Chapter 001

Chapter 1: Reborn, and the Marriage Was Swapped

The moment Yu Zhi Yi opened her eyes, she knew that Yu Jiao Jiao had also been reborn, and even earlier than her.

In her last life, she had clearly married Zhang Tian Shun, the legitimate second son of Yong Duke’s Manor. Now, she had married Du Zi Heng, the chancellor’s only son.

Before marriage, Zhang Tian Shun was a classic rich playboy. He was a regular at brothels, had many close confidantes, and kept countless women in his back courtyard. After the wedding, he cut off every flirtation and chose only her. The two of them lived in harmony.

He did not inherit Yong Duke’s Manor, yet he rose step by step on war merit. At thirty-five, he was granted the title Duke Ding Bei.

A few years later, he crushed the Great Luo Empire in the north. The once arrogant Great Luo Empire had to bow to the Great Sheng Empire and pay a large yearly tribute for peace.

With such great military deeds, he was naturally named Prince Ding Bei, and Yu Zhi Yi also received an imperial lady’s title.

Yu Jiao Jiao, meanwhile, married the chancellor’s proper, well-matched, and upright only son. She and Du Zi Heng were childhood playmates; as a girl, she always ran after him, and he took good care of her. In the noble circles of the Capital City, everyone said they were made for each other. Yu Jiao Jiao treated marrying Du Zi Heng as her life’s greatest dream and honor.

But after the wedding, she learned that Du Zi Heng already had someone in his heart, and he had always treated Yu Jiao Jiao as a sister. That woman’s status was low, not fit for the eyes of the chancellor and Madam Chancellor. To make their only son settle down, the household sought out Yu Jiao Jiao, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Revenue’s Manor, who was also his “white moonlight.”

Yu Jiao Jiao spent her whole life fighting that woman. While the chancellor and Madam Chancellor still lived and supported her, she boldly made trouble for the rival. Later, Madam Chancellor and the Elder Chancellor died one after another. By his own ability, Young Master Du became the new chancellor and took the reins of power. His first act was to divorce Yu Jiao Jiao.

Proud by nature, Yu Jiao Jiao could not take the blow. She slipped past the many guards of Chancellor’s Manor and tried to kill the other woman. In the end, the manor’s bodyguards cut her down. She was branded a madwoman and a murderer.

When Yu Zhi Yi heard this in her past life, she was on the road to Zhang Tian Shun’s fief. She ran into a ground rupture; the earth split open under her feet like an “earth dragon.” She had no time to react before the huge chasm swallowed her, ending her life.

She never thought she would be reborn. Even more unexpected, Yu Jiao Jiao had been reborn earlier and somehow made Zhang Tian Shun come to propose. Three months ago, Yu Jiao Jiao married into Yong Duke’s Manor. Two days ago, Yu Zhi Yi married Du Zi Heng.

Yu Zhi Yi looked at the bright sunlight outside, the corner of her lips lifting in a careless smile. [Honor and steady happiness cannot be stolen.]

That Zhang Tian Shun had been a useless second-generation heir before marriage. He only started working hard afterward, not because he loved to hide his edge, but because he had no edge at all. The truth was cruel. The one who earned those military achievements was Yu Zhi Yi. As for Zhang Tian Shun, he was only a puppet.

Zi Yuan pushed the door open and said: “Miss, the Marchioness Wu’an asks to see you.”

Yu Zhi Yi slid a low-key but luxurious hairpin into her hair and said: “Let her come to Chancellor’s Manor.”

Zi Yuan answered yes, yet did not leave. She hesitated. Yu Zhi Yi tapped between her brows and said: “What could you and I possibly not say to each other?”

Zi Yuan pressed her lips, her eyes full of hurt, and said: “I just don’t understand. The young master treated you like this. Why would you still help him?”

On the wedding night, Du Zi Heng did not enter the bridal room. He stayed with his sweetheart, You Bing Yue, in the Moon-Viewing Pavilion like a pair of secret lovers. The next morning at the tea ceremony, the chancellor’s men dragged him out of bed. He came before Yu Zhi Yi with a dark face and said: “This marriage was not my choice. Since the chancellor and Madam Chancellor agreed to let you in, let them accompany you on your return visit to your parents. I will not go.” He also said: “All my life I will only love You Bing Yue. I will not have children with you. I will not even look at you.”

That same night, after learning he was to marry, You Bing Yue went out drinking and was harassed by the young master of Marquis Wu’an Manor. She was trained in martial arts; in anger, she struck back and injured him badly. When Du Zi Heng found out, he made no public statement. He simply hid her inside Chancellor’s Manor.

Marquis Wu’an Manor came from a military line, and the whole family had hot tempers. Their own young master had been beaten into a coma and nearly died. No one in the house would let it go. They swore to drag the culprit out and skin her alive. Now they had already traced the matter to Chancellor’s Manor. A standoff was only a matter of time.

By normal reasoning, with how serious the case was, once You Bing Yue was found, the lightest punishment would be prison. Even if the young master had harassed her first, the one gravely injured was still the young master. By feeling and by law, she would not come out well. Du Zi Heng was now at his wits’ end.

Yu Zhi Yi laughed softly and said: “Who said I am helping him?”

She had studied under Daoist Ling Xu. Her Mystic Arts were extraordinary, and her face-reading was so refined it returned to simple truth. With one look, she could see a person’s life path. Yet even with such skill, she could not easily step out of the mortal world. In her past life, she begged her master to take her away from the Capital City. Her master said her bonds to the world were not done, and even if she went to the sect for Cultivation, she would not achieve success. He told her to go with the flow.

Because of those words, though she was unwilling, she calmed herself and married. She cut off all of Zhang Tian Shun’s rotten romances and pushed his career straight up to the clouds. Even so, she still met a bad end. [Not this life. I will not go with the flow.]

If she had been reborn before the wedding, she would never have agreed to this match. [Managing a man’s life ruins your own. I have had enough.]

Sadly, when she woke, she was already a woman of the Du Clan and tied to Chancellor’s Manor. Until she could cut that tie cleanly, she could not leave, or the backlash would strike her.

Yu Zhi Yi never liked self-pity. As things stood, she would not waste herself, nor would she wrong herself. In skill, she was the Immortal Maiden Heaven’s Will, the one who cannot see the mountain’s true face only because she stands within the mountain. In status, she was the properly wedded young madam of Chancellor’s Manor, the rightful next mistress of the house. No one would step on her to feel important. [In this life I will not suffer for a man, and I will not waste my heart on one.]

She said, calm and clear: “I only need to let Du Zi Heng know this: the safety of his sweetheart rests on a single thought of mine.”