Zhou Shaojin woke with a start from her sleep, drenched in sweat, bolting upright.

She had dreamed of Cheng Lu again!

The ferocious expression, the gleaming scissors, the pale hands stained red with blood, the sky blue as washed water, the agony of being unable to breathe… all intertwined together like a net, trapping her tightly within.

Her sister said she was being haunted by something malevolent.

But why did everything in the dream feel so real?

She could even clearly remember the temperature of blood splashing on her hands and the pain of being choked by the throat.

If this wasn’t a dream, how could she have escaped from Cheng Lu’s grasp and, upon opening her eyes again, found herself safe and sound, returned to when she was twelve years old?

Zhou Shaojin’s heart filled with confusion and bewilderment, along with a trace of unease.

The small lacquered bed hung with insect-repelling shark-silk curtains, pale morning light filtering through the window lattices covered with Korean paper, faintly revealing the plum vases, flower holders, and jade stone miniature landscapes displayed on the red-lacquered curio shelves by the window.

This was her boudoir.

The boudoir she had lived in for twelve years.

In her memory, she would continue living here for another three years, until age fifteen… when Cheng Lu and Wu Baozhang became engaged, when she was tricked by Cheng Jia into the back garden, when she encountered the drunken Cheng Xu…

Zhou Shaojin shuddered and forcibly cut off the memory.

Something must have gone wrong somewhere!

After thinking for a moment, she threw off the covers and got out of bed, going to the adjacent side room.

Her trunks were kept there, along with a half-length Western mirror her father had recently asked someone to bring back for her and her sister.

The person in the mirror had features like a painting, a slender graceful figure, and an elegant refined appearance, like a素心兰 orchid carefully cultivated in a greenhouse, a bud about to bloom.

This was clearly herself.

But it also seemed not to be!

Another face floated up in Zhou Shaojin’s mind.

Pallid skin, furrowed brows, a weary expression, a haggard countenance… The features bore seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the person in the mirror, yet the complexion was far less than a third as good as the reflection… like the mirror image after suffering hardship, color faded away.

That seemed to be her true self!

As this thought flashed through her mind, Zhou Shaojin was badly startled.

But once this thought arose, it was like water flooding Jinshan Temple—impossible to hold back.

She hadn’t simply had a nightmare—she had clearly lived through life once before!

But her sister was the person she trusted and relied on most in her entire life—surely she wouldn’t deceive her?

Zhou Shaojin bit her lip, wanting to lean closer to the mirror for a more careful examination, when sounds came from outside the door, along with her sister Zhou Chujin’s gentle, soothing yet calming voice: “Has Second Miss not yet risen? How did she sleep last night? Did she say anything delirious?”

“No.” The one answering was Zhou Shaojin’s wet nurse, Fan Liushi. “The calming incense you personally blended is truly effective—Second Miss slept until dawn. Shi Xiang and I kept watch by the bed the entire time. When dawn came, we only left Chun Wan behind while we returned to our room to wash our faces.”

Zhou Shaojin hurriedly left the side room and lay back down on the bed.

She saw the curtain flutter, and Zhou Chujin walked in with the senior maid Chi Xiang’s nominal support.

“Thank you all for your hard work!” she said. “Later, Nanny Fan, go to the accounts and withdraw five taels of silver as my reward for everyone to buy sweets.”

Shi Xiang and the others quietly expressed their thanks.

Zhou Chujin walked over.

Zhou Shaojin closed her eyes, pretending to sleep.

Zhou Chujin suspected nothing, gently leaning down to feel Zhou Shaojin’s forehead, then tucking in her blanket before breathing a sigh of relief and instructing Fan Liushi in a low voice: “Since this incense is effective, light it whenever Second Miss rests from now on. I’ve already obtained our grandmother’s permission to visit Huiji Temple in the south of the city today. I’ve heard that the abbess there, Master Jingfang, has talisman water that can drive away evil and cure illness—it’s said to be extremely efficacious. I’ll hold a ritual ceremony for Second Miss and obtain a talisman to bring back. All of you must serve Second Miss well at home and absolutely must not let anything go wrong. I’ll return before shenzheng hour, four in the afternoon. If anyone asks why they haven’t seen Second Miss these past two days, just say Second Miss’s cold hasn’t recovered yet and it’s not suitable for her to go out, understand?” By the end of her speech, her tone suddenly became severe.

