In the middle of winter, when there was heavy snow, nine-year-old orphan Jiang Yun'er knelt in front of her father's grave for three days and three nights. On the fourth day, a group of black cavalry came through the snow. The young man in white at the head placed half of the broken jade pendant in her palm.
"My name is Shen Yanchu. Your father is my master."
He took her into a noble family, taught her to read and practice martial arts, and gave her countless favors. Everyone in Bianjing City said that the orphan girl picked up by the Shen family was the moon in Young Master Yanchu's heart.
Yuner thought so too. Until that night, she accidentally broke into the forbidden area of the house and saw the tablet enshrined in the secret room——
"The spiritual place of my beloved wife Jiang Yuner"
Signed: Shen Yanchu. The date was three years ago.
There was a portrait hanging on the wall. The woman in the painting looked exactly like her, with a cinnabar mole between her eyebrows and a sad smile.
The inscription is: "My wife Qing Huan died in the winter of the 19th year of Yongchang."
She then remembered that Shen Yanchu had a sister named Shen Qinghuan who died young.
Only then did she understand why he always looked at her with compassion and guilt.
Even more fatally, she found a marriage certificate under the tablet:
"At the beginning of the marriage, Mr. Shen hired Mr. Jiang's Yun'er. This agreement has been established and will remain unswerving in life and death."
The date was the day she entered the house.
"He raised me for five years, taught me how to read and understand, and gave me good food and clothing.
Everyone said that Shen Yanchu doted on the orphan girl he picked up.
Only I know - every time he looks at me, he's looking at a dead man. "
He raised me carefully for five years, but kept my memorial tablet in the secret room. That night, I asked him with a smile: "Shen Yanchu, are you raising a substitute or a sacrifice?"
