[A greedy, laid-back little widow x a gloomy younger man who's been plotting for a long time]
If you found a frail, pitiful boy clutching the hem of your clothes and looking up at you timidly, what would you do?
One: nurse him back to health.
Two: teach him to read.
Three: use him as a prop to win people's sympathy.
Liu Zhi chose three.
Don't ask why. She had transmigrated into a book. She knew this pitiful boy was called Xie Wei, and that he was ill and wouldn't live long.
The book also pointed her toward an easier path to wealth: Chen Huan, a wealthy and kindhearted man from town who was easy to fool. Marry him, and she'd have more money than she could ever spend. So Liu picked up the boy who was nearly dead from illness and taught him to call her big sister. Then she went to Chen Huan and tearfully told him that her parents had died young, leaving her with only a younger brother to depend on, and that she urgently needed silver to save his life.
Xie Wei: ?
Chen Huan: How pitiful. I'll marry you.
Liu Zhi got her wish and began living like a parasite, happily preparing for their wedding. She dumped the pitiful boy she'd picked up at a medical clinic and never looked back.
On the night of the wedding, Liu Zhi sat on the edge of the bed in her bright red wedding dress, waiting for her husband to lift her veil.
Footsteps approached. The veil was gently lifted...
But the face before her wasn't Chen Huan's gentle one. Instead, there stood a young general in silver armor, a sword at his waist.
Xie Wei bent down, pinched Liu Zhi's chin, and smiled in a way that sent a chill through her:
"Big sister, don't wait. Your groom just dropped dead."
"Now, open your eyes and take a good look..."
In the wavering candlelight, his now-grown features slowly overlapped with the memory of those same, tear-damp eyes.
"I'm the one marrying you tonight."
Theme: Love yourself before you love anyone else.
