It Was A Fake Marriage, But Jiu Qian Sui Took It Seriously - Chapter 1

At dawn, the sky was a pale blue with a few scattered dim stars.

The morning mist had not yet cleared, and a swift figure was swinging a soft whip as she moved through the bamboo forest toward a special plum blossom courtyard. The bamboo leaves are green like a jade and they fluttered like butterflies but didn’t fall.

Bang! The whip slipped from her hand, and Shen Qing Li fell again from the plum blossom courtyard. A sharp pain spread from her left palm.

The jade bracelet on her wrist was shattered as it touched the ground, and a sharp piece of the jade pierced her palm.

There was bl00d stained on the ground.

Chun Hua who was sitting nearby, quickly stood up and covered Shen Qing Li’s palm with a handkerchief.

“Miss, you said you wouldn’t practice martial arts anymore. You were supposed to rest. It will be your wedding in a month, so why did you practice today and get hurt?”

Shen Qing Li didn’t speak and just stared blankly at the broken piece of the jade bracelet. 

Back inside the room, Chun Hua skillfully treated her wound. Luckily, it wasn’t deep, so there was no need to call a doctor.

Chun Hua had been by Shen Qing Li’s side since she was a child and believed no one in the world was as beautiful as her lady. Her skin was as white as snow, and her almond-shaped eyes were like a clear sky after the rain, distant yet pure. A small mole at the corner of her eye added a touch of charm to her innocent beauty.

Taking a cloth, Shen Qing Li gently wiped the bl00d from the whip and said softly, “Go tell my mother that I have something to do today and won’t be joining her for breakfast.”

Chun Hua was a little surprised. They had been in Shengjing for six years now, and this was the first time that she would not join her mother for breakfast.

Shen Qing Li was born in the borderlands. Her father, originally was a son of a merchant and had been looked down upon because of his merchant background. To rise in rank, he joined the army. Shen Zhong, her father, started as an unknown soldier and worked his way up to become the General, but he died in the battle six years ago.

Her mother was frail, and so they moved back to Shengjing to live with her maternal grandfather, the Duke of Yongwang.

Her grandmother gave them the smallest courtyard in the furthest corner of the estate. They lived quietly there and rarely left except to inspect the family businesses once a month.

Today was not a business inspection day.

Chun Hua asked in confusion, “Miss, are we leaving the house? Where are we going? Should I prepare a carriage?”

“We’re going to Yumanlou,” Shen Qing Li said as she was changing into a light pink wide-sleeve silk dress. Her voice was soft and gentle, so different from the strong, agile woman she was in the forest.

Chun Hua smiled in understanding. It seemed that Lady Qingli was anxious to check on her wedding jewelry, which should be ready for the wedding next month.

The sky was a bit overcast, so Chun Hua brought an umbrella.

They left through the small gate of the courtyard and boarded the carriage quietly, without alerting anyone.

The wooden wheels creaked as they rolled over the ground, making Shen Qing Li feel uneasy. She seemed to become more anxious as time passed.

“It’s nothing,” she told herself, taking a deep breath to suppress her rising anxiety. The Jiang family had always treated her mother and her well, and Jiang Zhi Li had always been considerate. He would never do anything improper, she thought. 

Because lately some strange thoughts and visions had been coming to her mind.

This morning, the jade bracelet that Jiang Zhi Li gave had broken and pierced her palm — just as she had foreseen in her dreams.

Could everything she had been seeing really be true? 

In her vision:

After she married Jiang Zhi Li, they quickly had a son, but he never grew close to her. Instead, he always preferred to stay close to Jiang Zhi Li’s cousin, Lu Ci.

On the day their son turned five, she went to the kitchen to make him some birthday noodles but accidentally she overheard two servants gossiping, saying, “The lady is so pitiful… her own daughter is almost dead, but she’s celebrating someone else’s son’s birthday.”

