Reborn Before Fulfilling Our Engagement

When Sheng Mingyi was twenty, the Qi family moved to the capital as a whole, and she finally met her fiancé, three years her junior: Qi Wujiu, the youngest son of the Qi family.

He was in the prime of his youth, spirited and carefree, galloping across the hills on horseback with his crimson robes fluttering in the wind.

He was handsome and loved to smile. He could talk easily with anyone, and lived with unrestrained ease.

After they married, he loved to wrap his arms around her from behind, gently nibble her ear, and whisper, "Sister." He also liked to ask, "When all this is over, shall we roam the world together?"

Sheng Mingyi always said yes.

But she was a proper young lady from a distinguished family, and the eldest child in her household, whose mother had died when she was young.

After she repeatedly urged him to do so, Qi Wujiu finally entered public service.

And year after year, for the sake of her honor and dignity, he maneuvered carefully, rising through the ranks. To keep her younger brother, whose uncompromising sense of justice landed him in prison time and again, out of trouble, he had no choice but to ingratiate himself with all sides. To save her younger sister, who fought for love, he stood against the prince's estate...

He never left the capital again.

Before he was forty, Qi Wujiu was confined to his sickbed. As he lay dying, he looked at his wife, who had stayed by his side without leaving, and suddenly remembered the first time he had seen her from afar, many years ago, while riding his horse.

Quiet and gentle, elegant and beautiful, like a lily blooming in a mountain valley. He had fallen for her then.

But she had also become the shackles of his life.

So he said, "In our next life, let's not meet again."

*

When Qi Wujiu realized he had returned to his youth, the first thing he did was break off his engagement to the Sheng family.

It went surprisingly smoothly.

He felt as though he had put down a heavy burden, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But just as he was leading his horse out of the capital, he happened to hear that the Sheng family was about to arrange a marriage with the Su family.

In that moment, his curiosity and concern over what sort of man she would marry in this life outweighed the obsession he'd carried for twenty years in his previous life.

*

At forty, Sheng Mingyi had cried herself to sleep after her husband's death. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her unmarried days.

Through a screen, she heard her father and younger brother cursing the Qi family for coming to break off the engagement and expressing their displeasure with Qi Wujiu.

The first thing she thought of, naturally, was her husband's last words.

She could no longer remember when her husband's face had begun to rarely show a smile. Nor could she remember when he had stopped embracing her behind the closed bedroom door as soon as he came home from a long day out.

She thought, let him have what he wanted.

May he enjoy a brand-new life and remain the carefree wind among the mountains and forests.

"The first time I met him was at Qushui Villa on the outskirts of the capital. He didn't know that it was the farthest place I had ever been in my life."

*

Qi Wujiu suspected time and again that his wife had returned to her youth, just as he had.

But every time he was about to ask, he would first meet her eyes, empty of both smiles and anticipation when she looked at him.

*

Sheng Mingyi knew she was ordinary. She didn't believe her younger brother's relentless pursuit of justice would amount to anything, and she couldn't understand the value her younger sister placed on love.

She understood even less why someone who had said they never wanted to meet again would still cling to her so desperately.

Coming Soon: Returning to the Year My Marriage Was Arranged

Shang Chu had hated Pei Lingyao for as many years as they'd been married.

First, he hated her for secretly meeting Song Yunzhou late at night on the eve of their wedding, carrying a bundle and intending to elope.

Second, he hated her for falling asleep in his arms after they had been intimate, only to whisper Song Yunzhou's name in her dreams.

Third, he hated her for calling out to Song Yunzhou first when she was in danger and needed help.

Fourth, he hated her for...

So many things.

So, as his life ebbed away, when Pei Lingyao clutched his hand and wept with such heartfelt sorrow, he truly wanted to ask whether this woman had ever loved him.

But to avoid making himself a complete joke in this life, he never asked, not even on his deathbed.

Unexpectedly, when he got another chance at life, he returned to the year of his youth when the marriage between him and Pei Lingyao was being arranged.

Since heaven had given him another chance to choose, then he...

Would get married first, after all.

*

After decades of marriage, Pei Lingyao never understood why her husband, Shang Chu, always looked at her so coldly.

Did he dislike her?

He earned gold and silver for her, bought her silks and satins, and even secured her a title.

Shang Chu was impossible to figure out. He loved being intimate, but kept a cold expression even as he carried on, and afterward, he insisted on holding her while they slept.

He complained that she was spoiled, troublesome, and noisy, yet insisted she stay right by his side even when he was working.

It was as if, the moment she was out of his sight, she would go steal chickens or cause trouble.

He was utterly unreasonable.

Still, she had actually lived a pretty good life. If there were a next life...

And there was. After her husband died, Pei Lingyao fell asleep alone. When she awoke, she was back in her unmarried days.

Her parents were carefully selecting a future husband for her and asked what sort of man she wanted.

Pei Lingyao thought it over.

"Someone who's good with words!"

Theme: Face your heart.