The bitter wind howled, and heavy snow blanketed the world. Six-year-old Qingran knelt in the courtyard, wearing only a thin undershirt and shorts. Frost had formed on her brows and the tips of her ears.
“Father, I didn’t push Fourth Sister. She fell into the lake by herself…”
“And you’re still making excuses!” With a sharp crack, Jiang Wenxiang’s palm struck her reddened cheek. Gritting his teeth, he snarled, “Six years ago, you and Yue’er were born on the same day. But she was born at dawn, when the sun rose over a clear sky. The colorful morning clouds spread like a phoenix taking flight. As for you, you were born in the dead of night. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, and torrential rain poured from the heavens. The black sky looked like a demon swallowing everything in its path. That was when I knew she was a blessed child, while you were a harbinger of disaster. I only regret not strangling you in your swaddling clothes. Had I done so, you wouldn’t have lived to commit the monstrous crime of harming your own sister. From this day forward, you’ll be sent to the country estate to fend for yourself. Without my permission, you are never to set foot in the Prime Minister’s Manor again!”
“No… please don’t…” Tears streamed down Qingran’s face as she scrambled toward him. Her cracked, swollen fingers cautiously grasped the hem of his robe. “Father, I really didn’t push Fourth Sister. Please don’t send me away. I’m begging you…”
“Get away from me!” Disgust filled Jiang Wenxiang’s eyes as he kicked her, sending her flying several yards away.
“Ah… wuwu…” Ignoring the pain, Jiang Qingran turned and crawled toward her mother, Cai Xiumei. “Mother, please tell Father. I’m not a harbinger of disaster. I didn’t push Fourth Sister. Mother…” She choked on her sobs. “I don’t want to leave home. I want Mother. Mother, hold me…”
Cai Xiumei clutched her month-old son tightly in her arms and looked at her daughter with nothing but cold indifference. “Ranran, you are my flesh and blood. More than anyone, I wish you weren’t a harbinger of disaster. But because of you, your father came to despise me. Because of you, I nearly died from excessive bleeding during childbirth. Because of you, this family almost fell into ruin. Ranran, you should leave. I’m afraid that if you stay any longer, you’ll bring death upon your little brother.”
The snow suddenly stopped. And at that moment, so did her tears.
Jiang Qingran stared in shock at the mother she had always believed to be gentle and kind. Her face turned ashen. Staggering to her feet, she felt the icy snowflakes cutting across her cheeks like blades. The cold pierced her bones. The pain pierced her heart.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
Ten years later.
Inside the Jiang family’s reception hall, Jiang Qingyue was crying her eyes out. “Father, I don’t want to marry the Seventh Prince! The one I’ve always loved is the Third Prince!”
Jiang Wenxiang lovingly stroked her head. “Don’t worry, Yue’er. I’ve carefully nurtured you since childhood so that one day you could become the nation’s mother. The Seventh Prince’s mother was nothing more than a palace maid. On top of that, he’s sickly and crippled in both legs. A man like him isn’t even worthy of carrying your shoes. I would never allow you to marry him.”
It was all that bitch Consort Xu’s doing. Fearing that his precious daughter marrying the Third Prince would strengthen the latter’s position, she had manipulated the Emperor into betrothing Jiang Qingyue to that useless cripple of a Seventh Prince.
Jiang Qingyue sniffled. “But the imperial decree has already been issued. Is there really any room left to change things?”
A sinister smile appeared on Jiang Wenxiang’s face. “Have you forgotten what the decree says? It only states: A daughter of the Jiang family, born on the eleventh day of the seventh month in the eighth year of Changxing, possesses a fate perfectly matched to that of the Seventh Prince. A union decreed by Heaven. Our Jiang family has more than one daughter born on that very day.”
Jiang Qingyue’s eyes instantly lit up. “Father, are you talking about Fifth Sister?”
Jiang Wenxiang burst into laughter. “Hahaha! As expected of my clever Yue’er. Judging by the time, she should be arriving any moment now.”
“If Fifth Sister is returning, then I’ll go gather everyone in the family.”
Of course, she wanted everyone present to witness the joke. After all, that country bumpkin whom they hadn’t seen in ten years was finally coming back.
Near noon, delicate snowflakes began drifting down from the sky.
The Jiang family’s reception hall was packed with people and filled with cheerful conversation.
Old Madam Jiang sipped her tea, half-reclining on a cushioned couch, waiting for Jiang Qingran to arrive and kneel before her grandmother in proper greeting.
“Fifth Miss has returned!” At the servant’s loud announcement, a young woman slowly stepped into the hall.
She wore a pale azure ruanyanluo silk gown beneath a flowing white fox-fur cape. Slender and graceful, she moved with effortless elegance. Her skin was as smooth as jade, her lips as red as vermilion. Her clear, shimmering eyes seemed to contain countless stars, while the crimson plum blossom mark on her forehead glowed with captivating brilliance. Her black hair gathered into a simple bun atop her head, secured with a white jade hairpin. She was as beautiful as a celestial maiden descended from the Ninth Heavens, untouched by the dust of the mortal world. Peerlessly stunning, exquisitely refined.
Everyone present froze in astonishment. How could this wild girl, raised in the countryside, be so much more beautiful than Jiang Qingyue, the woman renowned as the greatest beauty in the imperial capital?