Chapter 1: Decisive Action
The sword pierces the chest and the silver hairpin seals the throat.
When the bodies of the feared Major General Xie Wuqi and his wife Luo Zhaohan were found in a suburban villa, the Bronze Sparrow Lamp of the Dali Temple cast eerie light and shadow beside the corpses.
The coroner used trembling hands to push aside the tangled black hair and saw that the two men were still holding half of a blood-stained broken blade in their hands.
…
"Girl? Girl?"
The chill of the sword seemed to still linger in his heart, and Luo Zhaohan suddenly opened his eyes.
"Is the girl possessed by a nightmare?" Chunxi was holding up a bronze mirror, which reflected Luo Zhaohan's fifteen-year-old face.
Cold sweat soaked my pajamas and stuck them to my back. My fingers touched my heart - where there should have been a bloody hole.
"Young lady, hurry up and get ready. The young master of the Xie family will be here soon to propose marriage." Chunxi spread out her wedding dress embroidered with pomegranate flowers. "The lady specially had jasmine scented."
Luo Zhaohan stepped barefoot on the ground, and the cold touch made her wake up instantly.
Outside the window came the shouts of my father training his soldiers, not the sound of fighting he heard before he died.
Luo Zhaohan was reborn and returned to the day when Xie Wuqi came to propose marriage.
"What year is it?"
"It's the eighth day of the fourth month in the third year of Yongchang." Chunxi put on Luo Zhaohan's embroidered shoes. "Thank you, Master, for choosing a good day for the willow trees to sprout..."
Before she could finish, Luo Zhaohan rushed out holding up her skirt.
Under the wisteria trellis outside the corridor, the dark figure made Luo Zhaohan's eyes hurt.
It was this person in her previous life who pierced her heart with the Luo family spear technique taught by Luo Zhaohan.
But now he held up the gift list and said, "I want to marry Miss Liu Yueli."
His nails dug into his palms, and Luo Zhaohan held onto the pillar to avoid falling.
In his previous life, he clearly knelt in front of his father and said that he wanted to marry her. Why has he changed now?
Could it be that Xie Wuqi was also reborn!
"Asshole!" Fuyuan General Luo Dinglian slammed the table, cracking it, the tiger talisman clanging. "Back then, it was your father, Xie Anfeng, who knelt and begged me to give Zhao Zhao to you!"
General's wife Qin Wan threw the teacup, and the scalding tea splashed on Xie Wuqi's boots: "Yue Li is just a distant relative living in the general's mansion. You are slapping Zhao Zhao in the face!"
"Zhao Zhao!" Qin Wan saw Luo Zhaohan's pale face and hurriedly took her daughter into her arms.
The Luo family and the Xie family are both military families with generations of nobility.
Xie Anfeng, patriarch of the Xie family, had fought under General Fuyuan Luo Dinglian in his early years, rising through the ranks from personal guard to Left Vice-General. Three years before General Luo retired and returned to the capital, it was this former subordinate who inherited the tiger talisman and was appointed General Wuwei to guard the northern border.
On Luo Zhaohan's tenth birthday, Xie Anfeng arrived with nine carts of rich gifts. This iron-willed man actually knelt on one knee in court and asked for the marriage of his eldest son, Xie Wuqi, to the Luo family's legitimate daughter.
Qin Wan clutched the embroidered handkerchief, her fingertips digging deeply into her palm.
As she dressed in the morning, the image of her daughter's rosy cheeks in the bronze mirror was still vivid before her eyes. The words from her red lips, "Mother, Brother Wuqi is here to propose marriage today," now turned into a sharp knife that pierced her heart.
Xie Wuqi suddenly turned around.
The moment their eyes met, Luo Zhaohan's blood froze - those eyes that always smiled now seemed to be frozen, exactly the same as the look in his eyes when he stabbed Luo Zhaohan for the last time.
Yes, he was also reborn.
This fact made her hair stand on end.
In his previous life, when Luo Zhaohan and Xie Wuqi died together, the scabbard was still wearing the amulet Luo Zhaohan gave him. Now the amulet was hanging on his waist, the color of the tassel soaked in blood, Luo Zhaohan would remember it until his death!
"Zhao Zhao!" Qin Wan hugged Luo Zhaohan in her arms.
The scent of jasmine on her body mixed with the smell of blood rushed into his nose, and Luo Zhaohan realized that he had bitten his lip.
The green smoke rising from the rosewood incense burner was dispersed by the palm wind, and the rosewood table under Luo Dinglian's palm broke into two halves, and the wood chips splashed onto Xie Wuqi's brocade boots.
