Darkness.
Her chest no longer burned. The taste of blood was gone. For a long moment, Bai Lian thought she was drifting somewhere between life and death.
Then—noise. Loud, cheerful, jarring.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Gongs and drums pounded outside, followed by laughter and clapping.
Her eyelashes fluttered. Something heavy covered her face. She raised her hand, fingers brushing against thick embroidered silk.
A veil. A red bridal veil.
Her breath caught. No. This was impossible.
The fabric of her wedding gown weighed down on her shoulders, layers of crimson brocade pressing her into the carved wedding chair. The scent of sandalwood incense drifted through the room, sweet and suffocating.
Her heart thudded painfully. She knew this moment. Every detail of it.
"This is… my wedding day," she whispered, voice trembling under the veil.
Her hand clenched against her chest. Just moments ago, she had been sprawled on the cold marble floor, coughing blood while Lu Hao raised a glass to her misery. She had begged Heaven for one more chance.
And now—Heaven had answered.
Her throat tightened. She could almost laugh, almost cry.
Another chance… I really came back.
The muffled voices outside the room grew clearer.
"Everything must be perfect today," her mother's anxious tone rang out. "This marriage will secure Bai Lian's happiness for the rest of her life."
Her father's deeper voice followed, steady and proud. "Two sons from the Lu family, and our daughter will have the right to choose. What greater fortune could there be?"
Her palms went clammy under the red sleeves. She knew these words. She remembered them as if they had been branded into her bones.
In her past life, those words had sounded like blessings. She had sat here, naive, heart pounding with girlish excitement, ready to throw her life into the arms of the smiling man waiting outside.
Lu Hao.
The name alone made her chest tighten with rage. The same man who, years later, had crushed her like she was nothing. The same man who had laughed as she coughed blood on the floor.
Her breath shook under the veil.
No… never again. I won't make that mistake twice.
Memories poured in, one after another: her so-called friends giggling behind her back, her father's business collapsing after her dowry was drained, Lu Hao's betrayal. Each memory stabbed sharper than a knife.
And then—another face.
A colder one.
Lu Zhan.
He had been there too, standing silently in the background on this very day, his expression unreadable. In her past life, she hadn't even spared him a second look. He was too cold, too aloof. She had told herself she didn't want a husband with a face that looked carved from stone.
But in the end, wasn't it that same stone that could've sheltered her from the storm?
Her fists curled tighter on her lap.
Outside, the matchmaker's shrill voice pierced through the noise of drums and chatter:
"Does the bride accept the groom?"
The words made her whole body tense. In her first life, she had blurted out yes before the sentence was even finished.
This time, her lips pressed together under the veil. Her voice trembled, but her heart was steady.
Her fingers dug into the red silk of her gown. Beneath the veil, her lips moved soundlessly at first.
The matchmaker cleared her throat impatiently. "Bride, speak clearly! Do you accept—"
"I…" Her voice trembled, almost swallowed by the noise outside. She forced herself to sit straighter, her nails biting into her palms until pain steadied her.
"I will marry… Lu Zhan."
The air outside froze.
Whispers exploded instantly.
"What did she say?"
"Not Lu Hao? Did she—did she say Lu Zhan?"
"She must be confused!"
Even through the veil, Bai Lian could feel the weight of the silence that followed.
Lu Hao's smooth, confident laughter suddenly died in his throat. She imagined his charming smile stiffening, the mask cracking. The man who thought she was already his prize—rejected.
And Lu Zhan—
For the first time, Bai Lian dared to tilt her head, peering faintly through the veil's embroidery. He stood there in his black ceremonial robes, tall and motionless. His eyes, cold as winter, met the vague outline of her form.
He didn't speak. He didn't smile. But his gaze lingered.
The matchmaker stammered, clearly flustered. "Th-then it shall be… Lu Zhan!"
Gasps erupted. Her mother nearly dropped her fan. Her father's face tightened, caught between pride and shock.
Bai Lian's heart pounded so hard it hurt. But her lips curved in the faintest smile beneath the red silk.
This time… I will not choose wrong.
The drums outside started up again, but the rhythm faltered, awkward, as if even the musicians weren't sure what to do.
The wedding procession lurched back into motion. Bai Lian felt hands guiding her up, the veil slipping slightly as the matchmaker tried to recover her composure.
"Come, come—the bride has chosen. Heaven has witnessed, and the red strings of fate are tied!" The woman's voice wobbled but pushed forward.
Through the embroidered fabric, Bai Lian could sense him—Lu Zhan—drawing closer. His steps were measured, heavy against the floorboards, each one echoing in her bones.
When his hand reached for hers, she almost flinched. His palm was cool, his grip steady, neither tender nor cruel.
In her past life, she had felt only Lu Hao's warm, performative gentleness, fingers curling around hers like a trap disguised as comfort. This… this was different.
Lu Zhan held her hand as though it was simply part of the ceremony, nothing more, nothing less. And yet, she felt her pulse racing.
From somewhere nearby came Lu Hao's voice, strained but sharp. "Father, Mother—this is ridiculous! She's making a mistake. She doesn't even know what she's saying under that veil!"
Gasps followed. Someone hushed him, but his words still burned in the air.
Bai Lian's lips curved beneath the veil, unseen. No, Lu Hao. The mistake was marrying you.
The incense smoke curled higher as the ceremonial bows began.
"One bow to Heaven and Earth!"
She bent with him, veil swaying.
"One bow to the ancestors!"
Her knees touched the floor beside his, steady this time, no tremor.
"Husband and wife, bow to each other!"
The moment stretched. Slowly, she turned beneath the veil, lowering herself toward him. For the briefest instant, she glimpsed his face through the gauzy red silk—his eyes, cold and unreadable, fixed on her.
They bowed together. Husband and wife.
When she straightened again, her heart thundered with a single, dangerous thought:
This time, everything begins anew.