Before Chi Yan was forced to drink poisoned soup by her adoptive mother, she learned two things.
First, her husband, Huan Xuan, had lain low for years and finally emerged from the shadows. He was about to ascend the throne.
Second, her elder sister, Chi Yi, beautiful and talented, had divorced her wastrel husband. Suitors were now coming to her door in an endless stream.
She should have been happy for Chi Yi.
If Chi Yi hadn't been the woman her husband had cherished in his heart.
If Chi Yi hadn't taken her place as the young lady of the family for more than a decade.
·
When Chi Yan woke, she had returned to the time when she was still unmarried and living at home.
She had only recently been brought back to the Chi family.
Her mother scolded her: "You're competitive, narrow-minded, and jealous. If only you could learn half as much as your sister, I'd have an easier time!"
Her younger brother asked with a grin, "Second Sister, do you know what it means to imitate a beauty and make a fool of yourself?"
The husband she had spent half her life trying to warm, to no avail, looked at her as coldly and indifferently as he had in her previous life.
Chi Yan thought, I don't want any of it anymore.
She wouldn't waste her efforts trying to please her mother and brother, only to end up making a fool of herself.
She wouldn't marry Huan Xuan full of hope, only to be deceived by him for the rest of her life.
This time, she didn't get into the carriage that would lose control. Huan Xuan risked his life to save the dismayed Chi Yi in front of the ancient temple.
The Chi family's noble young lady, always so proud, was helped out of the carriage. She stared dazedly at the handsome young man before her.
Watching from a distance, Chi Yan thought, They make a perfect match.
No wonder Huan Xuan had looked so surprised and cold when she stepped out of the carriage back then.
Her heart had leapt, and she had thought it was a match ordained by heaven. But she had completely forgotten that the carriage she was riding that day belonged to Chi Yi. From the very beginning, Huan Xuan hadn't been trying to save her.
She turned to leave, but Huan Xuan blocked her path. His voice was strained. "Why did you...?"
·
Lately, Huan Xuan had been having the same dream over and over.
In the dream, Second Miss Chi wore a married woman's hairstyle and leaned against him as if she had no bones.
She wore a pale yellow jacket and skirt, with peonies blooming prettily beneath its curling-vine pattern. Whenever she spoke, the peach-shaped earrings at her ears swayed gently, gleaming with a smooth, pearly luster.
She loved to act cute and cling to him endlessly.
Huan Xuan couldn't understand how he could ever have married a wife like her.
Later, the dream changed.
They quarreled and gave each other the silent treatment. He waited for Chi Yan to give in, as she had countless times before.
Until his wife, who had always smiled brightly, fell into a pool of blood. Her long black hair spread out, and her slender wrist hung limp on the ground, like the stem and leaves of a withered lotus.
He awoke from the dream with his heart aching as if it had been torn apart.
Theme: Honesty
