Rong Heng groggily opened his eyes, only to find himself dressed in a bright red wedding robe, receiving congratulations from a host of guests in the hall.
The emcee was loudly announcing, "Second bow to the parents—"
He stood frozen in place, only to find that his own body was not obeying his will and had obediently bent down, holding the red ribbon.
Like a puppet, he raised his head to look at the middle-aged man sitting in the hall, never expecting that the man was Zhu Jiayu's father. Just yesterday, he had seen him by the Chunyin River.
Filled with immense doubt, he calmed down and began to observe Rong Heng and Zhu Jiayu's lives at this time.
He saw that Rong Heng, by helping the Zhu family manage their business, had access to information and learned about the power struggles between the Qingliu faction and the aristocratic families in Yujing City. He also learned that the third young master of the Wei family, the head of the aristocratic families and the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, had been murdered by the Qingliu officials. With his keen political sense, Rong Heng foresaw the impending chaos in Daye and began to use the Zhu family's embroidery business to accumulate wealth, stockpile grain and fodder, recruit soldiers and horses. Taking advantage of the chaos and his own extraordinary cunning, he became a young general who emerged out of nowhere in the turbulent world.
Then he gained the Crown Prince's favor and began to find the Zhu family an eyesore. However, if something happened to his wife at this time, he, as a husband, would inevitably be criticized. So he compromised and orchestrated a fire, leaving only Zhu Jiayu and a few clansmen in the Zhu family.
Zhu Jiayu led the remaining members of his clan to Yujing City. He was a meticulous and far-sighted man, and he quickly gained a foothold in the court, rising step by step from then on.
However, Zhu Jiayu became increasingly silent and thin. She disliked being restrained and had not studied music, chess, calligraphy, painting, incense burning, or flower arranging with famous masters since childhood. In the circle of these powerful ladies, she was outwardly highly respected, but in reality, she had become the subject of their gossip and even a laughing stock.
Even her own people were often looked down upon and despised in the city because they were outsiders. Finally, she bid farewell and returned to Suiping.
Zhu Jiayu seemed to realize that there was an insurmountable gap between her and Yujing City, and that her only husband, whom she could rely on, did not care about her at all, and was busy with national affairs and how to divorce her gracefully.
Zhu Jiayu, who was once as bright and beautiful as a begonia in spring, finally became a withered flower on a dead vine in this situation. She no longer had any expectations for her husband and no longer cared for him.
However, he still refused to let her go. After he forced the Imperial Censor Jiang, who was on good terms with her, to retire and return to his hometown, he then plotted to capture the princess during a military uprising and then hinted to her to exchange her with the princess.
“You have always been looked down upon by those powerful ladies because you have neither a distinguished family background nor outstanding talent. But if you do things that ordinary people cannot or dare not do, they will never dare to despise you or even bully you again.”
"You will become someone they look up to, a role model for women in Yujing City."
Zhu Jiayu may have seen through his intentions, or she may not have. In any case, she went, and he squeezed the last bit of value out of her. Then she begged him to treat her clansmen and the Jiang family well, and then she jumped off the city wall.
After her death, he married the princess and rose to the highest position in the court.
For the next ten years or so, he often felt cold, and felt that fiery red burning pain in his eyes and his heart.
He did not live a harmonious life with the princess. He did not love the princess, and the princess realized this. Within two years, she began to keep male lovers, and the number of her lovers was countless.
He never loved anyone after that, but for more than a decade, he deeply missed the girl who had walked with him from the countryside of Suiping to the imperial court in Yujing.
Then he abandoned his vast fortune, the power and wealth he had painstakingly seized, scattered all his wealth, and gave up his life, begging a virtuous monk to grant him a second life.
In this life, Rong Heng stands amidst the gentle pine breeze, seeing the same Rong Heng who was once married to Zhu Jiayu but ultimately caused her death, holding the white jade fish pendant he had spent over a decade carving for Zhu Jiayu, before leaping off a hundred-foot cliff.
Suddenly, all the scenery—cliffs, pines, clouds, rivers—blurred out like ripples on water.
Rong Heng suddenly opened his eyes, only to find that he was back in prison.
The high monk's words still echoed in my ears: "Even after hundreds of thousands of kalpas, the karma you have created will not perish. When the conditions are right, you will receive the consequences. If you wish to attain enlightenment in the next life with the benefactor, you still need to repay the evil karma of this life. Only with a great and thorough understanding can you cultivate to achieve the right result. Now I will seal your memories of your past life in a red string. When the time comes, all the conditions will come to pass."
He lowered his head, looked at the jade pendant in his hand, and smiled bitterly.
I see……
No wonder Zhu Jiayu hates him so much.
In his previous life, he thought that his years with Zhu Jiayu were nothing but a pretense, but later he paid for those years with his entire life.
How ridiculous! He had always thought that things about gods, Buddhas, demons, and ghosts were nonsense, but in the end, he still gave up his life to pray for their next life.
But he didn't expect that he would forget his past life. Zhu Jiayu, on the other hand, carried the memories of his previous life.
Their life in this world was already set in stone. From the very beginning, there was an overwhelming sea of hatred and countless blood debts between them. He and Zhu Jiayu, one realized it too late, and the other withdrew too early.
"Someone! Someone come quick!" He coughed up a mouthful of blood, leaned weakly against the wall, and said to the jailer, "I want to see Zhu Jiayu."
Everyone in the Ministry of Justice knew that Miss Zhu was engaged to their Minister, and they would get married after the three-year mourning period. At that time, Miss Zhu would become the Minister's wife and would be granted an imperial title.
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