Chapter 1: A Reborn Sister Steals a Marriage

“No! I won’t! I won’t marry him!”

Su Wan had just stepped into the courtyard with a basket on her back when she heard her younger sister Su Xue shouting through her tears in the west room. She slipped the basket off her shoulders, emptied it onto the ground, and sorted its contents into things they could eat, things they could dry, and things they could feed the pigs.

Su Xue was still crying inside.

“Mother, you’re driving me to my death! What’s so good about Huo Shi’an? He’s a soldier, rough and clumsy, and he wouldn’t know how to treat a woman kindly. He might drop dead one day for all we know. I won’t marry him!”

Huo Shi’an?

At the sound of his name, Su Wan’s eyes flickered.

The Huos were well-off by the standards of every village for miles around. They had a house of blue bricks and tiled roofs, plenty of fields, and even an ox. Every unmarried girl in the village wanted to marry him.

In her previous life, Su Xue had married into the Huo family. Unfortunately, something had happened to Huo Shi’an not long afterward. With no children, she had been left a widow.

She later returned to her parents’ home, where the villagers whispered that she had brought about her husband’s death. No one ever came to propose marriage again.

Su Wan, meanwhile, had married Xu Xiuzhi of Xu Family Village.

The Xus had been desperately poor then, but Xu Xiuzhi had a gift for scholarship. He had gone on to place third in the palace examination, enter the capital, and rise to vice minister of war. Su Wan had become a titled lady, enjoying all the splendor that came with his position.

Everyone praised Xu Xiuzhi as a devoted husband. He kept no other women and had eyes only for Su Wan.

Naturally, Su Xue had envied her.

So the first thing her reborn sister had done was refuse to marry Huo Shi’an. The second would surely be to snatch Xu Xiuzhi for herself.

The corners of Su Wan’s lips lifted slightly.

Let her have him.

Su Wan wanted nothing to do with that man.

In public, Xu Xiuzhi was gentle and refined. Behind closed doors, he was vicious and cruel. He beat her and tormented her where no one else could see the marks.

The Su Wan of the original story had endured a lifetime in that seemingly splendid household. Her title and his supposed devotion were nothing but a respectable covering paid for in her blood and flesh.

The woman here now had transmigrated when she was ten. In the world she came from, strength ruled, and everyone could awaken a spiritual entity at twelve.

Hers was a lotus. It had come with her, and although it could never advance again, she was content. Over the years she had kept her abilities hidden, behaving no differently from any other village girl, while the lotus’s vitality gradually strengthened and nourished her body.

She had no desire to compete for a moment’s glory, and she certainly would not follow the original owner’s old path.

Su Wan brushed the bits of grass from her skirt and went into the kitchen. She lifted the pot lid. The rice was already boiling, so she went to the stove, expertly damped down the fire, and brought out the steamed vegetables.

The crying in the west room had grown much quieter.

Judging the moment right, she called out, “Mother, breakfast is ready.”

Madam Wang’s irritated voice came promptly from next door. “Take your father and elder brother their meal in the fields. They’re watering the paddies today and have no time to come back.”

Before she had finished speaking, she appeared in the kitchen doorway. Her face was drawn and her brows were pinched together; clearly, Su Xue had tried her patience.

“All right.”

Su Wan took five bowls from the cupboard: three for porridge, one for steamed cornmeal buns, and one for the vegetables. She worked briskly and without a trace of fuss.

The sight made Madam Wang feel a little better. “At least you’re sensible.”

Su Wan looked up and smiled. “Xue is still young.”

“She’s sixteen! How is that young?” The words reignited Madam Wang’s anger. “It’s such a fine match! The Huos have food and clothing enough, and Huo Shi’an is steady and ambitious. He’s already a minor military officer. If his mother hadn’t taken a liking to your sister, a family like ours could never have hoped for the match. Yet she calls him a common soldier and refuses to marry him, no matter what we say. She says she wants a scholar!”

Madam Wang slapped the doorframe. “Would a scholar’s family even look at ours? She needs to keep her feet on the ground instead of dreaming all day.”

Su Wan lowered her eyes and put the bowls of porridge into the basket. “You’re right, Mother.”

She was about to leave when the west-room door creaked open. Su Xue emerged with red eyes, disheveled hair, and tears still on her face. The moment she saw Su Wan, her expression changed.

There was resentment in her gaze, and hatred, along with a calculation she could not quite conceal.

Su Wan pretended not to notice and continued toward the gate with her basket.

“Sister,” Su Xue suddenly called.

Su Wan stopped. “What is it?”

Su Xue bit her lip, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “Mother says the Huo family is wonderful in every way. Do you think so too?”

Madam Wang glared at her. “Su Xue, what are you up to now?”

Su Xue ignored her and stared at Su Wan, as if determined to force an answer from her.

Su Wan remained calm. “You’ll have to decide for yourself whether they’re a good family. You’re the one who would be marrying him and living that life.”

Su Xue’s eyes reddened further. “What if it were you?”

The courtyard fell silent.

Madam Wang’s expression changed. “What nonsense are you talking? This match was arranged for you. Why drag your sister into it?”

Clutching her sleeve, Su Xue spoke through a sob. “Doesn’t Mother say the Huos are a good family? Elder Sister is more sensible than I am, and she knows how to run a household better.”

She raised her head and looked at her mother. “If it’s such a good match, the Huos would be even happier to have her.”

Su Wan watched her quietly.

Just as she had expected. Su Xue meant to push the Huo match onto her, then set her sights on Xu Xiuzhi.

Madam Wang did not scold her immediately. She looked at her capable, composed eldest daughter, then at the younger one, who was crying so hard she could barely catch her breath. Little by little, her expression changed.

A household as prosperous as the Huos was hard to find even if one searched every village for miles around. If this match fell through, she would regret it for half a year and wake at night fretting over it.

But marriage was meant to bring two families together, not turn them into enemies. Her younger daughter was strong-willed; with Su Xue crying, making a scene, and threatening to die, it would be terrible if they pushed her too far and something really happened.

Perhaps her eldest could take her place.

Her eldest daughter was one of the finest girls in the neighboring villages: hardworking, mild-tempered, and capable both inside and outside the home. Above all, she was pretty. Matchmakers had come calling over the past two years, but Madam Wang had known too much poverty. She had held out for a family with a substantial fortune and refused to give her consent.

The Huos were just what she had hoped for.

The more she considered it, the more reasonable the idea seemed. Once she had made up her mind, the deep creases between her brows smoothed away.

Standing nearby with her eyes lowered, Su Wan could read her mother’s thoughts perfectly. Su Xue would not marry, and the family could not bear to give up the Huo match. In the end, it would fall to her.

Sure enough, Madam Wang rubbed her hands together, her voice much gentler now. “Wan, what do you think?”

Su Xue bit her lip, tears still on her face. Beneath her fixed stare, she could barely hide her eagerness.