After leaving Old Madam's quarters, Madam Meng inquired about her son's whereabouts.
The household steward Zhang Da couldn't say for certain, only mentioning that at noon he had been with him at the dock counting the items to be loaded onto the ship for tomorrow's journey. Later, when he got busy and turned away for a moment, both the young master and his servant had disappeared, and their current location was unknown.
For this trip north, Jiafu's brother Zhen Yaoting was naturally supposed to accompany them. With their departure scheduled for early the next morning, he was nowhere to be found at this critical moment. Madam Meng couldn't help but complain. Zhang Da blamed himself: "This servant was negligent. I'll send people to look for him immediately."
Madam Meng sighed: "Never mind, I'm not blaming you. His legs are his own—it's not as if you could keep an unbroken watch on him. Just have someone check the places he usually frequents."
Zhang Da acknowledged the order and hurried off.
Madam Meng then escorted her daughter back to her room, urging her to rest early, before leaving herself.
As night deepened, the entire Zhen household grew quiet.
Early the next morning, they would set off northward.
These past few days, whenever Jiafu closed her eyes, memories of her past life surged through her mind like ocean waves.
Tonight, sleep eluded her completely.
She remembered spending a similarly sleepless night in her past life, but her feelings then were entirely different from tonight's.
Back then, aside from nervousness, what filled her heart was joy and anticipation for the future.
Had she not already died once before, how could she have possibly imagined that the good man she was about to marry—her second cousin Pei Xiuzhi from Duke Wei's Mansion—would turn out to be such a cowardly and selfish person, who would actually hand her over to another man?
No one knew more about the Pei family of Duke Wei's Mansion that she was about to marry into.
Duke Wei's Mansion had two branches. Madam Meng of the second branch was her mother's sister and had given birth to third cousin Pei Xiuluo and fourth cousin Pei Xiumacro. Pei Xiuzhi, ranked second, was the younger son of Madam Xin from the first branch, but like Pei Xiuluo and Pei Xiumacro, Jiafu also called him cousin.
The Pei family's most glorious period was over twenty years ago. At that time, Duke Pei's eldest daughter Wen Jing, renowned for her talent and beauty, was appointed as Crown Princess. Within a few years, when the Crown Prince ascended the throne as the Tianxi Emperor, she became Empress. Unfortunately, heaven envied her beauty—the following year she contracted an epidemic illness and after more than a year of convalescence at an imperial temple, she passed away.
Though the original empress was gone, the imperial favor towards the Pei family grew even stronger, lasting nearly two decades. It was during this period that the Pei family's eldest grandson and heir apparent, Pei You'an, gained nationwide fame as the "young prime minister," bringing the Pei family to the height of its glory.
As the saying goes, the moon waxes only to wane, and the extreme of prosperity is but the beginning of decline. For the Pei family, their downfall seemed to begin with the death of the Duke of Wei.
This occurred in the sixteenth year of Tianxi's reign. When the northern borders were unstable, the Duke of Wei had been ordered to lead troops to garrison the frontier. That year, he fell ill and died, with Pei You'an accompanying his father in the army at the time and bringing his father's coffin back. But soon after, rumors spread in the capital that Pei You'an, heir apparent of Duke Wei's Mansion, after drinking medicated wine, had forced himself upon one of the Duke's beautiful concubines. When discovered by household servants, the concubine committed suicide out of shame and anger. Though Madam Xin desperately tried to cover up the scandal for her son, it was to no avail—eventually, a censorial memorial brought the matter before the Tianxi Emperor.This dynasty was founded on filial piety. During the period of mourning for his father, Pei You'an's consumption of medicated wine due to health reasons could have been excused. However, with his father's body not yet cold, the son indulged in debauchery under the influence of alcohol—an unforgivable crime. The Tianxi Emperor, unwilling to believe it, summoned Pei You'an personally, intending to exonerate him. Yet, according to rumors, Pei remained silent, effectively admitting guilt. Left with no choice, the emperor stripped him of his scholarly honors and revoked his position as Heir Apparent, banishing him from the capital and severing ties with the Pei family.
