A Second Spring Behind Silken Doors - Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was my elder sister Jiang Zhi’s sickly face. She was pressing my hand into her husband’s.

“So you have feelings for your brother-in-law. How could I blame you? We’re sisters. I’ll be only too glad to have you take care of my husband.”

“Of all our sisters, you’ve always been the one I felt closest to.” She dabbed at her perfectly dry eyes with a handkerchief.

“When I die, I’ll be able to rest easy, knowing the children have you.”

The same words. The same scene. For a moment I was dazed. Then I understood.

I had come back to life.

This had happened in my previous life too. Jiang Zhi had brought a crowd to catch me with her husband. Believing my reputation ruined and every other path closed to me, I could only agree.

A year later, Jiang Zhi died, and I married her widower. As promised, I protected her eldest son’s place as heir. With my own money, I raised him into a capable man and paved his way to a brilliant career.

I had thought my life, if not a happy one, had at least been worthwhile. Instead, my stepson rewarded me with a cup of poisoned wine.

“You’re nothing but a lowborn concubine’s daughter, an outsider who came in as Father’s second wife. You don’t deserve to be called Mother. Why should I honor you or see you through your final years?”

Only then had I learned the truth. My blundering into my brother-in-law’s study, Jiang Zhi finding us there at precisely the right moment—she had arranged it all.

She had chosen me from among our many sisters for my kind, unassuming nature and the large fortune my mother had given me.

Under her direction, I had spent my entire life laboring for her children. By the time I died, it all seemed like one long dream that had left me with nothing.

I turned my gaze to Jiang Zhi. Seeing that I wasn’t frightened, she changed tack and brought up the thing women cared about most: their reputation.

“You and my husband were alone together in a room. If word gets out, your life will be over.

“But don’t worry. Everyone here is one of us. No one will gossip. My dear sister, all you have to do is wait to be married before I die. I’ll arrange everything for you.”

I looked at the roomful of unfamiliar faces and the contempt in their eyes. Inwardly, I sneered.

My dear Jiang Zhi. Hadn’t you gone to all this trouble so I would guard the marquis’s estate, protect your son’s position as heir, and raise him into a successful man?

Then this time, I would destroy every last thing, one by one, right in front of you.

There were many concubines’ daughters in the Jiang household, and its rules were strict. I was the fifth daughter, ordinarily of little consequence.

But my mother came from a merchant family and had set aside a large dowry for me. That made me something of an exception among the Jiangs.

I had always thought that when I was old enough, I would find a tolerable, ordinary man to marry. Even if he had no abilities whatsoever, my money alone would keep us fed and clothed for the rest of our lives.

Never had I imagined becoming my brother-in-law’s second wife.

He was a full ten years older than me. I respected him as I would an elder. I had no romantic feelings for him at all.

In my previous life, I had accepted my fate. I was the one who had knocked over a teacup at the banquet and wet my skirt. I was the one who had blundered into his study, the one who had changed her clothes without checking whether a man stood behind the screen.

It was fate. I had accepted it.

Now I knew it wasn’t. Someone had arranged every step. I had walked straight into her trap.

I turned to Xu Hanzhi, the Marquis of Xuanping.

He had remained calm throughout, and clearly still had no intention of speaking.

I looked back at my sister, my head tilted slightly. “Sister, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Jiang Zhi frowned and tightened her grip on my hand. “Fifth Sister, I’m saying I don’t blame you for your feelings for my husband—”

“But that’s impossible,” I interrupted. “I don’t have feelings for him. I came to the study on other business.”

Someone behind Jiang Zhi snorted. “A man and a woman alone together. What other business could there be?”

Jiang Zhi fixed me with a sharp look. I could refuse to agree for now, but she had to make it an established fact that something had happened between her husband and me. Then I would have no way out.

Both I and my money would eventually be at her son’s disposal.

“No! I came to collect a letter from my brother-in-law for someone else.” I held out my hand to Xu Hanzhi. “Brother-in-law, may I have your reply to Lady Huyang?”

Xu Hanzhi, silent until then, hadn’t expected this. He stared at me, stunned, his eyes in turmoil.

“What?” he said.

“You don’t know? Lady Huyang said you were to give her your birth details today, so she could ask an eminent monk to assess your marriage compatibility. Once he leaves the capital, who knows how long she’ll have to wait?”

Xu Hanzhi’s brows drew into a knot. He must have been wondering how I knew about him and Lady Huyang.

He had hidden it so well. In my previous life, even after they parted, no one had known what had gone on between them.

“Fifth Sister, what nonsense are you talking?” Jiang Zhi looked even worse than before.

“Didn’t you know about Brother-in-law and Lady Huyang?” I rested my hands on Jiang Zhi’s shoulders. “Sister, if you ask me, you should concentrate on your health.

“As for whom he marries after you’re gone, you needn’t worry about that. He’s already chosen someone.”

I cupped my hands before them both. “Congratulations to you and Brother-in-law!”

Someone in the room sucked in a breath.

Jiang Zhi turned her face, white as flour, toward her husband. Word by word, she asked, “I’m not dead yet. Are you so impatient that you’ve already found someone?”

“Jiang!” Xu Hanzhi shot to his feet. “Stop talking nonsense.”

Afraid she would make a scene, he got ahead of her and left.

Jiang Zhi clutched her chest, struggling to keep herself from exploding on the spot.

Her birthday banquet ended in discord. By the time I left, everyone was talking about Xu Hanzhi and Lady Huyang. No one mentioned me, an insignificant concubine’s daughter.

As I prepared to go home, an uproar broke out in the marquis’s main courtyard.

Jiang Zhi was overbearing and hypocritical to the core. She could play the generous, virtuous wife and select her husband’s next bride for him. What she could never allow was for him to choose one himself.

And Lady Huyang, of all people! If she entered the household, would Jiang Zhi’s son ever have a good day again?

My sister must be frantic now, and hurting too.