Chapter 1:  Bringing Fortune

In the spring of the twenty-fifth year of the Zhenkang era of the Dachun Dynasty, the capital city was bathed in the warm spring sunshine and gentle breeze.

In the rear garden of the Princess Changting’s residence, willows surrounded the lake, their golden ripples shimmering. As the wind blew, the delicate willow strands swayed, while white pear blossoms, tender pink peach blossoms, and vibrant begonias fell like rain…

Such a splendid scene of spring, a world of vibrant colors.

Within the peach blossom forest, two children were crouched under a tree, whispering to each other, accompanied by a large yellow dog. Faint sounds of silk music and firecrackers made them, along with the dog, occasionally glance towards the densely clustered eaves in the distance.

Both children were dressed splendidly and bore a striking resemblance, their expressions unusually serious. However, the boy was tall and stout, clearly a robust lad. The girl, on the other hand, was slender and small, her complexion pale and slightly bluish, appearing even smaller than the large dog beside her. Despite the significant difference in their statures, the two were twins, six years of age.

Pouting her rosy lips, the little girl said, “Why doesn’t Elder Brother let me go see the new bride? Aren’t you curious about our new sister-in-law?”

The boy furrowed his brows like a little old man, huffing, “What’s there to see? The new bride our third brother is marrying isn’t the original one, they replaced her.”

The little girl remarked, “They say this new bride can help our grandfather. She must be more capable than the original one, right?”

The boy hesitated and said, “I don’t know if she’s capable, all I know is that our third brother is very unhappy about marrying her.”

The little girl, puzzled, asked, “Isn’t marrying a new wife a joyous occasion? Why isn’t our third brother happy then?”

The boy wisely replied, “If he doesn’t like her, of course he’s not happy.”

The little girl then said, “If the new bride can help Grandfather, why would our third brother not be happy?”

The little boy was frightened upon hearing this and quickly placed his chubby finger to his lips, whispering, “Sister, our third brother doesn’t like this new bride. Please don’t tell anyone. If our elders find out, they’ll be displeased with him and with us.”

The little girl promptly covered her mouth with her hand.

After exchanging a few more hushed words, the two children held hands and left the peach blossom forest, crossing the stone bridge over the lake. From a distance, they looked at the closest courtyard to Mirror Lake, nestled amidst red flowers and green trees, with a small stream flowing in from the lake and out from the other end. That was Orchid Pavilion, where the new bride resided.

The little girl gazed at Orchid Pavilion with a faint smile on her lips and said, “Orchid Pavilion is much larger than our Qingfeng Courtyard, and the scenery is better. Grandmother giving it to our third brother and new sister-in-law means she’s starting to like our third brother.”

The boy grumbled, “Silly sister, it’s not that Grandmother likes our third brother. She’s compensating him. No matter how good a courtyard is, it can’t compare to a wife.”

He then stooped to pat the large dog and said, “Qichang, let’s go.” Holding his sister’s hand, he walked along a flower path, with the large dog wagging its tail behind them.

On the twentieth day of the third month, Princess Changting’s grandson, Jiang Zhanwei, married the second daughter of the Lu family, Lu Man. From the betrothal to the wedding, it took merely five days.

However, even though Jiang Zhanwei was a grandson, marrying the daughter of a fifth-grade military officer without any substantial background was a significant climb. Even for a wedding, many envied the Lu family’s advantageous match.

Before nightfall, as the guests were enjoying the wedding banquet in the hall, a piercing scream suddenly echoed from Orchid Pavilion, tearing through the sky above the Princess’s residence.

It turned out that the new bride had dismissed the servants and attempted to hang herself in her room.

Although she was rescued, the commotion deeply upset the entire Princess’s residence. Particularly, the Princess herself fainted from anger.

Upon regaining consciousness, the first words she uttered were, “Get her out, send that wretched woman back to her family. Even if she’s dying, she must die in her birth home. I want to see if the Lu family will still keep her, if she’s reluctant to marry into our residence!” Then, realizing the ailing condition of the old marquis, her husband, she quickly added, “If that wretched woman doesn’t want to be with Zhanwei, I insist she stays. Even if the marquis recovers, she’s not allowed to leave. She must die here…”

The rush to arrange this marriage and marry a daughter of such low status was due to an incident earlier in the month when the old marquis fell from his horse, sustaining severe injuries and falling into a coma. Apart from a faint pulse and slight warmth in his chest, he seemed as good as dead. Several imperial physicians who examined him concluded that the old marquis had suffered a severe head injury, resulting in a state akin to being soulless, an ailment that was incurable, and suggested that they need to prepare for his funeral.

The eldest son of Princess Changting, Jiang Yuanhong, and her second and third sons invited monks and Taoist priests to perform various rituals and ceremonies for several days, but to no avail.

Feeling helpless, the Princess resorted to using medicinal and tonic soups to sustain the old marquis’s life, and sought the counsel of the venerable Master Xinghai from the Guangji Temple. Rarely did the master indulge the Princess, but after a brief calculation, he too declared that no medicine or remedy could save the old marquis.

At their wit’s end, the master suggested that in the southwest of the capital, if they could find a woman born in the year of the Tiger, specifically during the hour of the Snake (9-11 am), there might be hope for the old marquis.

Most dwellers in the southwest of the capital were merchants, with a few households belonging to low-ranking officials. Normally, daughters from such families would not be suitable matches for the gentlemen of the Princess’s residence. However, given the urgency of the situation for the old marquis’s recovery, any woman born during that specific time, regardless of her circumstances, had to be brought into the household.

Princess Changting promptly sent her three sons to discreetly inquire. After two days, they discovered that indeed there was an unmarried woman from the southwest of the capital who met the criteria—a girl born in the year of the Tiger during the hour of the Snake. Her name was Lu Man, the second daughter of the Lu family, just fifteen years old.

The eldest son of the Lu family, Lu Fangming, was a minor official of the seventh rank in the Ministry of Personnel. The second son, Lu Fangrong, held the position of a commander of a thousand troops in Wuzhou, Liaozhou. And Lu Man was the eldest daughter of Lu Fangrong.

Although the Lu family’s status was lower, they were a family of officials. Marrying a daughter from such a family to bring fortune to the old marquis’s health, albeit barely, was acceptable.

However, Lu Man’s maternal grandfather, He Huang, had offended Empress Wang, who was just still a concubine more than ten years ago and was executed, and her mother was abandoned by the Lu family many years ago.

Having grown up without her mother’s guidance and with her father absent from the capital, Lu Man had developed a fearless and bold personality. Neighbors and guests frequently heard her quarreling with her stepmother, scolding her younger sister, and berating the servants. Her reputation in the area was so poor that, at the age of fifteen, she had not yet had any marriage proposals.

He Huang had served as the head of the Imperial Medical Clinic, specializing in gynecology, and was known to Princess Changting.

Lu Man’s lowly birth, being the daughter of a condemned official, and the offenses of her maternal family against the current Empress, made her an unappealing prospect for Princess Changting and her three sons. Moreover, her reputation and character were equally unsatisfactory.