Chapter 1 — Burned Alive
Yongzhou. The old Su residence.
Days of relentless snow had buried the entire estate beneath a white silence.
In the dead of night, hurried footsteps suddenly broke through the stillness outside the manor gates.
Before long, several stern-faced old women slipped soundlessly into the Su family’s inner courtyard.
Then—with a sharp smack—a thick bundle of letters was thrown in front of Xue Ning.
“The letters Madam sent to the main household in the capital are all here. His Lordship is occupied with official affairs and has no time to read these messy, pointless letters of yours. Besides, the capital has been busy preparing for the new bride’s arrival. His Lordship specially ordered us to return these letters… and to give Madam an explanation on his behalf.”
The room was dim. Half a candle flickered weakly in the snowy night wind, as though it could go out at any moment.
The old servants sent from the capital wore cold, expressionless faces. Their eyes were sharp as blades, filled with unmistakable killing intent.
In the trembling candlelight, their shadows stretched across the mottled walls like lurking ghosts.
Xue Ning lay weakly against the old lacquered bed, her body frail from illness. She lifted hollow eyes toward them, her chest twisting with unbearable pain.
“Why… why didn’t he come himself?”
“His Lordship already sent Madam a divorce letter long ago. How much longer does Madam intend to shamelessly cling on?”
“I won’t agree to the divorce. I want to see him…”
“Madam should understand this better than anyone. The woman His Lordship truly wishes to marry was never you. He has no reason to come see you personally.”
Her heart clenched violently.
For a moment, Xue Ning could not breathe.
The new wife was entering the household. Naturally, the discarded wife hidden away in the old estate had become useless.
Tears blurred her vision as memories slowly surfaced.
She had been an orphan, both parents gone, raised in the Marquis of Xuanyi’s manor under Madam Jiang’s care.
At fifteen, after being tricked into drinking drugged wine at a banquet, she had ended up marrying Su Zhan, heir to the Marquis household.
Ten years had passed since then.
The Su Zhan of today was no longer merely a noble heir. He had become the Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet—a man feared throughout the empire, standing above tens of thousands with immense power in his hands.
Everyone said an orphan girl like her marrying into the Su family was a blessing earned over several lifetimes.
But only Xue Ning herself knew the truth.
There had always been another woman in Su Zhan’s heart.
A moonlight he could never forget.
He had never loved her.
In fact, he despised her—for climbing into his bed and stealing the position of his rightful wife.
Whenever he looked at her, his eyes carried only coldness and disgust.
After their marriage, even their moments as husband and wife had been pitifully few.
She had been abandoned in the inner courtyard year after year, left alone in empty rooms until she became a bitter woman trapped in hopeless love.
Then, five years ago, at a spring banquet, she accidentally caused Princess Xiuning—the woman Su Zhan loved—to miscarry.
Su Zhan flew into a rage.
He punished her with the family cane that very night before sending her away from the capital without delay.
Counting the years, she had already been cast aside in Yongzhou’s old residence for nearly five years.
Poor Baochan had followed her into exile.
The old estate was crumbling, yet the Su family refused to repair it. The servants neglected her despite her title as the Grand Secretary’s wife, while the clan elders bullied her mercilessly, taking advantage of the fact that she had no family to rely on.
In this remote countryside estate, she endured humiliation and torment day after day.
Baochan had merely wanted to cook her a simple bowl of noodles for the New Year.
The guards beat the girl to death for it.
Shortages of food, clothing, and charcoal were already common enough. But when Xue Ning fell ill, the estate would not even hire a physician or buy medicine for her.
What had begun as a minor cold had dragged on until she coughed blood.
Now it had become a terminal illness.
Though “terminal illness” was only the polite way of saying it.
Xue Ning understood perfectly well.
Su Zhan simply could not tolerate her existence anymore. Someone had been ordered to poison her slowly, ensuring she died quietly and without fuss.
Yet her miserable life stubbornly clung on.
And now, apparently, even that had become an eyesore to him.
So he had finally lost patience.
