“It is hereby known that Lin Yuanjin, daughter of Lin Qin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, is graceful and gentle, virtuous and of good conduct, greatly pleasing to Our heart. Now that the Crown Prince has reached the age of twenty, the time for marriage has come; a virtuous lady should be chosen as his consort. It so happens that the Lin family’s legitimate daughter is of marriageable age, a match made by Heaven with the Crown Prince… a propitious date shall be selected for the wedding.”
“Let this be proclaimed to all under Heaven, so all may know it.”
“Respect this.”
Before the stone steps of the Lin residence, a dense crowd knelt in rows. Lin Qin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the old madam of the Lin family were at the front, his household and the younger generation arranged neatly behind, receiving the group of eunuchs who had come to deliver the decree.
Eunuch Li, pale-faced and beardless, looked at the many people before him, each wearing a different expression. He raised his brow slightly, smiling as he handed forward the heavy imperial edict: “Miss Lin, accept the decree?”
Lin Yuanjin felt the gazes around her—some sharp, some startled. Countless emotions surged within her; her face turned somewhat pale, and she merely knelt obediently, receiving the imperial marriage edict that weighed as heavy as Mount Tai.
The one before her delivering the decree, Eunuch Li, was the most favored chief eunuch at the Emperor’s side. That he had come personally showed the importance the imperial family placed on this matter.
“Congratulations, Lord Lin, congratulations indeed.” Eunuch Li’s eyes curved in a smile as he, as was customary, accepted the purse handed over by a servant at the side, repeatedly offering his felicitations. “Your family’s children are outstanding. Now that your daughter has gained the favor of the imperial family, the good days are all ahead!”
“Indeed, indeed, the Lin family is now blessed by fortune. It was only unexpected that it would be my younger daughter who has such luck…”
At the front, Father Lin exchanged pleasantries and flattery with Eunuch Li.
Behind them, Lin Yuanjin held the imperial edict in her arms. In her eyes was confusion she could not fathom no matter how she thought about it, along with a strong sense of unreality.
She was not a soul native to this dynasty, nor had she ever thought of marrying into the imperial family.
Lin Yuanjin had seen in historical records the rise and fall of dynasties, and had seen the stark white bones of harem women lying in burial tombs. To harbor even the slightest longing to marry into the imperial palace would be a betrayal of the education she had received in her modern life.
From beside her came a cold gaze filled with speculation.
A young woman, three parts similar to her in appearance, stood upright. She wore a smile on her face, yet her gaze was particularly dark.
Lin Yuanjin turned her head. The moment she met Lin Weiyin’s gaze, her fingers tightened around the imperial edict in her arms. She softly called, “Elder Sister,” hesitating as she avoided direct eye contact, only to receive an even colder scoff in return.
The person beside her was named Lin Weiyin, her legitimate elder sister in this life. Since childhood, she had been intelligent and generous, greatly favored.
The Lin family’s generation should have used the “Yuan” character, yet because the family doted excessively on the eldest legitimate daughter, they replaced it with the character “Wei,” meaning fine jade. Its pronunciation also echoed “wei” meaning “only,” carrying an excellent implication, and she bore the family’s highest expectations.
Lin Weiyin did not disappoint. Even though the Lin family’s power was weak, in the capital—where a single falling brick could strike three nobles—she had, through her own efforts, earned quite a reputation for virtue.
Father Lin was right.
No one in the entire Lin household, not even Lin Yuanjin herself, had expected that when the Emperor issued a marriage decree, he would, against all precedent, bypass the eldest legitimate daughter and bestow it upon her, the second legitimate daughter of the Lin family.
Lin Yuanjin had always avoided Lin Weiyin. Not only because the family favored her, but also because she could sense the faint malice in her nature, which reminded Lin Yuanjin of classmates in her previous life—those who appeared glamorous yet bullied others.
“You call me Elder Sister, yet now that you’ve been favored by a noble person, I knew nothing of it.” Lin Weiyin slowly straightened, calmly sizing up this accomplished younger sister, as if trying to find some clue from her.
It was rare for Lin Weiyin to truly look at Lin Yuanjin, yet she saw that after receiving the imperial edict, her complexion was poor. Clearly she was acting coy after gaining an advantage, and the anger in her heart burned all the more fiercely.
Lin Yuanjin had always been obedient and compliant in the household. If her parents told her to go east, she would never go west. She did not stand out, yet she never made mistakes. Put nicely, she was cautious and prudent; put bluntly, she was timid and afraid of trouble.
Lin Weiyin always felt that Lin Yuanjin seemed to fear something, yet she had never known why. She only thought she was worrying over nothing and never took her seriously.
