My Only Gold and Jade - Chapter 3

When I first married He Lian, he truly did not know how to kill.

Back then, the most outrageous thing that wastrel young master dared to do was spend a fortune to buy a brothel girl her freedom.

And when he came home, he would still have to kneel in the ancestral hall, feeling terribly wronged.

On the day of our wedding, the heavy bridal crown pressed down on me until I could barely breathe.

I had not eaten a single bite since waking that morning, and with my poor health, by the time we bowed to our elders, I was almost out of strength.

He Lian held my hand the entire time. When I was about to collapse, he slipped me a piece of peach blossom cake.

Then, without drawing attention to it, he gathered me into his arms and supported most of my weight.

“Wen Yu.”

“You really are weak.”

The clear, gentle voice of a young man sounded by my ear.

There was a hint of careless mischief in his tone. “Since you’re this weak, I’m the only one who can take proper care of you.”

He Lian had not wanted to get married at first.

It was not that he did not want to marry me. He simply did not want to marry at all.

He thought he was still young, only seventeen or eighteen, and none of his classmates had even been engaged yet. Naturally, He Lian did not want to settle down so soon.

But after he came to meet me once, he suddenly changed his mind.

The System said in my head that even the male lead liked pretty faces.

Though I was sickly, I was a genuine beauty.

It was hardly surprising that He Lian liked my face.

But I knew that He Lian had simply gone softhearted.

Even if we had been strangers who had met by chance, once he saw the girl he was supposed to marry was already so frail, He Lian would not have wanted to break off the engagement and ruin my reputation.

“Do you know what He Lian is like?”

I drained the bitter medicine in one gulp, held the malt candy He Lian had just pressed into my hand, and gave a faint smile.

“He Lian is like a softhearted little dog.”

Unfortunately, in seven years, he went from a softhearted little dog into a wolf cub that bared its teeth and sucked blood.

Everyone in the capital said that in the seventh year after my death, He Lian finally could not help but find himself a substitute.

That substitute was exactly like the late Madam He: just as delicate, just as frail, another sickly thing difficult to keep alive.

He Lian had even gone mad enough to call that substitute Wen Yu too.

Wherever He Lian went, he insisted on bringing me along. As a result, everyone knew I was that pitiful substitute.

He Lian had inherited his title and was now a rising star in the capital, sought after by all. Who knew how many eyes were fixed on him?

Now that he had gained another precious treasure, everyone wanted to come watch the spectacle.

He Lian nitpicked through the invitations to various banquets and finally selected one that was barely to his liking.

That same noon, He Lian dressed me himself and said he was taking me out to clear my head.

Ever since I returned, He Lian had personally handled everything concerning me.

I looked at the makeup He Lian had done for me in the bronze mirror, curved my brows, and smiled.

“He Lian, you’re terrible at drawing eyebrows.”

He Lian used to be very good at it. After all, he had seen plenty of powdered beauties in pleasure houses and wine halls, and knew more about rouge and cosmetics than I did. Whatever He Lian did, he could do it best.

Unfortunately, after I died, He Lian never touched those things again.

The atmosphere grew heavy all at once. He Lian pinched my fingers and let out a low, inscrutable hum.

“Wen Yu.”

“Don’t die again.”

“It isn’t pretty at all.”

I did not speak. I only felt He Lian’s grip on my hand tighten unconsciously.

Even though we had been inseparable these past few days, tangled together as if courting death, He Lian was still afraid that when he opened his eyes, I would still be a corpse.

In this world, it seemed there had never been anything as bizarre and absurd as regaining what was lost, as coming back to life after death.

I used to be the youngest daughter of the Wen Family. Because I was born weak, I had hardly ever stepped outside.

Day after day, it was medicine, doctors, medicine.

Back then, I always felt that I could see the end of my life at a single glance.

But then He Lian came charging into it.

The System said he was the male lead of a book.

I was only his wife who died young.

Not his white moonlight, just a wife who, many years after her death, He Lian would no longer even remember.

I looked at that seventeen- or eighteen-year-old young man, still as careless and unserious as ever, and sighed as I asked where he showed even the slightest sign of being a male lead.

Now he did.

He took me to General Lin’s estate. Young General Lin had won illustrious military merits and returned in triumph not long ago, so he invited a few close friends to gather at his residence.

He Lian brought me along. Coincidentally, the female lead, Wen Yao, was there too.

In the book, Wen Yao was described as the most beautiful general. As a woman, she had gone to the battlefield and risen from an unknown foot soldier to the deputy general she was today.

She and He Lian joined forces as two unmatched talents, one a civil official and one a military commander, protecting the people beneath the heavens and leaving behind a glorious reputation.

He Lian loved and respected her. He never once said he wanted to break the female lead’s wings.

He Lian only said, “Wen Yao should be an eagle. Her place is the grasslands and the vast sky.”

“And I want to accompany her there.”

Their stunning first meeting not long ago, and now their heartfelt conversation over wine at Young General Lin’s estate, were all meant to draw the male and female leads closer together.

But now, there was an extra me.

After settling me in, He Lian raised a cup of tea and said apologetically, “My wife cannot bear the smell of alcohol. My apologies.”

Following He Lian’s lead, I smiled apologetically at them.

General Lin was named Lin Yuan. Back when He Lian was still a good-for-nothing playboy, the two of them had already been friends.

Lin Yuan had met me before, but he had also seen me buried. Now, he too thought He Lian had found a substitute.

Lin Yuan instinctively wanted to sigh, then remembered He Lian’s seven years of sleepless nights.

He Lian looked perfectly normal now, but I had secretly asked the System about his Darkening Value.

The System’s cold voice spat out three words.

“One hundred percent.”