Chapter 1: Elopement

“Rong’er, let’s rest here for a while. Our people will arrive any moment now!” Shen Wenyuan plucked a peach blossom and handed it to her.

Jiang Rong’s mind was pierced with a sharp pain, countless memories surged like waves, finally settling into calm.

She gazed steadily at the person before her, then looked around…

It was full spring, peach blossoms in full bloom, a gentle breeze blowing. The young man affectionately folding flowers stood opposite her.

This scene… was so familiar.

It was the moment ten years ago, when she eloped with Shen Wenyuan…

Later, she always fantasized that if that day hadn’t met mountain bandits, if Xie Lingxi hadn’t appeared…

Would they have been able to live happily ever after?

Until her death, she only then realized…

She had lived her entire life in lies.

Laughable, hateful.

Unexpectedly, after death, she opened her eyes again and found herself back ten years.

“The bandits you arranged are indeed approaching.” Jiang Rong stared at him, a hint of self-mockery curling her lips.

Shen Wenyuan’s face instantly changed. How did she know he hired bandits?

“That slap is for your father!” Jiang Rong raised her hand and swung her palm fiercely across Shen Wenyuan’s face.

“He adopted a white-eyed wolf!”

Jiang Rong’s father was a close friend of Shen Wenyuan’s father. When Shen’s father angered the emperor and was exiled and stripped of his family, no one dared to help the Shen family.

Only Jiang’s father, upright and loyal, took Shen Wenyuan in when Shen’s father entrusted him, arranged a marriage with her newborn daughter, and raised Shen Wenyuan as his own son.

How many gossip behind their backs — the daughter of the Marquis’s household, marrying the son of a criminal?

But Jiang Rong never minded his status. They grew up together, sworn lovers, Shen Wenyuan once vowed to love only her in this life.

“This slap is for your father!” Before Shen Wenyuan could react, Jiang Rong delivered another slap to his other cheek.

“Shen Bo Fu, loyal and upright all his life, with a son like you, he’s been cursed for eight generations.”

Half a month ago, the emperor ordered Shen’s father to be recalled and promoted him to Grand Tutor.

Shen Wenyuan immediately felt that, as the son of the esteemed Grand Tutor, he was no longer the same. Jiang Rong, a poor orphan girl from a fallen marquis estate, was not fit to be his wife.

Yet, Jiang’s family had helped him in times of need for fifteen years. He wanted to break the engagement but feared Shen’s father wouldn’t agree. So, he bought bandits, intending to abduct Jiang Rong and ruin her reputation.

Thus, he could legitimately free himself from Jiang Rong.

But before he could act, Jiang Rong was already caught up in a major event.

The eldest son of the First Power of Daxia, the Northern King’s Residence, fell in love with Jiang Rong at first sight and, by imperial edict from the Empress Dowager, was forced to marry her.

Shen Wenyuan should have been delighted to rid himself of a troublemaker. But someone did not want Jiang Rong to marry the Northern King and paid a high price to buy him off, intending to destroy this marriage.

Shen Wenyuan then plotted to have Jiang Rong elope with him and arranged for bandits to ambush her halfway.

He abandoned her after deceiving her, refusing to let her have a good ending.

Cruel and vile.

“Shen Wenyuan, I swear I will tear out your heart and see if it’s black,” Jiang Rong’s eyes flashed with ferocity.

“Good for you, you damn whore, you dare to hit me!” Shen Wenyuan snapped back to his senses, furious.

Jiang Rong was about to be killed by the bandits. He no longer pretended, reaching out to grab her collar…

But just as he moved, Jiang Rong lifted her leg and kicked him hard in the abdomen, flipping him over on the ground.

She stomped on his lower abdomen again. Her moves were clean and swift, clearly practiced.

“Ah!” Shen Wenyuan cried out painfully, curling up and unable to straighten up.

He never expected that Jiang Rong could fight back.

In her previous life, Jiang Rong was indeed a delicate young lady incapable of self-care. This was something she learned during those ten years in the Northern King’s Residence.

“Just wait for me!” Shen Wenyuan threatened fiercely.

Jiang Rong scoffed, kicking him like a sandbag, bleeding profusely, unable to even scream.

From afar, the sound of hooves approached—a dark mass of masked bandits rushing over.

A flicker of hope ignited in Shen Wenyuan’s eyes. “Jiang Rong, you’re dead for sure…”

The girl still calmly and confidently played with him, unafraid.

She knew the bandits would arrive soon. But Shen Wenyuan was waiting for the bandits, and she was waiting for someone.

Jiang Rong looked into the distance. A familiar figure appeared in the peach grove.

A young man riding a white horse, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, handsome and free-spirited, as if a jade tree standing before the wind.

Dressed in a bright red wedding robe, his appearance was stunningly handsome, unmatched in the world.

Northern King’s heir, Xie Lingxi.

With bandits in front and Xie Lingxi behind,

In her previous life, Jiang Rong hated him to death. She even ran towards the bandits, willing to die in their hands rather than be taken back by him…

But now…

Jiang Rong showed a look of panic and fear, clutching her skirt and stumbling towards him.