Yet she never imagined that her aunt would be so utterly depraved. The reason for summoning her back was not to return her parents’ belongings, but to use her as a surrogate womb.
The cause was that her cousin, Su Xiaoluo, had married into the Zhang family but failed to conceive for over a year. Finally, she became pregnant, only to lose the child around two months later due to her own carelessness.
When a physician was called, he bluntly stated that Su Xiaoluo had suffered fundamental damage and would likely never conceive again.
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Zhang immediately turned hostile, declaring that the Zhang family had spent a considerable sum to marry Su Xiaoluo precisely because she appeared fertile.
Now that Su Xiaoluo could no longer bear children, she must be divorced.
Naturally, Su Xiaoluo’s parents were unwilling. The Zhang family then insisted that unless the Su family could provide the Zhangs with an heir, they would divorce Su Xiaoluo without fail.
Thus, the eccentric couple from the Su family’s eldest branch once again thought of Su Qianqian, whom they had already sold off.
Initially, Su Qianqian’s uncle was too afraid to act, but her aunt argued that Lu Ye was merely an outsider, and Su Qianqian had no one to rely on—both of them would be entirely at their mercy.
Once the deed was done, someone as timid as Su Qianqian would surely not dare to tell Lu Ye, who would remain oblivious even as a cuckold.
When Su Qianqian went into labor, they could simply barge in and snatch the child, then claim that Su Qianqian had committed adultery and borne a child for the Zhang family. It would be only natural for the Zhangs to demand the child.
Once they had the child, what did Su Qianqian’s life or death matter to them?
In this era, illicit affairs between men and women had almost no consequences for the man, but for the woman, it meant a near-certain death. This revealed the sheer viciousness of the couple from the Su family’s eldest branch.
Yet they never expected that Su Qianqian, always so timid, would prove so fierce, choosing to dash her head against a wall to protect her chastity.
Even more unexpected was the brutality of Lu Ye. After Su Qianqian’s death, Lu Ye returned from the mountains and stormed into their home with a hunting knife.
He spared no one—men, women, old, or young—who had any involvement in the matter.
Su Qianqian’s final memory was of Lu Ye, seen as she drifted in mid-air, on the verge of dissipating.
She still could not make out his features, for he was drenched in blood, radiating an aura of slaughter, resembling a demon risen from hell. His presence alone was enough to scatter the lingering resentment of her, a true ghost.
This very image jolted Su Qianqian awake from a night of nightmares.
“Ah…”
Su Qianqian screamed, her eyes snapping open.
Tears still glistened in her eyes. She glanced around, pinched herself, and confirmed that she was not dreaming—she had truly traveled back to her past life.
Recalling the miserable ends she had met in both her past and present lives, Su Qianqian could not hold back a loud, wailing sob.
Lu Ye, who had slept poorly the night before, rose before dawn. He first went up the mountain and, upon returning, prepared breakfast.
Seeing that his newlywed wife showed no signs of waking, he did not disturb her and instead began chopping firewood.
Suddenly, the sound of a woman’s soft weeping echoed from inside the house.
Lu Ye paused his work, his brow slightly furrowed, once again filled with doubt about himself.
Was he really that terrifying? He hadn’t even done anything yet, but this newlywed wife was crying at night and weeping during the day. How were they supposed to live together like this?
Fortunately, his newly built mud house stood alone, far from the other households in the village. Otherwise, if outsiders heard her crying, they might suspect he was abusing her.
Lu Ye hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn’t enter the room, instead continuing with the task at hand.
He decided to let Su Qianqian calm down on her own, lest he go in and frighten her again.
Inside the room, Su Qianqian cried for a while before gradually calming down.
No matter what, she had been reborn now. Since heaven had given her a chance to start over, she must cherish it and never again be foolishly harmed by others.
Once she made up her mind, she wanted to get dressed and get out of bed.
It was then that she suddenly remembered some memories from the previous night and realized she was now married.
According to the original timeline, she should have consummated the marriage with Lu Ye last night. However, due to her own little episode, Lu Ye hadn’t accomplished anything last night and seemed somewhat angry. She didn’t even know if he had slept in the same room as her.
Thinking of this and looking at the neat, clean, yet extremely simple furnishings in the mud house, Su Qianqian’s earlier ambition faded significantly. She began to worry about how she would manage her life from now on.
The image of Lu Ye covered in blood was still vivid in her mind. When he swung his knife to kill, he showed no hesitation, as if slaughtering livestock.
And when he stared at the corpses of those people, the ferocity in his eyes was truly chilling. Drenched in blood, he looked like a messenger of death from hell.
Although Su Qianqian knew it was all to avenge her, as someone who couldn’t even bear to watch horror movies, witnessing a live killing scene left her both moved and unavoidably terrified.
Coupled with the psychological trauma from her only experience of consummating the marriage with Lu Ye, she felt like crying again.
But now, the time she had traveled to was already after the wedding. Women in this era had no concept of marital freedom.
She was just an ordinary person, unable to change anything. All she could do was accept her fate and obediently become Lu Ye’s little wife.
Fortunately, in her memories, aside from being a bit brutal on their wedding night, Lu Ye had always treated her well afterward.
Although they ended up living apart after marriage, that was entirely her own fault for causing trouble.
And even though she had acted that way, Lu Ye never truly abandoned her. He never let her go hungry.
After her death, he even avenged her. She just didn’t know what Lu Ye’s fate had been after killing so many people for her in her past life.
Thinking of this, the guilt in Su Qianqian’s heart overshadowed her fear of Lu Ye. She quickly dressed, got out of bed, and tied her hair into a simple bun.
Biting her lip and mustering her courage, she pushed open the wooden door.
As soon as she opened it, a small courtyard came into view, looking exactly as she remembered.
The courtyard was surrounded by mud walls, and the yard itself was empty.
There were no poultry like those typically raised by farming families, only a small, makeshift shed near the mud house.
Under the thatched shed was the earthen kitchen stove used for cooking, and at that moment, steam was rising from the large pot on the stove. Even without looking, it was clear that breakfast had been prepared earlier and was being kept warm in the pot.
The man of the house, Lu Ye—Su Qianqian’s newlywed husband—was holding a chopping knife, splitting firewood in the open space beside the kitchen stove.
Lu Ye was bare-chested, revealing his back, which was a deep wheat color and looked exceptionally sturdy, radiating masculine strength.
At that moment, the firm muscles on Lu Ye’s body were continuously exuding hormones with his every movement.
Su Qianqian only glanced once before her face flushed slightly, which made her think of some rather inappropriate scenes from her dream the previous night.
She quickly turned her head away and coughed softly.
Lu Ye had actually noticed Su Qianqian’s presence earlier, but he wasn’t quite sure how to interact with his young bride, especially one who cried so easily.
So he had remained silent, afraid that he might accidentally make her cry again and then have to figure out how to comfort her.
Now that Su Qianqian seemed to be actively trying to communicate with him, he guessed she might have come to terms with things. He stopped his firewood-splitting motions.
Turning to look at Su Qianqian, he wiped his sweat with a towel and tried his best to soften his voice as he said:
“I’ve already prepared breakfast. I’ll go serve it for you. After you freshen up, you can come and eat!”