“Yes!” Seeing her serious expression, the maids and matrons all answered carefully.

Zhou Chujin touched Zhou Shaojin’s forehead once more before leaving the inner chamber.

Zhou Shaojin’s eyes moistened.

Her father was named Zhou Zhen, courtesy name Da Cheng, a second-class jinshi graduate of the bingxu examination in the ninth year of Zhide. In his youth, he studied at the renowned Jinling Cheng clan school. Due to his outstanding appearance, upright character, and natural intelligence, he won the admiration of Cheng Yi, the eldest master of the Cheng family’s second branch who also studied at the Cheng clan school. Cheng Yi acted as matchmaker to wed his cousin—the eldest daughter of the Cheng family’s fourth branch, Cheng He—to Zhou Zhen.

After Cheng Shi entered the household, she became pregnant, but encountered postpartum hemorrhage during childbirth and passed away, leaving behind a wailing infant daughter.

This girl was Zhou Shaojin’s elder sister, Zhou Chujin.

A year later, Zhou Zhen remarried to Zhou Shaojin’s birth mother, Zhuang Liangyu.

Zhuang Liangyu came from a declining official family. Having lost her mother in childhood, she grew up with her elderly grandmother. By the time she married, she was already over twenty, and her father had to sell an ancestral painting and calligraphy set to barely scrape together a twenty-four-carrier dowry for her.

Zhou Zhen was extremely satisfied with this marriage.

Zhuang Liangyu not only possessed captivating beauty but also had a gentle disposition, was proficient in music, excelled at painting and calligraphy, and loved bronze and stone art. Moreover, having no one to rely on herself, she treated Zhou Chujin like her own daughter, caring for her meticulously and educating her attentively—one could say she feared the cold would chill her and the heat would scorch her, never letting her suffer the slightest grievance. Every Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Spring Festival, she would prepare generous gifts and take Zhou Chujin back to the Cheng family to visit her maternal grandmother, Old Madam Guan, keeping the old lady company with conversation to ease her longing for her granddaughter. Old Madam Guan both approved greatly of Zhuang Liangyu’s virtuous magnanimity and couldn’t help but regard her with special favor, never forgetting to give generous gifts to Zhuang Liangyu during festivals. Seeing this, the entire Cheng household followed suit in elevating Zhuang Liangyu’s status and showed her great respect.

Zhou Zhen, having gained such a beautiful companion who was also a kindred spirit, who moreover managed the household with skill and governed it well—he cherished Zhuang Liangyu like a treasure in his palm, fearing to drop her, or candy in his mouth, fearing it would melt. He studied even more diligently, hoping to earn honors and win Zhuang Liangyu a phoenix coronet and rosy cloud cape so she could hold her head high in society.

Unfortunately, good times didn’t last long. Zhuang Liangyu had a difficult labor when giving birth to Zhou Shaojin. Although the Cheng family sent century-old ginseng for emergency treatment, she ultimately couldn’t hold on past six months and still passed away like fragrant jade fading.

Zhou Zhen was devastated and decided to observe three years of mourning for Zhuang Liangyu.

The Zhou family originally hailed from Rizhao, Shandong. Zhou Shaojin’s grandfather had once served as Magistrate of Jinhua. After seeing Jiangnan’s prosperity, he was unwilling to return to his ancestral home and found a way to settle in Jinling, losing contact with the old home long ago. Meanwhile, Zhuang Liangyu’s grandmother and father had both passed away in succession, leaving only an uncle beyond the fifth degree of kinship who was given to all manner of eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. Zhou Zhen was an only son without any siblings. If he didn’t remarry, who would care for Zhou Chujin and the infant Zhou Shaojin? Particularly Zhou Chujin, who had reached the age to study and learn to read—who would provide her education?

Old Madam Guan thought and thought, then discussed it with Zhou Zhen before taking Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin into the Cheng family to raise them in her own quarters.