But she had not expected that after struggling against others outside for so long, flattering and being smooth in all directions, it would be her own younger sister who picked up the advantage.
Lin Weiyin did not need to wait to know that within less than an hour, the entire capital would learn that the Emperor had bypassed her, the unmarried eldest legitimate daughter, and instead appointed the second legitimate daughter as Crown Princess, turning her into a laughingstock.
How could she not be angry.
“I do not know.” Lin Yuanjin shook her head and said softly.
“You do not know? How could you not know!” Seeing Lin Yuanjin still wearing that meek, uncompetitive, obedient appearance, Lin Weiyin grew even more irritated. She let out a cold laugh; unwilling to argue with her in public, she turned and walked toward the residence, for once losing her ladylike composure.
Lin Yuanjin parted her lips, not knowing how to explain for something she herself did not understand. She merely raised her head, only to notice the various gazes around her.
Envious, curious, or faintly disdainful looks kept striking her shoulders.
As if in an instant, she had gone from an unnoticed, ordinary daughter to someone under everyone’s attention, noble beyond words.
“Younger sister, do not mind her.” The concubine-born elder sister from the second branch had been watching them since earlier. Now, seeing Lin Weiyin enter the residence in a state of barely concealed fury, she curled her lips faintly and walked to Lin Yuanjin’s side, gently mocking with hidden barbs, “Outsiders may not know, but would you and I not know?”
“Do not be fooled by her outward grace and tolerance. In truth, her ambitions are as high as the heavens, and she cannot bear others living better than her. Otherwise, all these years, we have only heard of her good reputation outside—have you ever seen her lift a finger to help you or me?”
You and I…?
Lin Yuanjin looked at the concubine-born elder sister before her, who had taken her hand, appearing as though they shared a common enemy like close sisters. A faint, uneasy guilt stirred in her heart.
Not only this concubine-born sister—many people in the residence had barely spoken to her for over a decade.
She did not actually care whether Lin Weiyin ever helped her. After all, she only wanted to be an unremarkable, unnoticed, leisurely salted fish.
But now, all of that had been destroyed by the Emperor’s single marriage decree.
“I do not know why the imperial family has chosen me, nor do I know what to do.” Lin Yuanjin thought for a moment. “Now that she is unwilling in her heart, I fear trouble may easily arise.”
The imperial edict in her arms was the source of trouble. Thinking of what she might have to face afterward—including but not limited to the classic palace intrigues, jealousy and rivalry, false accusations and poisoning, pregnancy and miscarriage, schemes and deceit…
At the thought of any one of those scenes, Lin Yuanjin’s scalp tingled.
Especially since she had not even entered the Crown Prince’s residence yet—just the covert struggles and hypocrisy among the sisters in the household already made her want to close her eyes and escape.
If she thought even more pessimistically, she might not even live to reach that point—colloquially speaking, she might not survive past three episodes.
Although she did not want to die, Lin Yuanjin had always not hesitated to assume the worst about her own fate.
“You are about to become the Crown Princess, soaring to great heights. Can she still surpass you?” The concubine-born sister dismissed it lightly, raising her brows with a faint sneer.
Lin Yuanjin did not reply, her mind still occupied with her concerns.
Perhaps it was instinct toward danger—she felt that precisely because of this sudden disparity, she was even more worried that Lin Weiyin would do something. In the past, the difficulties had only been minor skirmishes, but now that the marriage decree had been issued, everything had become uncertain.
The elders would have many considerations, but the young might not.
At this moment, the crowd shifted slightly, opening a path.
“Now that Jin’er is about to become the noble Crown Princess, and in the future will be Empress above all others, she has brought great honor to our Lin family.” The old madam of the Lin family, leaning on her cane, parted the younger generation and walked before Lin Yuanjin, looking at her with a kind and benevolent expression. “An obedient and clever good child—henceforth, you will be the pride of our Lin family.”
Lin Yuanjin hesitated to speak. Meeting the satisfied expressions of the old madam and Father Lin, she ultimately said nothing.
One must know that before today, both the old madam and Father Lin had more than once scolded her for being inferior to Lin Weiyin in progress and intelligence—having only beauty yet unworthy of cultivation, no different from rotten wood.
Even as recently as yesterday, if Lin Yuanjin made the slightest move that did not please them or Lin Weiyin, she would be confined or made to kneel in the ancestral hall to reflect.
In her previous life, she had never written a single self-criticism as a good student. In this life, the reflections she had written and the scriptures she had copied as punishment could be piled into heaps.
How could it be that now, when Lin Weiyin had stormed into the residence in anger, they acted as though they had seen nothing at all.
