The Lower Yuan Festival was the day in folklore when the Water Official resolved calamities.
It was said that every Lower Yuan Festival, the Water Official Yanggu Emperor descended to the mortal realm to inspect good and evil, then reported to the heavenly court to lift disasters from the people.
That night, the streets were filled with lights everywhere, brightly lit, and many people came out to browse the markets and watch street performances.
There were no shortage of young lords and ladies who had arranged to meet, reciting poetry and solving lantern riddles at the riddle stalls, looking like a loving couple that made bystanders envious.
The Melodramatic Transmigration System followed them silently all the way, unable to hold back and asked, “Host, haven’t you gotten your wish and slipped out of the marquis’s manor with Shen Ru Jie? Why do you seem not very happy?”
Xin Yi sighed, her tone indescribably lonely. “Didn’t you see that the streets are full of couples? Such a great atmosphere, perfect for a date.”
“But in this scene, I can’t even hold a little hand.”
The Melodramatic Transmigration System: “……”
It knew its host was a weirdo.
The night breeze blew over, and the palace lanterns and paper kites hanging in front of the stalls swayed lightly, even making the tassel on the sachet hanging from Xin Yi’s jacket flutter.
She caught the sweet scent of pastries at the tip of her nose, and her mood finally improved a bit. Then she curved her eyes and smiled at the youth beside her. “Second Young Master, let me treat you to some food.”
The other had been staring dazedly at the gold buyao hairpin in her dark hair.
He froze at her words, a suspicious flush spreading across the youth’s face. “Okay, whatever Sister-in-law says.”
But though she said she was treating Shen Ru Jie, most of what she bought was the food she usually loved herself. Osmanthus Fermented Rice Balls, Sugar Frosted Rice Cakes, almond crisps, red bean cakes…
And every time a fresh portion came out of the steamer and into her hands, the youth obediently waited to the side for her to take the first bite.
But Xin Yi only cared about the novelty when eating, and with so many varieties bought, she always lost interest after two bites and set them aside.
Especially since the market was always full of excitement to watch. Her eyes were fixed on the fiery performance, and she didn’t notice at all that the unfinished Sugar Frosted Rice Cake from earlier had been picked up by the youth at her side and brought to his lips, where he slowly opened his mouth to bite it.
She turned her head and caught him with sugar crumbs on his lips.
She found it amusing and used her fingertip to carefully wipe them off for him. “Is it tasty?”
Shen Ru Jie’s dark eyes fixed on her, his throat unconsciously going dry. Then he nodded a bit hoarsely. “Mm… very tasty.”
Xin Yi looked at him for a long time, but her mind couldn’t help recalling the first time she had seen him.
The youth in black robes with a long sword, standing coldly in the rain curtain, his crow-black lashes drooping without emotion, as if close to no one.
Now the youth standing before her was like an obedient, forbearing little dog, all his sharp thorns retracted.
Revealing a side that could be teased and bullied.
Amid the noisy crowds and flower lanterns filling the street, she bit her lip as she looked at him and suddenly felt her heart go soft. Then she reached out and ruffled the youth’s dark hair. “A Jie, you’re great, really really great.”
“Second Young Master is too distant. From now on, I’ll call you A Jie, okay?”
Shen Ru Jie gazed at the woman’s pure smile, a scorching heat burning in his chest, nearly setting it ablaze.
He tried hard to restrain his remaining reason and gave a muffled response. “Mm, Sister-in-law can call me whatever you want.”
The night was still long, with many interesting places to stroll slowly.
The woman with beautiful features and the handsome, star-like youth drew many admiring glances as they walked, such a perfect match, truly a heavenly pair like Pan An and Xie Daoyun.
They released Kongming lanterns together and wrote wishes on them.
Xin Yi wrote first. She stretched out her slender white fingers to hold the thin sandalwood brush, thought for a moment, then wrote on it.