Like a shooting star streaking across the sky, Pei You'an—once the brilliant and dazzling Heir Apparent of Duke Wei's Mansion—vanished from public view under a cloud of disgrace. That year, he was only sixteen.
The Pei family had enjoyed excessive imperial favor for many years, inevitably breeding jealousy. This scandal became the subject of hushed gossip. But this was not the full extent of their misfortune. The palace coup that unfolded in the following years became the decisive factor that altered the fates of the noble families in the capital.
Two years later, in the eighteenth year of Tianxi's reign, the emperor fell gravely ill and passed the throne to the eight-year-old Crown Prince Xiao Yu. Due to the prince's youth, in addition to appointing regent ministers, the emperor specifically entrusted his trusted younger brother, Prince Shun'an, to oversee state affairs as regent until the Crown Prince could rule independently.
Later rumors claimed that on his deathbed, the Tianxi Emperor warned Prince Shun'an to guard against the ambitions of King of the Clouds, Xiao Lie. Though wary of this capable and battle-hardened younger brother, the emperor, being indecisive by nature, had hesitated to act. Thus, the brothers had coexisted peacefully for years.
With Prince Shun'an tearfully pledging his loyalty, the Tianxi Emperor passed away in peace. The eight-year-old Xiao Yu ascended as the new emperor of Great Wei, adopting the era name "Chengning," with Prince Shun'an as regent.
Two years later, in the third year of Chengning, the Young Emperor died in a tragic fall from his horse during an autumn hunt. Prince Shun'an, long praised for his virtue, was smoothly proclaimed the new emperor by court officials, ushering in the Yongxi era.
Prince Shun'an's rise was not without resistance. Grand Tutor Zhang, one of the late emperor's appointed regents, was outspoken and openly questioned the suspicious circumstances of the Young Emperor's death, accusing Prince Shun'an of foul play. Others clung to the delusion that the Young Emperor had survived, spirited away by loyalists. But such dissent was swiftly crushed. With the backing of another powerful regent, Prince Shun'an claimed the throne, executing or exiling officials led by Grand Tutor Zhang, quickly consolidating power.
Since Duke Wei's death years earlier, the Pei family had lacked a central figure in court. With Pei You'an gone, none of the younger generation stood out. Moreover, a new reign meant new officials. The Pei family's daughter had been the Tianxi Emperor's empress, binding them closely to his reign. Though Duke Wei's Mansion remained silent and offered no opposition to Prince Shun'an's ascension, any hope of restoring past imperial favor was gone. Emperor Yongxi treated the Pei family with indifference, and high society in the capital knew well that Duke Wei's Mansion was a spent force, its glory faded. Now, they even had to defer to the Song family, their in-laws.
The year Jiafu was born was the third year of Yongxi—Prince Shun'an had ruled as emperor for over two years.She didn’t know how she had returned to the past. Her life had clearly reached its end—in her final moments, she saw her father once more in a vision, only to wake up alive again, back on the day of his third death anniversary when she was sixteen years old.
Some rise to great heights, while others fall from them.
Jiafu knew that before long, the fates of many within the Great Wei dynasty would once again undergo tumultuous changes.
In her previous life, not long after she married Pei Xiuzhi, the Yongxi Emperor moved against Xiao Lie, the King of the Clouds. Xiao Lie seized the opportunity to rise in rebellion under the banner of avenging the Young Emperor Chengning. The two sides went to war, plunging half of Great Wei into chaos.
And Jiafu’s fate was completely altered by this war among the Xiao family for the imperial throne.
At the start of the war, everyone was certain the Yongxi Emperor would prevail. Pei Xiuzhi, who had by then inherited the title of Duke of Wei, led troops to suppress the rebellion—both to demonstrate his loyalty to the emperor and to seek military merit. But as the war dragged on, the King of the Clouds turned the tide, and his forces gradually closed in on the capital. Many in the court began to defect. Pei Xiuzhi stubbornly defended Qingzhou, the rebels’ only path to the capital, but the city eventually fell. He fled with Jiafu, only to be captured by Xiao Yintang, then the Heir Apparent of the King of the Clouds.
What happened next was self-evident.
Jiafu’s beauty was enough to topple cities.
