April was gently warm. The sky, freshly washed by rain, was a flawless blue, and the air was filled with the clean fragrance of grass and trees steamed by sunlight after the rain. Swept up by a light breeze, it drifted into the carriage traveling along the mountain road.
Shen Wan rested her chin in her hand as she sat by the carriage window. Beside her, Madam Shen recited Buddhist scriptures in a devout, gentle voice. Through the swaying gap in the curtain, the solemn outline of a distant temple could faintly be seen, yet no matter what, Shen Wan could not calm her heart.
Like countless others who transmigrated into novels, Shen Wan had followed the trend and found herself inside a book she had read just before falling asleep, a novel called Beloved. Tragically, it was a work that had fallen apart after the author completely let themself go.
Beloved spanned five hundred thousand words, built around the core premise of a real and a fake White Moonlight. In the author's writing, the male lead—the Yong Prince—was powerful and handsome. By chance, he was saved by a healer named Liu Mu, yet through a twist of fate, he mistakenly believed that the one who saved him was the legitimate daughter of Second-Rank General Shen Ming—
namely, the original Shen Wan, the scheming white lotus villainess of Beloved.
When Shen Wan read the novel, she didn't think too deeply about it. To her, a name was just a label. Even though she shared a name with the story's antagonist, she read on without any psychological burden. According to standard tropes, the later development of Beloved should have gone like this: misled by the fake White Moonlight, the male lead would torment Liu Mu both physically and emotionally. After discovering the truth, he would be consumed by regret, launch into a dramatic wife-chasing crematorium filled with chaos, and finally end up sweetly together with Liu Mu. The fake White Moonlight, Shen Wan, would be discarded as cannon fodder.
But the author of Beloved had a very unconventional thought process.
In the novel's setting, after saving the man, Liu Mu returned to her hometown and only came back to the capital nearly a year later to search for her brother. During that year, the original Shen Wan had already claimed credit for the rescue. She carefully figured out the Yong Prince's preferences, flattering and catering to him, forcibly disguising her bold, unrestrained personality as the gentle kindness he favored.
One side knew nothing of the truth. The other deliberately pretended. Their relationship wasn't exceptionally deep, but it was still warm and sweet.
And so, they spent four hundred thousand words in sugary harmony. The author seemed to grow too accustomed to writing the fake White Moonlight and directly treated the original Shen Wan as the female lead. Even after the deception was exposed, there was no real punishment—only that the male lead gradually began to neglect her.
When Shen Wan read this development, she felt as though she'd been struck by thunder again and again. Yet because she liked the male lead, she stubbornly maintained a start-to-finish mentality and finished the entire novel in a daze. The author seemed to have completely gone off the rails—by the end of Beloved, the Yong Prince still never ended up with the real White Moonlight, Liu Mu. As for why… Shen Wan reread the final chapters several times and still couldn't find any foreshadowing or explanation.
Relatively speaking, the fake White Moonlight's ending wasn't terrible. But thinking about how the original Shen Wan was ultimately treated with cold indifference made Shen Wan want to personally reject such a life.
Once she confirmed that this was truly a transmigration and not a dream, Shen Wan made up her mind to maintain a relationship with the Yong Prince like two perfectly parallel lines—never intersecting. Unfortunately, circumstances did not allow it.
The old emperor was advanced in age, and the princes beneath him had all begun to harbor ambitions, each trying to win over court officials. The original Shen Wan's father, Second-Rank General Shen Ming, happened to stand firmly in the Yong Prince's camp. Though Shen Wan hadn't studied the humanities, she understood the danger of choosing sides in a succession struggle. Moreover, when writing Beloved, the author had poured nearly all their effort into the male lead, Lu Zhan, glossing over supporting male characters and leaving them all with cannon-fodder traits.
For example, Prince Cheng was brutal, Prince Ping was sinister, and Prince Shun treated human life like grass. The old emperor had four sons in total, and aside from the Yong Prince, the other three were clearly unfit to inherit the throne.
No matter how she looked at it, Shen Wan felt that the Yong Prince had to survive—and had to ascend the throne. Only then could the Shen family and she herself preserve their lives and enjoy peaceful days ahead. Having just finished reading the book, Shen Wan still remembered the general plot and clearly recalled the critical points that threatened the Yong Prince's life. Keeping the male lead alive wouldn't be difficult. But whenever she thought of Beloved's storyline, anxiety crept in.
Thinking this, she sighed.
