Blurb:
Blurb One, from the heroine's perspective:
When the Zhao Wang household held a wedding to take a secondary wife, the former principal wife, now fallen from favor, was already lying on her sickbed, close to death.
Hearing the commotion outside, Li Yuan opened her vacant eyes and asked, "What's all that noise? It's so loud."
Her vision was blurred, and she could see less and less. It seemed it wouldn't be long before she went completely blind.
The maid attending her was hardly diligent. She only hoped Li Yuan would die soon so she could escape Beitai Residence, which was like an ice cellar. So she exaggerated, "Today is the wedding of our prince and the third young lady of the Duke's family. Of course it's lively outside. Princess Consort, please bear with it. I wouldn't dare risk going out and drawing bad luck at a time like this."
So it was today. She wouldn't even live long enough to see him marry.
She had thought she might see Wang Lingyin once more before she died. They hadn't met in a long time. The last time was when she learned that he had personally executed her father and brothers, and wanted to die with him.
She didn't want to see him because she was jealous or couldn't bear to let him go. The stewardess in the household had taken the maid who had served her since childhood away for punishment, and Li Yuan didn't know what had become of her. She wanted to ask him, since she was about to die, to show mercy and give her maid a decent future.
The light before her grew dimmer and dimmer. At first, she had been grateful that her eyes could no longer make out anything, because when Wang Lingyin came, she wouldn't have to look at his hateful face. She was afraid that seeing him would stir up her resentment and offend him, ruining her chance to plead for her maid.
But now, it didn't matter. She might not even make it through the night, and he could hardly come to her wretched Beitai Residence on his wedding night to see someone as useless to him as she was.
The clanging and drumming outside grew louder and more festive. At last, Li Yuan's world went completely black. A bone-deep chill made her body tremble. With her voice shaking, she summoned the last of her strength to ask the maid if a fire had been lit. No one answered.
If someone had told her three years ago that she would die alone and destitute on a winter night, discarded like a worn-out shoe, Li Yuan would never have believed it. Those were her thoughts just before she died.
She never could have imagined that when she opened her eyes again, she would be back three years in the past.
Blurb Two, from the hero's perspective:
Wang Lingyin felt no guilt whatsoever about using Li Yuan. The Li family had grown too powerful and had failed to keep a low profile. Even if his elder brother the emperor had been too softhearted to wipe them out, Wang Lingyin would still have become the blade that removed this threat for his brother and the imperial family.
But it was Li Yuan's father and brothers who had committed the crimes, not her. She herself had done nothing wrong. She was also quite beautiful, obedient, and pleasing to serve. So when her whole family was convicted, he spared her and even preserved her position as princess consort.
It was no more than a casual act of charity on his part, but the emperor and empress dowager felt he had been wronged. They issued two edicts at once, granting him a marriage. As a prince who had always been dutiful and filial, Zhao Wang had no choice but to accept.
He thought that if Li Yuan were clever enough, she would understand her situation. She would know to endure everything sensibly, be grateful to him, and treat him as her husband and master.
Besides, a secondary wife was nothing more than another person in the household. Everything else would stay the same.
When he felt he had left her alone long enough and taught her a sufficient lesson, he thought he would go see her, expecting her to have accepted her fate and given in. But when he arrived, Beitai Residence was pitch-black...
Word spread through every street and alley that Zhao Wang had been bewitched after taking his new secondary wife. Every day, he performed rituals on the highest point of his residence, Beitai Residence. They said he had gone mad, too, and neither ate nor drank.
Eventually, something happened. Every resident of the capital saw the towering flames above Beitai Residence.
If you think this sounds worth reading, please add it to your collection. Once I have enough collections, I'll start this after finishing Palace in Peril. Thank you for your valuable support.
Theme: Pay back what you owe