Luo Zhaohan pinched his palms tightly to prevent himself from rushing over and tearing Xie Wuqi apart.
"Back then, your father knelt in this hall, saying that no male member of the Xie family for three generations had lived past forty, and begged me to marry Zhao Zhao to the Xie family to leave behind an heir!"
Xie Wuqi stroked the crescent moon pendant on his waist with his thumb - this was a token of love given to him by Liu Yueli during the Lantern Festival.
"Uncle, please understand. I have always treated Zhao Zhao like a brother. The marriage was arranged by my father, as I was still young and could not have chosen my own marriage."
"Miss Yueli is gentle and considerate. If I can marry her, the friendship between the Luo and Xie families will be forever strengthened."
"Bullshit!" Qin Wan suddenly dropped the teacup, and the broken pieces of porcelain brushed against Xie Wuqi's face. "Yue Li is a very polite person. How could she have such private dealings with you?"
Luo Zhaohan felt a bitter taste in his throat.
She also believed this in her previous life, until she saw Liu Yueli wearing her phoenix crown on the day of the house search, and then she realized that this pair of dogs and bitches had been having an affair for a long time.
"Zhao Zhao, don't be afraid." Qin Wan hugged Luo Zhaohan tighter, and the jasmine scent on her body made her nose sore.
In her previous life, her mother protected her until her death, but in the end she was shot through the back by arrows.
Xie Wuqi was still pretending: "Junior has only brotherly feelings towards Zhao Zhao, please help me and Yue Li..."
Luo Zhaohan started coughing violently, his face flushing red. Luo Dinglian immediately panicked: "Quickly call the imperial physician!"
"No need..." Luo Zhaohan grabbed his father's sleeve, and his fingertips touched the old wound on his broken arm.
This scar was earned by Lieutenant General Liu at the cost of his life. That year, he blocked twenty-seven arrows for his father and begged his father to take care of his orphan daughter before he died.
So on the day Liu Yueli entered the mansion, her mother put the gold necklace given to Luo Zhaohan around her neck.
Luo Zhaohan always had to make a set of new clothes for her, and even her younger brother complained that his sister was partial to him.
"Sister, Sister Yueli said she wants to eat steamed yogurt with sugar."
When she was ten years old, Luo Zhaohan had a fever, but still braved the rain to go to the south of the city to buy it. When she came back, she saw that her favorite jade hairpin had been "accidentally" broken, and she turned around and hugged Luo Zhaohan and cried: "It's all my fault for not catching it firmly."
All the events of his past life flashed before his eyes, and Luo Zhao was trembling with anger. He wished he could immediately pierce Xie Wuqi's heart with a sword.
But the remaining trace of clarity reminded her that the case of Luo's treason in the previous life was shrouded in mystery. How could a mere illegitimate son of the Xie family cover up the truth with one hand?
If the person behind the scenes is not found out, the Luo family will eventually become a fish on the chopping board.
This was exactly why she pretended to be frightened and endured it just now - she must not let Xie Wuqi realize that she had also been reborn.
Luo Zhaohan wants to use this unfaithful man as bait to lure out the real culprit hidden deep in the nine-story palace.
The most important thing right now is to tear off Liu Yueli's hypocritical mask and protect her loved ones from being bitten by the poisonous snake!
Qin Wan felt her anger surge up to her head, and she immediately shouted at Xie Wuqi:
"What a shameless Xie family brat!"
"Mom, wait a minute!" Luo Zhaohan grabbed his mother's sleeve tightly.
Qin Wan turned around with red eyes: "Zhao Zhao, we don't want such an unfaithful man!"
Luo Dinglian placed his large hand on his daughter's shoulder, the rough calluses on his palm rubbing painfully. "Dad will write a letter to old man Xie right now, asking them and their whole family to apologize!"
Xie Wuqi faced Luo Dinglian's sharp gaze, his Adam's apple moving. "I know I've failed the Luo family. But rather than getting tired of each other after marriage, it's better to end it today."
Luo Zhaohan suddenly approached Xie Wuqi, sneered, raised his hand and slapped him.
The crisp sound of "pop" made the beams of the house shake.
Five red marks immediately appeared on Xie Wuqi's face. He covered his face and glared at her, as if he had seen a ghost.
"This slap is for the Luo family's century-old reputation." Luo Zhaohan shook his numb palms, "The engagement can be cancelled, but-"
She leaned close to his ear and lowered her voice, "Be careful not to break your legs when you hold on to Liu Yueli, this crooked tree."
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