Madam Shen happened to finish a passage of scripture and looked up, seeing the worried expression on her precious daughter's face. Her eyes immediately filled with gentle affection as she scolded softly, "You child, you were ill for three whole months and still won't behave. Even riding in a carriage, you're frowning like this."
"Mother…" In the original book, Madam Shen was someone who responded to softness rather than force, and Shen Wan was very practiced at acting cute. "I clearly recovered because I took the medicine the doctor prescribed. Why do we still have to go to Huguo Temple to repay a vow?"
It wasn't that Shen Wan lacked reverence—on the contrary, she respected all beliefs. The reason she resisted so strongly was that the timing of this trip to Huguo Temple was far too coincidental. It would mislead the male lead into thinking that she was the one who had saved him.
She truly wanted to avoid the beginning of this ill-fated connection.
Madam Shen, unaware of the underlying circumstances, kept her gentle smile and didn't force her daughter's faith, only reminding her softly, "Wanwan, be good. Once we reach the temple, you must sincerely thank the Buddha."
Shen Wan had already prepared herself mentally. Even though her resistance failed, she wasn't too disappointed. Under Madam Shen's gaze, she obediently nodded.
At worst… if the male lead still mistakenly thought she had saved him, she would stubbornly refuse to admit it and then find a way for him to recognize Liu Mu instead. Shen Wan blinked and silently comforted herself.
Sunlight filtered through the gap in the carriage window, landing on Shen Wan's pointed chin and pale lips. Seeing this, Madam Shen couldn't help feeling sorry for her daughter, newly recovered from illness. She shook her head helplessly and compromised. "After we repay the vow, Mother will go to the prayer hall to chant scriptures. You can take Zhichu and the guards to walk around the temple, but you must pay attention to safety."
Shen Wan froze. Just as she was about to speak, a cry for help suddenly rang out.
"Help… help me…" The voice was extremely hoarse, barely identifiable as belonging to a young man.
Madam Shen, more experienced and kind-hearted, immediately lifted the carriage curtain and instructed the guards, "Send two people to see what's going on. If you can help, then help."
Unsurprised by his mistress's kindness, the guard immediately complied. Before long, one of them hurried back. "Madam, a young gentleman slipped and fell down the mountainside. His injuries aren't too serious."
"I see…" Madam Shen hesitated briefly. In the end, she didn't risk bringing the man into the carriage, instead instructing, "You two stay behind to look after him. I'll ask a medical monk at the temple to come treat him."
The guard acknowledged the order. With a flick of the whip, the carriage resumed its unsteady progress along the mountain road.
Madam Shen took a sip of tea and looked up to see her daughter staring off into space. With a mix of affection and amusement, she gently adjusted the hair by Shen Wan's ear. "Mother spoke incorrectly earlier. After three months of bed rest, it seems your wild personality has been tempered into something much gentler."
Shen Wan felt both guilty and relieved. Her own temperament was quiet and reserved, vastly different from the original Shen Wan's flamboyant nature. Fortunately, the original body had been ill for three months, and Shen Wan transmigrated in just as she recovered. Everyone simply assumed her personality had been polished by illness, and no one suspected anything.
After chatting softly with Madam Shen for a while and seeing her resume chanting with her prayer beads, Shen Wan looked back out the window.
When Madam Shen helped the injured man earlier, Shen Wan vaguely felt it might be related to the plot, but she couldn't recall why. When Madam Shen spoke, inspiration flickered briefly in her mind, but before it could fully surface, it vanished without a trace. Now, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember.
Finding nothing after sorting through the plot, Shen Wan popped a piece of sweet flower cake into her mouth, thinking that perhaps she had been too tense since transmigrating, seeing problems in everything.
After taking a few deep breaths and calming herself, the carriage arrived at the gates of Huguo Temple.
The guards had already reported ahead. Two elderly monks with compassionate expressions stood quietly at the solemn temple entrance. When Shen Wan and Madam Shen disembarked, they immediately greeted them. "Amitabha. Benefactors, please come inside."
Shen Wan followed Madam Shen's example and returned the greeting before entering.
Like its mountain gate, the inner halls of Huguo Temple were equally grand and imposing. Shen Wan discreetly observed her surroundings while listening intently to Madam Shen's conversation with the monks.
"From the benefactor's complexion, it seems much better than when you last sought a lot. Your worries must have been resolved."
"Yes, this visit is to repay a vow to the Buddha… and there's something else I'd like to trouble you with."
"Please speak."
"On the way up the mountain, I encountered an injured young gentleman and left two guards to care for him. I would like to ask that a medical monk be sent down to treat him."
"Of course. The benefactor is kind-hearted. Amitabha."