C3 Marriage Help 3

"Mu Yuxi, you have no idea how many people will thank you for this."

"Get lost!"

"Mu Yuxi..."

"Get lost! I said get lost!"

A startled cry jolted Mu Yunhua awake from her nightmare. Her eyes, a vivid green like fine jade, stood out starkly against her pale, delicate face as she gazed up at the canopy above her bed.

But in a blink, the vibrant green vanished, replaced by a deep, inky black.

Shielding her eyes with her hand, Mu Yunhua found the sunlight streaming through the window uncomfortably bright...

Even after five days, Qin Qing's dreams were haunted by the events at Nether King's Manor.

The memories of that absurd, detestable night were vivid: the white characters for "wedding" plastered on every door, window, and pillar; the white candles etched with black characters; the black gauze and white curtains; and the coffin she had lain in. It was all a cruel joke—she, a 365th-generation descendant of the Celestial Order Society, had been wed to a ghost. And not just any ghost, but the renowned Warlord Nether King of the Da Xi Kingdom.

Qin Qing was utterly unwilling!

The helplessness of not being able to control her own fate, to speak or move, to do anything but lie there and be at others' mercy was something she never wanted to feel again. She wasn't afraid of death, but she refused to die so ignominiously.

Especially not for someone else's sake!

Suddenly thrust into the role of the Mu family's legitimate second daughter, Mu Yunhua, in this era, she was coerced into a ghost marriage. The day after the wedding, Nether King's Manor accused her of premarital indiscretion and cast her out into the streets to survive or perish on her own.

It was Nether King's Manor's way of punishing the Mu family for their deception, and while she understood the reason, everyone did, Qin Qing couldn't fathom why she should bear the brunt of the punishment.

What had she, Qin Qing, done to deserve lying disheveled in the street, subjected to the pointing fingers and mocking laughter of passersby? For three days, she languished in feverish delirium until, at last, a kind soul took pity on her and came to her aid.

However, the person in question was none other than the bride she had been forced to stand in for—her dear elder sister, the most celebrated and talented woman in all of Da Xi Kingdom, Mu Yuxi!

The memory of onlookers casting admiring glances at Mu Yuxi as she was hoisted onto the carriage made Qin Qing seethe with irony. She had endured so much on Mu Yuxi's behalf, nearly losing her life, and not only did Mu Yuxi lack any semblance of gratitude, but she also behaved as if Qin Qing, Mu Yunhua, had been the one at fault, as if she deserved the blame. Now, Mu Yuxi's show of kindness was merely because Qin Qing was still a member of the Mu family, and Mu Yuxi couldn't stand to watch her die a disgraceful death. That was the only reason...

Why should she, the legitimate daughter and young miss of the Mu family, be expected to marry in place of a daughter born to a concubine?

Was it simply because Mu Yuxi was hailed as the foremost genius of Da Xi Kingdom, while the original mistress was deemed the kingdom's greatest fool, that Qin Qing was supposed to accept her fate? Was she to tolerate any treatment, no matter how unjust?

There was no fairness, no rule of law!

Despite being the legitimate daughter and rightful young lady of the Mu household, she was treated worse than a servant! Starvation was a routine affair, and physical abuse and verbal insults were so frequent that she had grown numb to them.

At sixteen, she was so frail that she resembled a child of thirteen or fourteen, her arms so delicate that they seemed as though they might snap under the slightest pressure.

Neither of the two concubines in the mansion was easy to deal with. Without their "kind-hearted" efforts to cultivate her reputation as an imbecile, a simpleton, as dull as a donkey, how could her name have ever been sullied by such associations?