Chapter 4: Substitute Marriage

Mingwu's long and delicate eyelashes trembled lightly, like two fluttering butterflies, beautiful yet tinged with a hint of confusion. She was truly perplexed. What had happened to her?

"Daughter has always been well," unable to grasp the situation, she could only act coquettish.

"Yes, she has been well, Mother's Mingwu has always been well..."

Dingbei Marquis interrupted Su Shi, "Mingwu has just returned, let her go rest first. We can talk later."

Su Shi nodded repeatedly. Something crossed her mind, and her expression changed. Mingwu keenly caught it, and her intuition told her it was not good news.

As she walked towards the screen, her steps paused. Feigning to brush off the dust on her skirt, inside the room, Su Shi cried, "I told them to delay the marriage between Rourou and the Fourth Prince, no need to rush. Now, what should we do? Mingwu likes the Fourth Prince so much. If she knew that when she was missing, Rourou took her place in the wedding sedan..."

"The palace was pressing urgently. It was inevitable for Rourou to take her place. Mingwu understands the situation."

Although he spoke calmly, Dingbei Marquis's voice still trembled.

His daughter had just returned, and now they had to go through the ordeal of life and death again. It was like experiencing the pain of losing a loved one all over again.

Mingwu widened her eyes. No way.

Taking her place in the wedding?

In novels, wasn't this a privilege enjoyed only by time-traveling women? Taking the place of a bewitching, murderous, and capricious prince, using modern poetry, songs, or even a quick wit to capture his heart, and living a life of dominance and extravagance, eliminating one female rival after another, and loving each other without any shame or restraint.

A lifetime with a partner.

And now, she was being replaced?

She felt a bit dizzy.

In her previous life, she had broken her leg during a blind date. Now, in this arranged marriage in ancient times, even her fiancé, who had just returned, could fly away... It seemed like she was destined to never get married.

And there was the matter of her engagement. Why didn't Xier tell her about it? She had never mentioned a word about it, and she had even solemnly promised that she had not concealed any important matters from her.

Mingwu glanced at Xier, the little maid, who shrank her neck and dared not look at her.

It wasn't that she didn't want to say it, but that she didn't dare to.

In fact, before Sulian came, when Mingwu was still hanging from a tree, she had despaired and said, "I won't be able to see Heng brother again in the future. What's the point of living?"

Xier was most afraid of her seeking death. In such a situation, would she dare to mention the Fourth Prince?

Not mentioning it was fine, but she even encouraged her to marry that man, have children, and this took a lot of courage. Did she know that this was openly humiliating the Fourth Prince? Mingwu shuddered at the thought of almost losing control and being forced into a situation.

Feeling blamed, Xier said with a grievance, "This servant thought we would have to stay under the cliff for the rest of our lives. Although the Fourth Prince has an engagement with Miss, he cannot remain unmarried forever. Once he marries, the engagement will naturally be annulled."

Hearing the words "annulled," Mingwu felt a little relieved. If she had known that there was another marriage waiting for her when she returned home, she would have to think carefully.

In this vast world, there would always be a place for her to settle down. It didn't have to be the Marquis's mansion. She wouldn't compromise her thirty years of single life for a mansion that she couldn't tell was a palace or a pit.

But she had another question, "Is the Fourth Prince handsome?"

"Not as handsome as that man."

A maid who judged people by their appearance and tried to push her onto this path, Mingwu looked at the leisurely floating clouds in the sky, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Since she had chosen to return, she would fearlessly walk down this path, no matter what challenges lay ahead.

In the bathtub made of pear wood, covered with rose petals, Mingwu soaked herself, closing her eyes lightly. A faint floral fragrance lingered around her nose, making her feel comfortable and content.

In her previous life, she had never enjoyed such a moment. After finishing a surgery, she would be so exhausted that she could barely make it to bed. Compared to now, where she could eat her meal without interruption, she had to rush to perform surgery as soon as she received a phone call.

Accustomed to being highly concentrated for hours, she now felt a bit uncomfortable with her mind being empty.

So, she instinctively sorted out the things Xier had told her.

Xier didn't know much about the incident of her and Mingwu falling off the cliff. That day, they went to the Buddhist temple to pray. While drinking tea at the pavilion, Mingrou accidentally spilled tea on her, so they went back to the carriage to change clothes.

As soon as they got into the carriage, they smelled a strange fragrance, very sweet, like fruit. This was Xier's description. After smelling this unknown fragrance, they both fainted and lost consciousness.

When they woke up, their hands and feet were tied, and the carriage was racing. Mingwu and Mingrou knew it was not a good situation, so they secretly untied themselves and then resisted.

The result of their resistance was significant. Both of them fell off the cliff.

The coachman cut the rope and jumped off the carriage shaft. They had nowhere to hide, so they fell off the cliff along with the carriage.

She knew what happened next.

But what her other maid, Xueyan, said was completely different from what Xier said. This was also the reason why no one came to find them even though they had been at the bottom of the cliff for so long.