To Live Up to This Spring - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I am a concubine-born daughter of the Shen Family.

Years ago, my birth mother saved the life of the Marchioness of Jing’an.

To repay that debt, the Marchioness of Jing’an promised me the position of mistress of the Wei household.

Everyone said I was lucky.

A mere concubine-born girl had managed to climb her way into a marquis’s estate.

Wei Jin always said I was blessed with a fool’s luck too.

I was too lazy to argue.

After all, I had tried, both openly and in secret, to resist this marriage before.

But Father scolded me. “Did a donkey kick you in the head?”

“You won’t marry into a marquis’s household? What, are you planning to fly to the heavens and marry the emperor instead?”

My birth mother scolded me too. “I was counting on you to show some ambition for once, but you’re actually this spineless!”

“I would have been better off giving birth to a slab of barbecued pork!”

Only my legal mother was happy. She rubbed her hands together in excitement. “If she doesn’t want to marry, then she doesn’t have to!”

“What does wealth and glory matter compared to being happy yourself?”

“Since she doesn’t want to marry, why don’t we marry Huizhen over instead?”

Father glared at her. “Shut your mouth!”

…

In truth, I really should never have gotten involved with the marquis’s household.

Tonight, there was an imperial banquet in the palace.

The Marchioness of Jing’an had specially brought me along.

As the concubine-born daughter of a fifth-rank official, how could I have ever seen an occasion like this?

One moment of carelessness, and I drank a few cups too many. I was a little drunk.

Another moment of carelessness, and when I came out to use the privy, I lost my way.

After going around in circles, I wandered into a side hall lit by candles.

I pushed the door open and asked softly, “Is anyone here?”

The moment the words left my mouth,

footsteps sounded outside, along with a woman’s voice. “Has everything been taken care of?”

“If anyone sees, I will have your head!”

“Rest assured, Your Highness. Everyone has been cleared out.”

The footsteps drew closer and closer.

Panic surged through me.

Oh no!

Surely I wasn’t about to cause trouble the very first time I entered the palace?

I wanted to hide.

In the darkness, by the dim candlelight, I saw a man not far away with his robes half undone.

A broad expanse of his chest was exposed. He tilted his head back in pain, leaning against a cabinet as he panted heavily.

When my gaze touched a certain place, my pupils widened of their own accord.

He sensed my presence. The instant he looked at me, panic flashed across his face, then clarity returned to his eyes.

I was so mortified I wanted to die. I turned to run, but he seized my wrist.

In the struggle, the two of us tumbled out through the window together.

We rolled and rolled, all the way into a pond.

I couldn’t swim, so I could only cling desperately to the man’s arm.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and hauled me out of the water.

I lay sprawled on the ground, coughing nonstop.

The man’s figure blocked out a wide swath of moonlight. His ink-black hair fell like a waterfall, and crystal-clear droplets slid down the lines of his muscles.

He looked just like a god.

Dear sweet heavens!

You have truly treated me well!

The man was probably embarrassed and angry. Without saying a word, he turned and left.

I was discovered by a palace maid.

Dripping wet as I was, I couldn’t very well return to the banquet, so I asked her to help me inform the Marchioness of Jing’an that I would be going home first.