Although she knew that in this feudal era, such behavior—fawning over the high and trampling the low—was commonplace, under such a complete reversal of attitude, everything felt so ironic.
Now, since Lin Yuanjin had been forcibly transmigrated to ancient times, sixteen years had passed without her even noticing.
Heaven did not follow human wishes. Perhaps it was psychological, but her luck had always been particularly poor.
In her previous life, she had rushed home in the rain, holding a report card that placed her in the top ten of the entire school—enough to secure entry into a key provincial school—and nervously handed it to her parents. What she received in return was their impatient shoving. They locked her in her room and prepared to marry her off in exchange for bride price.
That very night, she developed a high fever. Her parents thought she was pretending. With the door shut, already malnourished, she did not even have the strength to reach out for help. Her vision went black, and she transmigrated to ancient times.
In this life, Lin Yuanjin’s status was not considered lowly, yet she was just as unable to control her own fate.
Her father was a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, who only regarded her as a tool for political marriage. In her mother’s eyes, she was inferior in every way to her sweet-tongued and considerate elder legitimate sister, Lin Weiyin.
After transmigrating, seeing parents who looked extremely similar to those in her previous life, perhaps due to the stress before death, Lin Yuanjin was always particularly uneasy.
Just as Lin Weiyin had thought, Lin Yuanjin was indeed afraid—but what she feared was a death that, to her, felt within arm’s reach.
Since in ancient times even studying desperately was no longer useful, she numbly gave up struggling.
Whatever the elders told her to do, she would do. If they told her not to, she would absolutely not do even a little more. As long as she could live without worry for food and clothing, nothing else mattered.
It was just that the peaceful life Lin Yuanjin had wanted had now been shattered, and was charging forward without hesitation toward a visibly dark direction.
And so, without her noticing.
Time passed like a white colt flashing by, like sand slipping through fingers, quietly flowing away.
Since the Emperor’s bestowal of marriage, invitation cards sent to the Lin residence had come in an endless stream.
Many people had not even known that Lin Weiyin had a younger sister. Now, without any suspense, she had defeated all the popular candidates, including the daughters of the Cui and Sheng families, and was about to become Crown Princess.
The Emperor had long intended to appoint a Crown Princess, but had not decided on a candidate. Now that the choice had been made, the Ministry of Rites quickly began proceeding with the Six Rites1Six Rites (六礼): the six traditional steps of marriage in ancient China—proposal (纳采), inquiry of the bride’s name/birth details (问名), divination for compatibility (纳吉), betrothal gifts (纳征), setting the wedding date (请期), and the wedding ceremony (亲迎)..
From the palace, ritual officials and matrons were sent to the Lin residence to instruct her. For a time, many officials who had rarely interacted with the Lin family before came visiting. Since the day of the marriage decree, Lord Lin had been beaming, as if the Lin family were now flourishing.
Day after day, Lin Weiyin watched as congratulatory gifts crowded their way into Lin Yuanjin’s courtyard.
The once quiet place grew increasingly bustling. The younger sister who had once been ignored was now, under the matrons’ instruction, studying palace etiquette every day, as if she had been reborn. The disparity in her heart grew greater and greater.
Even Lady Lin, who had always favored her, comforted her multiple times.
“Yuanjin originally had no intention of becoming Crown Princess, but when the Emperor bestows, it cannot be refused.” Lady Lin sat at the table, holding a teacup, earnestly advising Lin Weiyin before her. “Mother knows you have high aspirations, but now that things are set in stone, with her there in the future, your own marriage will not be poor.”
Lin Weiyin curled her lips, yet there was no smile in her eyes.
Not poor?
That was not what she wanted.
“Daughter holds no resentment.” Lin Weiyin smiled faintly, speaking as if with concern. “It is only that I worry—our elders have always been strict, hoping Yuanjin would improve. She was often harshly treated at home in the past. If she goes to the imperial family in the future with thorns in her heart, what should be done?”
Lady Lin paused, as if she had never considered this before.
The old madam, who was sipping tea at the side, frowned.
“Why not choose an auspicious day? Let your daughter accompany her younger sister up the mountain to a temple to pray for blessings. I can take the opportunity to test and guide her a few times. For her and for the Lin family… it would be greatly beneficial.”
Lin Weiyin’s smile was gentle, her eyes sinister, a plan already forming in her heart.
Set in stone?
This was only the beginning.
Footnotes
1
Six Rites (六礼): the six traditional steps of marriage in ancient China—proposal (纳采), inquiry of the bride’s name/birth details (问名), divination for compatibility (纳吉), betrothal gifts (纳征), setting the wedding date (请期), and the wedding ceremony (亲迎).
