw wasn’t the real Ye Chen. He was just a madman. This one now is the real Ye Chen. Do you understand? Whatever that bastard said doesn’t count. Only what I say counts. Remember that?”
Shen Qiu continued to stare at Ye Chen in the same way. She didn’t know whether Ye Chen was telling the truth or not, and she didn’t know if she didn’t drink the birth control soup today and ended up pregnant, whether he would make her drink an abortion soup later.
Ye Chen sighed and said, “Who made me act like a scoundrel before? I’ll just have to bear the consequences myself. Qiu’er, have you applied medicine to your wounds?”
Then, turning to Xing Er, who was standing nearby, stunned and speechless, he said, “Xing Er, go get the medicine box from the top of the wardrobe. I’ll apply medicine for Madam.”
Hearing Ye Chen’s address for Shen Qiu, both Shen Qiu and Xing Er were stunned once again. Seeing that Xing Er hadn’t moved, Ye Chen went to get the medicine box himself.
He casually grabbed the two remaining packets of birth control soup from the table and threw them to Xing Er, saying, “Burn these. No more birth control soup or abortion soup—none of that is allowed in the Duke Manor from now on. Understood?”
Xing Er looked at Shen Qiu, who nodded at her, and Xing Er went out.
Ye Chen took the medicine box, pulled Shen Qiu over, and had her sit on the couch by the window. Then he began to undo Shen Qiu’s clothes.
Shen Qiu immediately clutched her clothes tightly and said, “There’s no need to trouble the Duke. I can do it myself.”
Ye Chen didn’t speak, but gently moved her hand aside and slowly untied Shen Qiu’s inner garment.
Shen Qiu’s body, bitten by Ye Chen, could be described as having no intact skin left—from her neck down to her waist, there were hardly any uninjured patches.
Some places were even bleeding. Seeing Shen Qiu tormented to such a state by himself, Ye Chen slapped himself hard twice across the face.
Shen Qiu didn’t stop him, only feeling somewhat puzzled. How could a person change so drastically after just one night’s sleep? Would he revert to his old self after another night’s sleep?
Ye Chen took out the wound medicine and began applying it to Shen Qiu’s injuries. As he did so, tears started streaming down his face.
He had still returned a step too late. From the moment he woke up until now, he had only just accepted that this wasn’t a dream.
After Shen Qiu’s death, he had dreamed of the scene of her dying every single day—two long fletched arrows piercing straight through her heart, all for the woman he couldn’t let go of.
He had just been dreaming of that scene moments ago. Who would have thought that upon waking in shock, he would see his Qiu’er about to drink something? Without time to ponder what was happening, he leaped from the bed and knocked over the medicine bowl.
The feeling of holding Shen Qiu was different from every other time in his dreams. Hearing Shen Qiu’s words, he finally realized—this was their wedding night.
It was only after slapping himself that he knew this truly wasn’t a dream. He had returned, back to the night of their wedding. Although it was a bit late, it was still good—he had returned before making any irreparable mistakes.
In his previous life, he owed her too much. He had hurt her too deeply. By the time he realized he had fallen in love with his Qiu’er, she had already become completely disillusioned with him. No matter what he said, his Qiu’er no longer believed him.
Back then, he spent every moment thinking about how to make amends, but before he could be good to his Qiu’er for long, she was gone—she didn’t even say a single word to him before she died.
But now it was fine. Everything was still in time.