It was pretty splendid small regular script. She gathered her falling brocade cape and wrote with lowered eyes, extremely earnestly. “I hope A Jie rises in rank and gets rich in the future, stays healthy and smooth, and most importantly, sheds less blood and suffers fewer injuries.”
After finishing, she handed the brush to the youth at her side. “Write your wish too.”
Shen Ru Jie took the brush, glanced at it, and added a line next to her two rows of graceful characters. “May it be like this every year.”
Xin Yi saw it and lifted her eyes to ask, “Were you happy today?”
“Mm.”
“Then you’ll be even happier in the future.”
The youth didn’t reply immediately but asked her, “Will Sister-in-law always stay with me?”
Xin Yi paused, then pursed her lips and answered, “Yes.”
But she knew this promise was fake. One day she would leave without looking back, but at least tonight, she didn’t want to ruin the mood.
Shen Ru Jie was clearly coaxed by her words, threads of laughter in his eyes. He even took the initiative to stop at a stall selling accessories.
The boss followed his gaze and immediately beamed with joy, introducing it to him. “Young sir has good taste. This pair of earrings is the only one in the entire Capital City, a unique heirloom from the previous dynasty, crafted and set by the old silversmiths used by the palace ladies.”
Xin Yi was too lazy to retort inwardly. Just a small stall vendor claiming a previous dynasty unique item—not afraid of the wind cutting his tongue.
And though the earrings were elegant, they weren’t so rare as the only pair in the Capital City. She could weave a grass grasshopper and claim it was one-of-a-kind too.
Shen Ru Jie picked them up and held them to her ear, oblivious that he was about to get fleeced.
He leaned closer, his cool, soft breath approaching. “Let me help Sister-in-law try them.”
Xin Yi sighed, knowing she couldn’t stop this resentful guy, so she obligingly tilted her head to let him.
A cool sensation came to her earlobe—it was probably his fingers, not heavy pressure, just rubbing twice before putting them on.
She didn’t find anything wrong and even turned at that angle to show him. “Do they look good? A Jie.”
Little did she know the youth’s eyes were darkly obsessive at that moment, an indescribable entanglement.
In his sight, there was only that slender stretch of beautiful neck. Very white, like jade, coated in the lamplight and moonlight with a layer of glistening glow.
Shen Ru Jie couldn’t control himself and held his breath, wanting to reach out and touch.
To see if that spot was the same jade-warm temperature as he imagined.
As if bewitched, he really reached out and touched that slender neck. The woman seemed startled by the sudden coolness, turned her head, mist rising faintly in her beautiful eyes.
When she saw it was him, she couldn’t help pursing her lips into a smile and leaned her warm, soft neck closer, rubbing against the back of his hand. “Young sir, do you want to strangle me?”
That teasing, playful tone treated his current rudeness as mere mischief.
Shen Ru Jie couldn’t look away. A voice in his heart argued: No, not strangle her.
He wanted to kiss her, to hold her wet lips without letting go, to kiss her like a husband to his wife, to profane her.
He suddenly let go, lowered his lashes to hide the sickly glint in his eyes, and said in a seemingly calm, gentle tone, “Let’s go back, Sister-in-law.”
“Your body isn’t well; it can’t take such thick night wind.”
In the marquis’s manor, the lights in the side courtyard were still on.
Just as when she left.
Xin Yi pushed open the door and stepped into the yard, a very good mood still on her lips.
The next second, she saw the dazed maidservant. A Ying nearly cried upon seeing her return, her face pale. “What to do, Madam… The marquis just came, and he knows you went to find the Second Young Master!”
A Ying wiped her tears aggrievedly. “This servant didn’t mean to, but the marquis insisted on going in to see you before leaving, and then… then it was exposed. And when the marquis left, his face was terrifyingly dark. They say he brought the household slaves to surround the Second Young Master’s courtyard.”
“Go see quickly. The Second Young Master might get beaten to death by the marquis!”
In the rundown little garden, rows of household slaves stood neatly.
