Hidden Mandarin Ducks

[Both Reborn | Married First, Love Later | A Long-Standing Scheme]

The Shen family of Qiantang was richer than the state itself, descended from Jimon, the rain god, and rooted in the sacred lands of the Yannan divine lineage.

When the Sage was still living in his princely residence, he came to their door three times, hoping to marry a Shen daughter. He was rejected all three times.

Later, the youngest daughter of the Shen family carefully chose Yan Chongli, heir to the Marquis of Chongwen, to be her husband.

In the seventh year of their marriage, floods ravaged Qiantang, and the Shen family was wiped out.

As Shen Mingzhen lay gravely ill, Yan Chongli wanted to divorce her and marry again, this time to the woman he had loved since his youth.

Marry whom, exactly?!

She wasn't dead yet!

When she opened her eyes again, Shen Mingzhen had returned to her wedding night. She looked at the sleeping man beside her, calmly put on her clothes, and got up.

In this life, what she had to do was simple.

First: bring back the woman he loved.

Second: get a divorce.

Third: manage Qiantang's floods and save the Shen family.

Fourth: marry her cousin, the Rong family's eldest son.

*

Ten years after Shen Mingzhen's death.

The land was peaceful, the rivers clear, and the people prosperous.

Yan Chongli, now a powerful figure at court, hugged the wedding dress she had left behind and set himself on fire at the old Shen family residence in Qiantang.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back on his wedding day.

Red candles flickered. Beneath the bridal veil, the beauty's fingertips trembled, just as fragile and delicate as he remembered.

[A Little Scene]

After their wedding, Yan Chongli watched his wife draw her brows at the dressing table. He suppressed the madness in his heart, doing his best to pass himself off as a noble gentleman, serene and refined.

But not long after their marriage, Shen Mingzhen ran into that third son of the Rong family at least three times. Yan Chongli couldn't hide the obsessive jealousy in his eyes.

He magnanimously reassured himself: “It's just some country bumpkin looking for a bit of novelty. He has no claim on her, and she'll get tired of him sooner or later.”

Fifteen minutes later: “It's fine. As long as we don't divorce, I'll always be the Shen family's rightful husband.”

In reality, Yan Chongli was already armed and mounted, plotting viciously: “Tch, I can't just let this go. I'm going to kill that Rong fellow right now!”

[A Few Things to Know]

· Sunny, spirited sweetheart versus a gloomy obsessive with eight hundred schemes

· Married first, love later, with both leads reborn and a chaotic love triangle

· The hero has been plotting for her in both his past and present lives

· Fictional setting, original worldbuilding, monogamous pairing, both leads' first and only love

· I want you alive to hate me, not dead and leaving me to regret it

· Neither lead is perfect, but that doesn't stop the author from loving them

· Cover art by @Xiao Niao Jiu Shi Huan Huan Jiang

Theme: The Qiantang River's tide has come in. Only today do I understand who I am.