Zhou Shaojin understood nothing, but seven-year-old Zhou Chujin vaguely sensed that no matter how good the Cheng family was, it wasn’t her own home, and no matter how kind her grandmother was, she wasn’t her own parents. Her behavior and manners gradually began imitating Zhuang Liangyu, like a little adult. The Cheng family noticed nothing of this, instead feeling that Zhou Chujin’s deportment was gracious and proper, displaying the bearing of a great family, and that Zhuang Liangyu had educated her very well.

Zhou Chujin restrained herself even more. Respectful to superiors, gentle to inferiors, modest and courteous toward her cousins—there wasn’t a single person in the Cheng family who didn’t praise her. Even Zhou Shaojin benefited from this, winning the affection of the Cheng family, with everyone respectfully addressing her as “Second Miss.”

Seeing his daughters well cared for, Zhou Zhen devoted all his attention to the civil service examinations.

The second year after Zhuang Liangyu’s death, he passed the examination, becoming a jinshi and being appointed County Magistrate of Pucheng, Fujian.

For a time, those seeking to arrange marriages for Zhou Zhen were as numerous as fish crossing a river.

Yet Zhou Zhen faithfully kept his promise, politely declining all offers regardless of how illustrious the family or how excellent the young lady.

Old Madam Guan, however, worried that Fujian was a land of poor mountains and treacherous waters, and the two children were still young—how could they endure such distance and hardship? She asked Cheng Yi to speak with Zhou Zhen on her behalf, wanting to keep both children by her side.

Zhou Zhen had been troubled by this very matter. Old Madam Guan’s words suited his wishes perfectly. He immediately agreed, leaving his milk-brother Ma Fushan and his wife to manage the Zhou household’s affairs and help look after the Zhou sisters, while he himself took two old servants and a secretary recommended by the Cheng family to his post.

In the fourteenth year of Zhide, Zhou Zhen had risen through the ranks to become Prefect of Nanchang, Jiangxi.

He remarried again.

He wrote a letter back to Jinling requesting to bring both daughters to Nanchang.

Seven years—even raising a kitten or puppy would create attachment, let alone two flower-like young girls who attended upon her daily? Thinking of it, Old Madam Guan felt pain cutting to her heart as if it were being gouged out. She absolutely refused to allow the Zhou sisters to be sent away, saying: “Chujin is to marry into the Liao family as the principal wife of the heir. That new wife comes from a merchant background and probably can barely recognize a few characters—how could she possibly guide Chujin and Shaojin? Better to let the two sisters stay with me! This way it will also be easier to arrange Shaojin’s marriage later.”

By this time, the fourteen-year-old Zhou Chujin had blossomed into a graceful young woman, as elegant and dignified as a lotus emerging from water. Through the matchmaking of Cheng Jing, the eldest master of the Cheng family’s principal branch, she was betrothed to Liao Shaotang, the heir of the Liao clan of Zhenjiang, another Jiangnan official family. After the turn of the year, she would undergo the coming-of-age ceremony.

For the sake of both daughters’ marriages, Zhou Zhen had to compromise.

Thus Zhou Shaojin and her sister continued living at the Cheng family for another four years.

When Zhou Shaojin fell from the artificial mountain and woke up, opening her eyes to find herself not only returned to Wanxiang Residence where she had lived as a child but also transformed back to her twelve-year-old appearance, she was instantly terrified out of her wits, knowing only to seek her sister with a pallid face. When she saw her sister, who had changed from a dignified matron of thirty to a green eighteen-year-old girl, her vision went black and she fainted.

When she woke again, the room was still that room, she was still herself, her sister and wet nurse were crowded by the bed—one with anxiety written all over her face, the other with eyes reddened from crying—while Shi Xiang and Chi Xiang spun around frantically.

What on earth had happened?

How had she escaped from Cheng Lu’s grasp?

Why wasn’t she reincarnated but instead returned to when she was twelve years old?

Zhou Shaojin didn’t understand and trembled with fear.

Zhou Chujin simply assumed Zhou Shaojin had been frightened by a nightmare, holding her and continuously comforting her in soft tones.

The warm embrace, gentle words, familiar scent, and her trust in her sister gradually calmed Zhou Shaojin’s emotions. She dismissed those serving in the room and, choking with emotion, told her sister about her experiences.