Crash! Shen Qing Li kicked the door open, her eyes were red with anger. After questioning the two servants, she learned that Jiang Zhi Li had long been living with his cousin outside, and they even had a child together.

Shen Qing Li was furious and so she rode out that night to confront him. In the courtyard, where lights burned brightly, she saw Lu Ci kneeling before Jiang Zhi Li’s mother and Lu Ci was crying. Then she also saw a large yellow dog that seemed to be digging-up something at the base of an osmanthus tree.

When Jiang Zhi Li saw her, he instinctively moved closer to Lu Ci to protect her.

Lu Shi’s (Jiang Zhi Li’s mother) expression shifted several times before she finally spoke calmly, “Qingli, I think it is better that you know the truth. It saves your husband from running around. When we get back, we will arrange for Lu Ci to become his concubine.”

Shen Qing Li stood there, unable to comprehend what was happening, looking at Jiang Zhi Li and asking softly, “Why? Why deceive me?”

Jiang Zhi Li replied nonchalantly, “How can you be so ungrateful? How many men in Shengjing City are as pure as I am? You’re the only woman in my house.”

“You should ask around how many women envy you for marrying me. Do you know how much Lu Ci has suffered outside just to be considerate of you?”

So it was all her fault?

Shen Qing Li bit her lip so hard, while holding her tears. With a trembling voice, she asked, “Did I give birth to a daughter? Where is she? Where is my daughter?”

Lu Ci’s eyes widened in shock, but no one else responded.

The yellow dog, which had been digging beneath the osmanthus tree, suddenly pulled something out. It was a small, broken corpse of a child — a baby girl.

Jiang Zhi Li’s face turned pale and said, “She was doomed to die anyway… You should be grateful that Lu Ci gave you a son to hold onto.”

Shen Qing Li could barely look at the distorted body of her daughter. She had no idea how evil a person’s heart could be. This was her own flesh and bl00d!

Shen Qing Li swung her fist at everyone in the courtyard in anger. Madam Lu Shi cursed her as a madwoman.

Suddenly, Shen Qing Li froze. A knife had pierced through her chest. Her heart felt cold as the strength drained from her fingers.

The knife… it was the one she had given to Jiang Zhi Li for his protection. She bought it for ten thousand taels of silver. It was sharp as ever and that very knife was now pierced in her heart. 

Shen Qing Li’s mind raced through the fragmented memories and she couldn’t believe it. But why is the pain…real?

Shen Qing Li tried to shake those thoughts from her head.

The wedding jewelry should have been ready two months ago, but Jiang Zhi Li said the shop had made some mistakes, delaying it until now.

Today, they had originally planned to pick up the jewelry together and stroll around the city. However, after she finished dressing up, only Jiang Zhi Li’s servant came to inform her that Jiang Zhi Li had been ordered to leave the capital for a few days and would accompany her to the city upon his return.

Shen Qing Li nodded in agreement, but the jade bracelet that pierced her palm made her even more uneasy.

A few days ago, when they had made the appointment, she had foreseen that Jiang Zhi Li would not keep his promise. She saw that in order to celebrate Lu Ci’s birthday, he would use the excuse of leaving the capital for business but would actually be mingling in a small courtyard behind Yumanlou.

Shen Qing Li got off the carriage at the back street of Yumanlou and asked the driver to find a place to wait for her. She and Chun Hua searched room by room but did not find the house she had seen in her dreams.

They walked the entire street from end to end, but there was no household with the surname Jiang or Lu.

The cool wind began to rise, and raindrops started to mix in.

Shen Qing Li breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she had been a bit confused lately, maybe perhaps she’s suffering from pre-wedding anxiety. She smiled to herself and turned to take a shortcut through an alley to the main street, intending to buy some jewelry she liked.

But two entangled figures suddenly appeared before her. The man wore a green bamboo-colored long robe, his hair tied with a white jade orchid hairpin, and a warm jade thumb ring caressed the waist of the woman in pink.

The man’s attire was all made by her own hands, and he was none other than Jiang Zhi Li.