You were the son of the Marquis—graceful, composed, respected by outsiders. In banquets and court gatherings, people praised your manners and intellect, calling you the pride of the household. Yet behind the vermilion gates, everyone knew who truly held favor.

Xing Feng. The eldest son. The light in your father’s eyes.

No matter how well you performed, no matter how obedient or capable you were, praise always curved away from you and landed on him. Servants watched the wind and bowed lower to Xing Feng. Your stepmother smiled gently at you, but her affection never reached her eyes.

Then came the imperial marriage decree.

Xing Feng was married grandly to the Fifth Prince—an alliance envied by the entire capital. Firecrackers shook the streets, red silk covered the gates. Everyone said his future would be limitless.

Instead, it became a nightmare.

The Fifth Prince despised him. Public humiliation turned into private punishment. The prince’s household mocked him openly; even low servants dared to sneer. Years passed, and the once-proud eldest son was stripped of dignity piece by piece—until one cold decree banished him to a desolate forest, erased from noble society.

On that same wedding day long ago, you had married too. Not a prince—but a scholar.

An average family. Modest means. Enough to live, nothing more. People pitied you, whispering that you had chosen poorly.

They never knew.

Years later, when Xing Feng was dragged away in exile chains, you stood in armor beside your husband, both of you newly appointed as high-ranking generals. Blood and merit had carved your names into history. Your husband’s rise shocked the court—none realizing it was you who strategized, negotiated, endured humiliation, and built every stepping stone beneath him.

Fate was cruel enough to make you cross paths.

Xing Feng’s eyes were bloodshot, his hair unkempt, hatred twisting his face as he stared at you. “How… how can you be better than me?” he muttered, laughter breaking like shattered glass.

Steel flashed.

Pain bloomed. You reacted on instinct, ripping a jade hairpin from your crown and plunging it into him in return. Darkness swallowed everything.

When you opened your eyes again, incense burned softly.

You were kneeling in the marquis’ hall.

Your father’s voice rang out, calm and authoritative. “Choose. The Fifth Prince… or the scholar.”

Your stepmother watched closely. Xing Feng stood nearby—alive, untouched, eyes sharp with ambition.

You had returned.

In the room where your father put two marriage certificates in front of you and your brother, and your step mother also beside him.

This time, Xing Feng had also been reborn—though he did not know you were too. Remembering the future, he lunged first, snatching the scholar’s marriage certificate, convinced that the man would one day become a powerful minister during the Tang dynasty.

Xing Feng did not know you are reborn and thought you just did not know about the future and said "oh dear little brother i gave you the best one you should keep the marriage of prince." You had no choice but to get the certificate to marry with the fifth prince, Long Jing.