Springtime Fragrance

On the day the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo came of age, he made three wishes.

First: may good fortune shine on him forever.

Second: may his official career proceed smoothly.

Third: may he marry the daughter of a distinguished family he desired.

The first two wishes came easily. Only the third went unfulfilled.

At the coming-of-age banquet, he was tricked by his cousin's daughter into drinking spiked wine. Once they had slept together, he had no choice but to marry her.

She was a scheming woman, but she behaved well enough after they married. They spent twenty years treating each other with respect, yet he still regretted never marrying the woman he truly loved.

He never imagined that when he opened his eyes again, he would be back in the year he came of age.

In this life...

He held the wine in his hand but could not bring himself to drink it.

He didn't know that he wasn't the only one whose life had been ruined by that accident.

His wife from his previous life was still at home, awaiting marriage. Her childhood sweetheart's match was just waiting to come to pass the following March.

Reborn, Xu Jianjia caught sight of the familiar figure beneath the corridor eaves and let out a long breath. She left the banquet, turned, and threw herself into the arms of the young man waiting beneath the plum tree.

"A Ming, I've missed you. Let's get married soon."

*

Lu Yanzhi had avoided disaster, yet he couldn't understand why life was growing less and less pleasant.

The hems of his underclothes always scratched and irritated him.

Why did the scent of peach blossoms in spring drift into the back courtyard and make him itch all over?

The ginseng soup waiting for him when he came home late was never the right temperature.

Even the orchids beneath the study window were left untended.

The snacks in the carriage box had all gone bland...

The servants in the main residence changed one after another...

Then one summer day, a sudden rain soaked his purple official robes as he took shelter in a teahouse.

He saw his wife from his previous life eagerly bringing rain gear to the top scorer of the imperial examination.

She lifted her hand to wipe his hair and brush away the rain, then raised an oil-paper umbrella. The two were deeply in love, their feelings as profound as the sea.

At once, Lu Yanzhi understood the source of the gloom that had plagued him for so long.

Theme: The past cannot be reclaimed