He wanted her dead.
Grief crashed over her. Xue Ning coughed violently, blood staining the corner of her lips. She wanted to cry, but no tears would come.
“Why…?” she whispered brokenly between coughs. “Why would he treat me this way…”
Seeing her still unwilling to let go, one of the old women sighed softly.
“Madam, the sea of suffering has no shore. Turn back while you still can.”
“His Lordship is now Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet. He cannot allow an orphan girl like you to stain his reputation.”
Xue Ning slowly came back to herself.
A bitter smile touched her lips, while the last trace of light in her eyes began to scatter.
The leading servant shook her head. Seeing Xue Ning still refusing to sign the divorce papers, she gave the others a look.
Two burly women stepped forward and tied Xue Ning tightly with rope.
But Xue Ning no longer even had the strength—or desire—to struggle.
Once everything was prepared, the leader spoke coldly:
“Since Madam refuses to know her place, don’t blame His Lordship for being ruthless.”
The women quickly withdrew.
Moments later, towering flames erupted through the dilapidated courtyard.
Xue Ning’s heart had already turned to ashes.
Slowly, she closed her eyes.
The firelight glowed crimson as it swallowed the letters scattered before her.
Those pages filled with black ink—all the words she had once written with trembling hope—were reduced to ash one by one.
The wind swept the ashes skyward like black rain falling from heaven itself, mourning a lifetime of love given to the wrong man.
…
“Miss! Wake up!”
Xue Ning sucked in a sharp breath and opened her eyes.
Before her stood pavilions and terraces beside shimmering water, flowers blooming in clusters despite the falling snow. The entire scene looked like a heavenly paradise.
But…
Hadn’t she died in the fire?
The Su family had already sent word long ago that Su Zhan intended to divorce her and remarry. She had stubbornly refused to agree.
In the end, Su Zhan could not even tolerate her surviving into the new year. He had burned her alive in the old residence to erase the problem once and for all.
By then, she had long since given up any desire to live.
So she had not resisted.
But when the flames wrapped around her body and the sound of burning flesh crackled in her ears, the agony had still been unbearable.
The fire had spread across her back while pain consumed every inch of her body. Crying desperately, she had crawled toward the door, her heart overflowing with hatred.
Hatred for Su Zhan.
Hatred for fate.
Most of all, hatred for herself.
Fortunately, it hadn’t lasted long before darkness swallowed her whole.
“Miss? Did you have a nightmare?”
A round, chubby face suddenly leaned into view.
Xue Ning’s heart pounded wildly.
She froze, unable to react for a long moment.
A living, breathing Baochan tilted her head and lowered her voice.
“Today is Madam Jiang’s birthday banquet. Why did Miss sneak off here for a nap? The honored guests are all still gathered in the front hall. And the young master just returned as well—he’s over by the opera stage.”
Xue Ning stared blankly.
She looked at Baochan’s face—ten years younger than she remembered—and slowly reached out to pinch her soft cheek.
“Ow!” Baochan yelped.
That small cry finally snapped Xue Ning back to reality.
“Madam Jiang’s birthday banquet…?”
“Yes?”
“The heir returned to the manor?”
“Of course.” Baochan grinned meaningfully, looking rather pleased with herself. “This servant has already prepared everything.”
Xue Ning’s expression changed instantly.
“Oh no—!”
She shot upright from the beauty couch.
She had been reborn.
Reborn to ten years earlier—the very day she had painstakingly drugged Su Zhan.
That aphrodisiac had cost her a fortune to obtain from a pleasure house.
Rumor said once a man drank it, not even ten oxen could hold him back. The only cure was sleeping with a woman.
Once that cup of drugged wine went down his throat, even the gods themselves wouldn’t be able to reverse it.
This lifetime, Xue Ning refused to repeat the same mistakes.
And she absolutely did not want to marry Su Zhan again.
The moment she heard Baochan’s words, panic seized her. Gathering up her skirts, she turned and ran toward Chaohua Pavilion as fast as she could.
