Bai Nianqing organized her space thoroughly, making sure she knew exactly where everything was so she could retrieve whatever she needed at a moment’s notice.
After tidying up her space, Bai Nianqing washed up and prepared to sleep.
She had taken a few days off from work. Although she had mentally prepared for an unexpected event, she couldn’t just wait around for disaster to strike—she still needed to live her normal life. So, she planned to return to work the next day.
However, Bai Nianqing was destined never to make it back. Not long after she fell asleep, an earthquake struck Sichuan Province.
Feeling the tremors, Bai Nianqing grabbed her clothes and rushed outside. But just as she stepped out of her room, a ceiling slab crashed down.
Everything went black before her eyes, and she lost consciousness.
At the same time, in the Daqing Dynasty, Shen Wenhe stood anxiously in the bridal chamber, watching the physician check the pulse of his new bride.
“Physician, how is she? How is my wife?” Shen Wenhe asked urgently.
“Nothing serious. She just hit her head accidentally and should wake up soon,” the old physician said, withdrawing his hand from her wrist.
“That’s good, that’s good,” Shen Wenhe sighed in relief.
Only after confirming that his bride was alright did Shen Wenhe turn his attention to dealing with the aftermath.
“Now, explain what happened here?” After seeing the physician out, Shen Wenhe asked the maid with a stern expression.
“Young Master, you must seek justice for our young lady! She fainted because of them!” Bai Nianqing’s maid angrily pointed at several women who looked visibly guilty.
“Don’t talk nonsense! She fainted because she’s weak—what does that have to do with us?” retorted a woman in her late twenties wearing a deep red dress. This was Shen Wenhe’s elder sister-in-law, the wife of the Shen family’s eldest son.
“Exactly, what does it have to do with us? We weren’t lying. Mother already said that once you married, you would be sent away,” added the young girl who spoke—Shen Wenhe’s legitimate younger sister.
“That’s right, Fourth Brother, Little Sister was only telling the truth. If you ask me, this is all Fourth Sister-in-law’s fault. She fainted because she was afraid of being kicked out of the household,” chimed in Shen Wenhe’s second sister-in-law.
Although Shen Wenhe’s third sister-in-law remained silent, she nodded in agreement.
Shen Wenhe scanned the room, observing the nodding heads around him, and felt a wave of desolation wash over him.
He was a concubine-born son of the Shen family. His mother had originally been a maid serving Madam Shen. Taking advantage of Madam Shen’s pregnancy, she had climbed into the master’s bed.
By sheer luck, she became pregnant and gave birth to him.
Madam Shen resented his mother for her betrayal. Had his mother not revealed her pregnancy, she would likely have been disposed of long ago.
Even so, after his mother gave birth to him, life for the two of them in the rear courtyard was far from easy.
His father, Master Shen, had built his success relying entirely on Madam Shen’s family. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared not take concubines, pretending to be a devoted husband—it was merely a calculated move.
If that weren’t the case, how could his mother have succeeded in seducing him? If Master Shen had been unwilling, could his mother have forced him?
Yet when the incident came to light, Master Shen shifted all the blame onto his mother, a vulnerable woman. Such behavior was utterly contemptible.
Moreover, after Shen Wenhe was born, Master Shen never once cared for him or his mother, leaving them to fend for themselves in the rear courtyard.
In a way, Shen Wenhe had to be grateful that Madam Shen was not a truly malicious person. Otherwise, he would never have survived to adulthood.
He was well aware that Madam Shen had long wanted to kick him out of the house.
What he hadn’t expected was how impatient she would be – today, right after his wedding, she had already sent people to deliver the message to his new bride.
But perhaps this was for the best, as he had been wanting to establish his own household anyway.
He just wondered what his newly-wedded wife thought about this?
Did she not want to move out with him? Otherwise, why would she faint as soon as someone mentioned dividing the family property?
Though Shen Wenhe had many thoughts running through his mind, it all happened in just a moment.
Despite his discomfort, he couldn’t do anything to his sisters-in-law, so he could only see them out with a stern expression.
“Since there’s nothing else to discuss, sisters-in-law should all return now,” Shen Wenhe said coldly, effectively dismissing them.
“Hmph, such an ungrateful wretch! I must tell Mother about this,” Shen Wenhe’s eldest sister-in-law huffed, flicking her sleeve as she left.
The second and third sisters-in-law followed closely behind.
Shen Wenxi (Shen Wenhe’s legitimate younger sister), seeing that her sisters-in-law had left without waiting for her, shot Shen Wenhe a fierce glare before running out after them.
After everyone had left the room, Shen Wenhe waved the maids away.
Only then did he sit by the bed to look at his new bride.
This was the first time he had looked at his bride so carefully.
To his astonishment, she looked exactly like the girl from his dreams.
Shen Wenhe was shocked. Could it be that the girl he dreamed about every night was actually his betrothed?
Just then, Bai Nianqing woke up.
Bai Nianqing only remembered that there had been an earthquake, and she had been buried in the rubble.
She cautiously moved first, feeling no pain anywhere.
Then she tentatively opened her eyes, finding crimson bed curtains filling her vision.
Beside her sat a man in wedding attire, staring at her in shock.
“What’s going on? Where am I? Who are you?” Bai Nianqing asked, looking at the man in ancient clothing before her.
From the moment Bai Nianqing spoke her first words, Shen Wenhe knew she was the girl from his dreams.
Though he didn’t understand how this was possible, it didn’t stop him from feeling excited.
“I’m not sure what’s happening either. This is the Great Qing Dynasty, and I’m your husband, Shen Wenhe,” he said gently, barely containing his excitement.
“What? Great Qing Dynasty? This… this…” Bai Nianqing stammered, unable to form complete sentences.
Even if she were foolish, she would know she had traveled through time.
Though she had been somewhat prepared mentally, suddenly finding herself in an unfamiliar place made Bai Nianqing quite nervous.
So she didn’t catch the meaning behind Shen Wenhe’s words.
“Yes, this is the Great Qing Dynasty, and you are my wife,” Shen Wenhe said, looking at Bai Nianqing with growing affection.
Bai Nianqing didn’t really hear what Shen Wenhe was saying, as she was currently receiving the original host’s memories.
In just a few minutes, Bai Nianqing seemed to experience the original host’s brief lifetime.
The original host was also named Bai Nianqing, sixteen years old this year.
She originally had a very happy family. Her father was a guard at a courier company. Though busy working outside and often away from home, he was very good to his wife and daughter.
Even though the family only had Bai Nianqing as their daughter with no sons, he didn’t take concubines like other men might.
Instead, he remained devoted to just the two of them.
Four years ago, when Bai Nianqing was twelve, her mother suddenly became pregnant again, which delighted the couple immensely.
They had originally thought Bai Nianqing would be their only child in this lifetime, but never expected that in their later years—at an age when they were about to become in-laws—they would actually conceive again.