Shen Gui had indeed waited in Shen Ru Jie’s courtyard until he returned from outside.
During those two hours of waiting.
Shen Gui’s already unpleasant face grew darker inch by inch. No wonder, no wonder!
No wonder Xin Yi had been so cold to him lately.
Yet she cared for that little bastard everywhere, even speaking up for him at the poetry gathering, heedless of her identity as the marquis’s wife.
This concubine-born brother’s birth mother was a restless maidservant who climbed into the master’s bed and later secretly communicated with a lover.
Unexpectedly, the son she bore was the same, equally base and cheap, flaunting his body like a dog— and to his own sister-in-law!
The courtyard door creaked open, and the slender youth stepped in under the moonlight.
His steps were neither fast nor slow, his dark eyes reflecting the torchlight in the yard.
Strangely, upon seeing the figure standing in the courtyard, he showed no panic at all, not even surprise.
He even had a smile on his lips. “Elder Brother…”
Xin Yi walked very fast; A Ying could hardly keep up with the lantern beside her.
By the time she arrived panting at Shen Ru Jie’s residence and pushed open the door, it was already too late.
The youth had been tied to a wooden post and beaten bloody.
Whip wounds covered his body and face, including his neck. Blood seeped from the injuries, the thick stench of blood filling the yard, nearly making Xin Yi unsteady.
Tears surged from her eyes immediately, and she staggered toward him.
But Shen Gui, standing silently to the side, gripped her wrist firmly. He tossed aside the whip soaked in blood from his hand and said in a cold tone, “This is the fine daughter the Wu family raised. To think I never knew my sickly wife had been secretly hooking up with my concubine-born brother behind my back!”
He pressed close to the trembling woman, lowering his voice to whisper humiliating, heart-piercing words in her ear. “What, pretending unwilling to share my bed—did this little bastard serve you comfortably?”
“Has he done you? How many times, where?”
Xin Yi’s lips trembled, waves of heartache surging.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her; these words couldn’t hurt her at all.
But her tears really flowed even more.
To be precise, these should be the original host’s tears. As if all the years of neglect and grievance accumulated in Wu Xin Yi’s body were vented out at once.
She turned to look at Shen Gui, through tear-filled eyes and demanded, “In the marquis’s heart, when have you ever truly seen Wu Xin Yi as your wife? Have you ever had a shred of sincerity toward her?”
“So what about the Wu family’s daughter? At least when she married you, she was sincere, wanting to spend her life with you! But Marquis, in two years of marriage, how many times have you taken the initiative to visit your own wife?”
“Do you care about her sincerity?”
“Have you ever pitied her tears even a little?”
By the end, Shen Gui was furious. He hadn’t expected that even now, Xin Yi not only showed no repentance, no begging for mercy or admission of fault.
She even dared to question him instead. How dare she!!
He hated it so much he ground his teeth, gripping her with force nearly crushing bone.
But the next second, the woman before him struggled free with all her strength. Even the look she shot him was pale, trembling, and utterly disheartened.
As if he were the one in the wrong, the one needing forgiveness. “Write the divorce letter. Let’s divorce.”
“What!”
Shen Gui’s face turned ashen with rage, his chest heaving. “Wu Xin Yi, say that again.”
“The suburban manor, Zheng Wu…”
Xin Yi looked at him coldly, a slight mocking smile on her lips. “Does the marquis want me to continue?”
Shen Gui froze, as if never imagining this long-hidden secret would be exposed by Xin Yi.
But after a brief daze, his face darkened again, as if not taking her divorce talk to heart at all. “What if I don’t agree? What can you do?”
Xin Yi slowly stepped back, smiled at him, a trace of resolute coldness appearing on her usually gentle little face. “Then this concubine would rather shatter like jade than live cracked like tile—I’ll bash my head dead right here in this yard!”
“Lose a wife to death, or let her go with divorce—the marquis, choose one.”