Pei Xiuzhi tacitly allowed Xiao Yintang to take his wife.
Had it ended there, Jiafu might still have understood.
But what followed made her utterly despair of this man.
After falling into Xiao Yintang’s hands, she threatened suicide, and he did not force her, merely keeping her by his side. Not long after, Jiafu unexpectedly discovered that Pei You’an, who had left the capital years ago, was now serving in the King of the Clouds’ army.
She and Pei You’an had only met a handful of times when she was a child visiting the Pei household. They had no real connection—she called him “cousin” only out of courtesy due to her ties with the second branch of the family. Back then, she was young, and in her memory, this youth with a faintly pale face and strikingly dark eyes carried the scent of bitter medicine. His demeanor was prematurely mature and aloof for his age—noble yet distant. To her younger self, he seemed unattainable. She was even afraid of him, avoiding him whenever possible if they crossed paths. Though she held little hope, in her desperate situation, he was her only chance. She managed to see him and begged for his help. Pei You’an intervened, retrieving her from Xiao Yintang and returning her to Pei Xiuzhi.
What shattered Jiafu completely was her husband’s next act.
Xiao Yintang was determined to have her. Though he had let her go out of deference to Pei You’an, he secretly sent someone to hint at Pei Xiuzhi.
Jiafu never learned what promises or threats were made. In the end, her own husband personally delivered her to Xiao Yintang.
Even now, the memory of that moment chilled her to the bone.
That day, Pei Xiuzhi set out a small table and drank with her. He seemed drunk, staring at her intently before tears began to fall.Jiafu knew he had always wanted to restore the Pei family's prestige. For this reason, he had endured countless humiliations while catering to the Song family—his former in-laws who rose to power by supporting Emperor Yongxi's ascension. Now, tasked with quelling the rebellion, this should have been a golden opportunity to achieve merit, yet it ended in such dismal failure. With all hopes dashed, his ambitions and dreams turned to ashes.
Understanding his sorrow, Jiafu comforted him in every way she could. He held her and wept like a child, saying he had failed her and was unworthy of being a man.
At the time, Jiafu didn’t grasp the meaning behind his words. Seeing him so heartbroken, she could only hate her own helplessness—unable to share her husband’s burden, she could do nothing but weep alongside him.
That night ended with her drunk, carried back to the bedchamber in his arms. When she awoke, the man beside her had changed. Xiao Yintang held her in his embrace, still deep in slumber, while she lay completely unclothed, her head throbbing painfully.
From then on, Jiafu lost her freedom.
She went from being the Duchess of Wei to Xiao Yintang’s hidden concubine—a shameful secret, forever barred from the light.
The King of the Clouds emerged victorious. He had once launched a grand search for the Young Emperor Xiao Yu’s fate, but after confirming his presumed death, with the nation in need of a ruler, he ascended the throne amid the support of civil and military officials, becoming Emperor Shizong. He issued a general pardon and treated the former officials of the Yongxi reign with leniency—among them, Pei Xiuzhi. But Jiafu never saw her former husband again.
Over the years, Xiao Yintang doted on her excessively. After becoming emperor, merely because her name contained the character "Fu" (meaning hibiscus), he filled the Golden Jade Palace where she resided with cotton rosemallow. When the flowers bloomed riotously in autumn, the palace became as beautiful as her name—like a celestial abode on earth.
Thus, she owed him repayment. And the final repayment a concubine could offer an emperor was likely to follow him in death, joining him in the Underground Palace.
Jiafu’s eyes burned, her nose clogged, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
The moonlight climbed higher, slanting in through the western window, casting a hazy glow over the room. The distant sound of the night watchman’s clappers only deepened the silence of the night.
The hour of Hai was ending.
She sat up from the pillow, her dark tresses cascading over her shoulders, enveloping her body gently. After sitting for a long while, she turned and got out of bed, dressed, and stepped into the outer chamber.
Tanxiang slept here. Tonight, while Muxiang—the maid on duty with her—snored loudly, Tanxiang slept lightly. At Jiafu’s soft call, she awoke.
"Come with me somewhere."
Jiafu commanded.
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