Chapter Three: Marriage

The white-haired old imperial physician approached, and a young physician beside Linger clutched his master's hand in terror. "Master, something terrible has happened—the young lady has come back from the dead!"

The old physician shot him a fierce glare. "Hmph! If the young lady hadn't come back, the two of us would have been corpses today! You should use your eyes as well as your mouth—have you ever seen a corpse that can talk?"

He knocked the young man's hand aside, scolding him impatiently. "With your nerves, if you ever became a coroner, you’d report to the King of Hell the very next day."

After checking Linger’s pulse, the old physician turned to General Liu Rufeng. "The young lady is unharmed. She was just pulled from the water and caught a chill, which led to temporary unconsciousness. I'll prescribe some medicine for her; have her take it and let her rest well."

Half an hour later, Liu Rufeng personally and respectfully saw the old physician off at the gates of the general’s estate. As soon as he turned back, the old man grabbed his apprentice’s ear, exasperated. "Gu Xiaoyan, if not for the sake of your late father, I’d have thrown you out of my tutelage by now."

Gu Xiaoyan clutched his ear, crying out in pain, but fawned over his master like a lapdog. "Master Jun, who are you? The renowned imperial physician! I’m just a small fry—how could I ever compare? I’ll have to rely on you in the future!"

Flattery works wonders, and even the old physician, steady as he was, couldn’t help but beam at him, finding Gu Xiaoyan much more agreeable.

Meanwhile, in her coma, Linger’s head throbbed painfully. She was frightened—could this be the aftermath of her accident, leaving her an idiot? Yet, she still remembered everything from her modern life, all her skills in martial arts and medicine intact.

The pain, she realized, was caused by another flood of memories pouring into her mind—like a film played at high speed, forcibly merging with her own recollections. She had never experienced transmigration before, but she was now certain: these were the memories of the young lady who had thrown herself into the lake. From these fragments, Linger finally understood why her predecessor had chosen to end her life.

General Liu Rufeng was a blunt and unrefined man—an excellent commander on the battlefield, but completely inept at maneuvering court politics. In fact, he managed to offend people at a staggering rate. Recently, the court had opened the national treasury to build irrigation canals in the southern droughtlands, and Liu Rufeng had been sent to oversee the project. In less than a month, the officials in charge of the canals wished him dead. "Damn it! Even if you won’t take bribes yourself, you shouldn’t keep us from making money! Stopping us from getting rich is like digging up our ancestors’ graves!"

Matters only worsened when Liu Rufeng had the corrupt governor Wu flogged for embezzlement. He had stirred up a hornet’s nest—though Wu’s rank was lower than Liu’s, his sister was a favored consort at the emperor’s side.

A whisper from a pillow is a powerful thing, especially when Consort Wu knew just how to wield it. "Your Majesty," she coaxed, "your brother, Prince Xian, is still unmarried. He may not care, but I cannot help but worry. If the rulers of the Five Kingdoms hear of this, they might think you’re an unfit elder brother and I a poor sister-in-law. Now, General Liu’s daughter is the perfect match for the prince in age and family background."

And so, with little more than a few words, Linger was silently bartered away. When news spread in court that General Liu’s daughter would wed Prince Xian, the officials erupted in applause, all unanimously in favor. "Ha! Let’s see how arrogant you are now. No matter how proud your daughter, she’ll still have to marry that ‘monster’ of a prince! Just wait for the funeral!"

Prince Xian’s name was Baili Xian, and his reputation for being ‘monstrous’ was not unfounded. In his twenties, an age when most men on the Yunfeng Continent already had children running errands for them, he remained single. In modern times, with his wealth and power, he would have been a most eligible bachelor. Yet his appearance was so ghastly that it was said to be unbearable, and rumor had it he was crippled in certain respects, which had twisted his character and made him cruel to women.

If that weren’t enough, three princesses had died of fright on their wedding nights after seeing Prince Xian’s terrifying face. Even families with daughters they couldn’t marry off dared not send them to his household—for it was a matter of life and death.

The young lady Linger felt her future was utterly bleak, with nothing left to hope for. Staring at the rippling lake, she despaired and cast herself in. By some strange twist of fate, she, Linger of the modern world, had survived a car crash only to awaken in this body. With her wedding to the ‘disfigured and crippled’ Prince Xian only three days away, she could only grit her teeth in frustration. This was sheer misfortune—wasn’t it just sending her into the jaws of hell?