The Night Before the Wedding, My Fiance Asked Me to Comfort His White Moonlight - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Song Zhining, the legitimate daughter of the Song Family.

My marriage to Lu Jingci had been settled for three full years.

Three years ago, at the spring hunting grounds, Lu Jingci took an arrow for me.

The arrow grazed past his shoulder, and the blood was terrifying to see.

My father’s eyes reddened on the spot. He said the young master of the Lu Family was loyal and righteous, and the Song Family could not treat him poorly.

And so, the engagement was arranged.

Back then, Lu Jingci did not yet have Shen Jiaojiao.

Or rather, at the very least, I did not know such a person existed.

Shen Jiaojiao appeared very suddenly.

She was a distant cousin of the Lu Family. Her parents had both passed away, and on the day she was brought to the capital, I happened to be at Lu Mansion trying on my wedding dress.

I was sitting in the flower hall, waiting for the embroideress to alter the cuffs.

Lu Jingci returned from outside with a young woman in a white dress at his side.

She was very thin, her face pale, and she coughed after taking only a few steps.

Lu Jingci shielded her from the wind, his movements far too practiced for someone simply caring for a cousin.

When he saw me, his hand was still resting on her shoulder.

“Zhining, this is Ah Jiao.”

At the time, I only said, “Oh,” and did not ask further.

It was not because I was magnanimous.

It was because my mother had taught me since childhood that before marrying into a family, one should not be too eager to clean up a man’s messes for him.

Later, Lu Jingci came to explain.

He said Shen Jiaojiao was in poor health and pitiful, living under someone else’s roof.

He said he felt only sibling affection for her.

He told me not to overthink it.

After listening, I set down my teacup.

“Lu Jingci, are you explaining so much because you’re afraid I’ll overthink it, or because you’re afraid you will?”

For a split second, his expression turned unpleasant.

After that, he came to Song Mansion less often.

I did not chase after him to question him either.

This marriage had been arranged by our two families. It was not something I had knelt and begged for.

But on the night before our wedding, he stepped into my courtyard because of Shen Jiaojiao and opened his mouth only to ask me to persuade her to take her medicine.

Even the mildest-tempered person would have laughed from anger at that.

I folded my wedding dress neatly and asked him, “Lu Jingci, do you know what day tomorrow is?”

He looked at me, his brows faintly furrowed.

“Zhining, don’t make trouble at a time like this.”

My hands paused.

I had not even started making trouble, yet he was already the wronged one.

I lifted my eyes to him.

“If she won’t take her medicine, you should find a physician.”

“If she’s unhappy, you should look to yourself.”

“And if she can’t bear to see you marry me, you should stay even farther away from her.”

Lu Jingci’s lips moved.

“You’ve always been good with words.”

I nearly laughed at the compliment.

He went on, “If you persuade her, she’ll listen.”

I asked, “On what grounds?”

Lu Jingci avoided my eyes.

“She feels she owes you.”

Now that was interesting.

If Shen Jiaojiao was merely a cousin staying with the Lu Family, then at most, she had stolen some of my fiancé’s attention.

Where did owing me come into it?

I thought of that letter.

The paper had been very thin, the handwriting crooked and uneven, as if the hand that wrote it had been trembling badly.

Do not marry him. He will die on the wedding night.

I rose and picked up my cloak.

Lu Jingci let out a sigh of relief.

“I’ll go with you.”

“No need.”

I walked around him.

“The pear blossom scent on you is too strong. It gives me a headache.”

Lu Jingci froze where he stood.

In that moment, a flicker of panic flashed through his eyes.

Very quickly, he forced it back down.