Swallows Before the Wang and Xie Halls, Keeping the Common Folk Safe at Home

As I was about to board the carriage to Fanyang, lines of on-screen comments floated before my eyes:

[Run, Hanjie! Lu Qian is no good...]

[He'll take three or five concubines and keep a whole harem of mistresses. The back court's scheming alone will wear you down to nothing!]

[He'll even drug you to prevent you from having children, then force you to accept the child of his favorite concubine as his legitimate heir. You'll waste away and die if you marry him!]

In my previous life, the comments startled me. Without thinking it through, I ran away from my wedding and was too afraid to go home.

After several twists and turns, I trusted the comments and rushed into marriage with an unknown man. He kept me like a canary in a thatched cage and showed me off everywhere. Once he had drained me of all value, his mother tormented me until I died.

Only after my death did I learn that I was the heroine of a romance about a devoted couple. If I had married Lu Qian as the story intended, we would have been a loving couple, had two children in three years, enjoyed a kind mother-in-law and a loving daughter-in-law relationship, and lived in peace.

Those comments had been fabricated by my half-sister, who had somehow found a storybook. She wanted to take my place and marry the refined young master Jun Xie of the Lu family, and she had succeeded.

The comments began flashing again, as if urging me to hurry.

My half-sister watched from behind the door.

I rode away, and she and I both smiled with satisfaction.

She had her small ambitions, and I had my great aspirations.