Do ghosts exist?
Yan Li lived as a coward in the human world for three years. Then one day, she suddenly realized that she might actually be a ghost.
Moreover, it was a vengeful ghost.
It was midsummer, and the sun was shining brightly.
Yan Li, however, felt no heat at all. She was hanging on a crooked tree, swaying like a swing, watching the servants and maids walk past her one after another. She took a long breath and then slowly exhaled.
Suddenly, a maid's jewelry tray fell to the ground.
The servants, who were walking along, froze for a moment. After a quick snap, they picked up the jewelry that had fallen to the ground, blew on it, and continued walking into the house.
Yan Li remembers the people in that room.
That was a bad man.
Wen Hao, courtesy name Qingzhi.
When her parents arranged this marriage for her in her early years, Yan Li felt it was unlucky. Hao originally meant vast water, and his courtesy name was Qing.
Isn't it obvious that if he gains power, it will be like a flood, unstoppable, and he might even overwhelm her?
Unexpectedly, Yan Li's words came true.
Three years ago, after he passed the imperial examination and married her, he took over her house, her servants, and even withheld her food, trying to starve her to death.
In this world, Wen Hao is absolutely unique in treating his wife this way.
This house was left to her by her parents, but she couldn't understand why all the servants in the house would betray her, with none of them listening to her and even ignoring her.
For the past three years, he has risen through the ranks in his official career, yet he has never been willing to say a word to her, and he always spends the night in his study, unwilling to have any interaction with her whatsoever.
But she had heard the neighbors' opinions of him when she went out, and they all said he was a good man and a role model for the world.
That day, the gossipy women's words disgusted Yan Li so much that she hid in her room for three days, afraid to see Wen Yu's face.
Now she sees these people ignoring her once again.
Yan Li couldn't help but break down and began to struggle on the crooked tree.
Is her presence really that insignificant?
Why pretend you can't see her?
I really want to crawl on top of them and bite their necks off.
After a while, seeing that no one came forward, Yan Li felt a little bored, gritted her teeth, and jumped down from the crooked tree.
Little did she know that the window of that room had been opened by the person inside, and the bad man she had mentioned was standing at the window, gazing at the crooked tree in the distance.
Wen Hao's hands tightened slightly.
As if afraid of seeing things wrong, he stared intently.
After three whole years, he finally found her again.
...
Inside the Yan family mansion, sixteen-year-old Yan Li sat on a swing under the crooked tree, while behind her stood Wen Hao, who was still just a poor scholar.
"Ah Li, let's get married when I return after passing the imperial examinations." Wen Hao was nineteen years old, and this was the sixth year since he was brought back by the Yan family.
Outsiders say he is the adopted son-in-law of the Yan family, a gigolo who married into the family.
But Wen Hao never cared. His heart and eyes were only on the books in his study and Yan Li.
He wanted to climb to a high position and make those who looked down on him open their eyes and see clearly that he, Wen Hao, was not the kind of person who would just freeload.
At that moment, Yan Li chuckled, but her tone carried a hint of mockery, "Marry me? You think you're worthy?"
"Wen Hao, you think too highly of yourself. You're just from a poor family. If my parents hadn't threatened to kill themselves to force me to agree to this marriage, do you think I would have agreed?"
Everyone in the manor knew that Yan Li disliked Wen Hao.
"If you know what's good for you in the future, you should ask to leave the manor instead of stubbornly staying here and making me unhappy."
Seemingly seeing Wen Hao beside her, Yan Li lost interest in continuing to swing. She stood up, her toes touching the ground, and went back to her room.
She was pampered by her family since childhood and had everything she wanted, but she couldn't make her own decisions when it came to marriage. She ended up marrying a man from a family with no background or connections.
I really don't know what possessed my father and mother to agree to this.
After watching Yan Li leave, Wen Hao lowered his gaze slightly, stood under the crooked tree, staring blankly at the swing that was still swaying gently in front of him.
She still hated herself, just like when they first met.
But Wen Hao had already fallen for her.
She doesn't want to marry him?
So who does she want to marry?
A pang of sadness welled up in Wen Hao's heart, and he glanced at the Yan residence again.
Every brick and tile there was incredibly valuable.
And what she was wearing was something he might not have been able to obtain even after working hard for more than ten years.
He was the filthy mud on the ground, while she was the unique bright moon in the sky. If she hadn't been chosen by her parents, they probably would never have had any connection in this life.
But once a thought takes root in your mind, it can never be shaken off, like a nightmare that haunts you endlessly.
...
The swing on the crooked tree had long been ordered to be cut down by Wen Hao.
Just three years ago, a few months after his wedding to Yan Li, he set fire to a wooden plank that had been cut into several pieces, stood beside the flames, and burned Yan Li's belongings one by one.
The servants in the manor all thought Wen Hao was about to come out, but that was not the case.
A year before Wen Hao and Yan Li got married, the master and mistress of the family passed away one after another, leaving only the two of them to depend on each other.
Everyone originally thought that after losing her parents, Yan Li would cherish the last family member her parents left her, but everyone was wrong.
Yan Li seemed like a completely different person.
Although she didn't like Wen Hao in the past, she still put on a decent show. Now that her parents are gone, she doesn't even bother with that.
Pure disgust.
No matter what Wen Hao does, it will displease Yan Li.
It wasn't until a sudden change in circumstances that their relationship began to improve slightly.
The collateral branches of the Yan family were also extremely depleted, with only one eldest uncle. He had done something wrong in his early years and was removed from the family genealogy by Yan Li's father, who then expelled him from the Yan family and forced him to establish his own household.
He has a son and a daughter, who are a year older than Yan Li.
After learning of the deaths of his younger brother and sister-in-law, he repeatedly came to Wen Hao's door, wanting to inherit the Yan family's business, but was turned away by Wen Hao each time.
The Southern Dynasty had strict laws, especially regarding the private property of its people, which was absolutely protected by law and no one had the right to infringe upon it.
Uncle Yan's original intention was to use his youngest daughter to establish a marriage alliance with Wen Hao, so that he would become Wen Hao's father-in-law in the future, and the Yan family would still belong to him.
Unexpectedly, Wen Hao did not buy it.
That year, as he was about to be carried out of the mansion, Uncle Yan shouted at Yan Li under the crooked tree, "Yan Li, I am your own uncle. Now you do not believe me, but instead believe an outsider. Sooner or later you will suffer the consequences."
"Just you wait, Wen Hao is no benevolent person!"
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