As the least favored concubine-born daughter of the Wen family, Wen Ruo'er was married off to Lu Chuanbai, a poor scholar who had happened to save her grandfather on the road to the capital.
It was meant to be a convenient way to get her out of the house, but no one expected Lu Chuanbai to work so hard and place first in the imperial examinations.
For a time, Wen Ruo'er became the envy of every young woman in Yan State.
Even the legitimate sons of her Wen family uncles, who had once looked down on her, now greeted her with smiles.
But her good fortune didn't last.
After a banquet at the residence, Lu Chuanbai suddenly fell gravely ill. As she watched him cough up blood day after day, time turned back to the day before the banquet, before she could even bring a famous physician to treat him.
Looking at the unmistakably familiar scene before her, Wen Ruo'er said, "...???"
Then time seemed to fall into a loop. The Lu residence held a banquet, Lu Chuanbai fell gravely ill, and time went back to two days before the banquet.
...The Lu residence held a banquet, Lu Chuanbai fell gravely ill... The Lu residence held another banquet, and Lu Chuanbai fell gravely ill again... Time went back to two days before the banquet yet again.
At first, Wen Ruo'er worried about her husband's illness. Then, unable to take it any longer, she summoned the famous physician to the Lu residence ahead of time so he could treat Lu Chuanbai immediately.
But even this time, she was too late.
Lu Chuanbai lay deathly pale in bed, holding Wen Ruo'er's hand as he coughed up blood and said, "Cough, cough. This time, some villain poisoned me. Wait until I switch accounts next time... Life is a dream, so let's each shine in our own way. You've been with me through many seasons since I first logged in, but every gathering must end..."
Wen Ruo'er: "??! Husband, what are you talking about?"
*
The year after Lu Chuanbai died, Chen declared war on Yan under the pretext that the Son of Heaven had been disrespected, and crushed Yan's eighty thousand troops at Tang Mountain.
To preserve the kingdom, Yan paid ten thousand gold and ceded five cities to sue for peace.
It also sent Princess Zhaoyang to marry Xie Lang, crown prince of Chen, to seal the alliance.
But after the peace agreement was sent, Chen replied with just one sentence:
Send Wen, the wife of the top imperial examination graduate who died during the Tianyuan era.
A widow was naturally no match for the kingdom of Yan.
So Wen Ruo'er, still not recovered from the grief of losing her husband, had no choice but to join the wedding procession to Chen.
A marriage arranged by the defeated side was bound to come with humiliation.
What's more, Wen Ruo'er's husband had repeatedly urged the King of Yan to launch an immediate campaign against Chen.
She was terribly anxious.
On the night of the wedding, Xie Lang, crown prince of Chen, who was supposed to be celebrating his wedding, appeared in her room instead.
The handsome man placed a hand on her waist. No matter how Wen Ruo'er struggled, she couldn't get away.
When he realized she was trying to bite through her tongue, he deftly caught her chin.
A hint of helpless amusement showed in his picturesque eyes. "My lady, didn't you say you'd recognize me no matter what I looked like?"
"..."
Wen Ruo'er stared wide-eyed. "?!"
*
As one of the launch-day players of the game A Dream of the Imperial Court, which centered on the struggle for supremacy among six kingdoms, Lu Chuanbai chose a scholar from Yan State who shared his name for his first playthrough.
After finally completing several scenarios, including saving Old Master Wen and traveling to the capital to take the imperial examinations, another player poisoned him.
As he lay dying, Lu Chuanbai saw his NPC wife crying like a pear blossom in the rain, and couldn't bear to leave her.
So when he entered the game for the second time, he married her again.
*
A discussion thread on the A Dream of the Imperial Court game forum:
"A closer look at the top player on the server: His stats are through the roof, so why doesn't he become emperor and expand his territory? Why does he keep running home every day?"
"Why is the newbie-village NPC still by the side of the top player after he's already made a name for himself?"
"How can a lowly NPC like you have tricks like that?"
Lu Chuanbai: Thanks for asking, but the whole game is just a big cozy bedroom for me and my wife.
Premise: Unity is strength.
