Chapter 1 — Daytime Succubus

On the very day my elder sister was elevated to the prestigious rank of Imperial Noble Consort, our entire household burst into jubilation. None, however, rejoiced quite as much as I. From that moment onward, brazen lawlessness and arrogant tyranny became my defining trademarks across the capital. From the scions of high-ranking dukes down to the most dissolute young loafers, not a single person had escaped the terror of my bullying. My name, Ning Yufei, was whispered with a mixture of dread and resentment. Among all my victims, the one who suffered the most thoroughly and bitterly was Shen Zhu.

The reason was simple: his sister was the Noble Consort, and within the deep confines of the inner palace, she and my elder sister were mortal adversaries locked in a bitter, unyielding struggle for supremacy. Following the golden rule that anyone belonging to the enemy faction deserved zero mercy, I had spent the past few years relentlessly tormenting Shen Zhu at every turn. At the grand spring banquet, I snatched his sweet-osmanthus pastry right from his plate. After lessons ended, I slipped wriggling insects into his study bag. In the quiet corridors, I would deliberately slam my shoulder into his, mocking him for being a frail weakling. Shen Zhu possessed a cold, taciturn disposition, yet no matter how viciously I provoked him, he was always left flustered and helpless. Lowering his long eyelashes, he would only plead in a soft, trembling voice:

"Can you... can you please try to be a bit reasonable?"

Absolutely not. Seeing him look like that only fueled my desire to bully him further. Yet, in my wildest dreams, I never could have imagined that within the span of a mere single year, the very Noble Consort who had lived under my sister's shadow would suddenly turn the tides and ascend to the ultimate throne as the reigning Empress.

I packed my luggage that very night. But as I entered the palace to bid my elder sister farewell, I happened to witness the newly crowned Empress bestowing a marriage decree upon Shen Zhu. Standing in the center of the grand hall, amidst the astonished gazes of everyone present, the very same Shen Zhu whom I had tormented so mercilessly raised his eyes and offered a chilling, meaningful smile:

"This subject humbly requests only the hand of the youngest daughter of the Ning family."

Me: "???" Running away was no longer an option!

1

The grand hall was so quiet that the dropping of a needle could be heard. Shen Zhu's words echoed with crystal clarity directly into my ears.

"The youngest daughter of the Ning family."

Aside from my elder sister, that left only me. Unless Shen Zhu had lost his mind and wanted to fight the Emperor for a woman, it could only mean one thing—he wanted to marry me!

Comprehending the horrifying truth, I scrambled and crawled my way frantically out of the imperial palace. To my utter despair, no sooner had I stepped one foot back into my family estate than the imperial decree arrived right behind me. In the front courtyard, the eunuch holding the yellow scroll wore a beaming, saccharine smile.

"The second daughter of the Ning family, Yufei, is benevolent, virtuous, and blessed with both beauty and talent..."

The eunuch deliberately dragged out his syllables. I shrank back, my neck drawing into my shoulders. Benevolent and virtuous? Blessed with beauty and talent? Me? Just yesterday, I had painted a giant turtle on Shen Zhu's back!

Once the decree was read aloud, my mother embraced me tightly, her voice choked with tears:

"Oh heavens above, what a boundless blessing!"

"That young man Shen Zhu is such a fine catch—distinguished in appearance, gentle in temperament, and impeccably upright."

"And now he is even the Empress's own younger brother; his future prospects are simply limitless."

With that, she muttered curses at my supposed lack of sense, poking me hard on the forehead.

"Just look at yourself! All you ever do day in and day out is run wild and cause trouble. Is there a single soul in the entire capital who doesn't know you are a reckless little tyrant?"

"I used to worry you would end up an old maid whom no one would dare to marry. To secure such a magnificent match with young master Shen is a true testament to our ancestors' accumulated virtue. You’ve struck an absolute fortune!"

I wanted to cry, but tears refused to come. A fortune? This was clearly divine retribution! Shen Zhu was undoubtedly planning to marry me just to exact his revenge slowly and methodically! He would lock me away in some secluded courtyard, force me to eat spoiled food every single day, and make me copy endless volumes of tedious texts, refusing to let me sleep until every page was filled.

"Go, go, go! Head straight to the ancestral hall and offer incense right now!"

"You must thank our ancestors for their divine protection!"

Completely ignoring my expression of sheer terror and resistance, my mother enthusiastically grabbed my wrist and dragged me along. My calves trembled as I was pulled forward, a single desperate thought echoing in my mind: *Respected ancestors, could you please display a miracle just this once? Make Shen Zhu suffer total amnesia and forget the past three years entirely! Or if that is too much to ask... at least bless him with a forgiving heart so he won't hold grudges!*

2

I knelt devoutly in the chilling ancestral hall, kowtowing to the tablets for the entire afternoon. When night finally fell and I lay upon my bed, I tossed and turned incessantly, unable to find peace. It was not until the first faint traces of dawn began to paint the horizon that I finally drifted into a restless slumber, immediately plunging into a terrifying nightmare.

In the dream, glaring crimson characters of double happiness were pasted across every surface, and the flickering candlelight cast a dizzying, eerie glow over the room. I was weighed down by a heavy bridal attire, pinned immobile against the bed. Familiar footsteps approached at a slow, deliberate pace. The young man wore a crimson wedding robe, his tall, slender figure cutting a striking silhouette. Gone was any trace of the old fragility and docility. Step by step, he drew near, leaning down until his low, measured voice brushed against my ear:

"Ning Yufei."

"The debt of three years—tonight, we shall settle it slowly."

Paralyzed by fear, I scrambled frantically backward.

"I was wrong! I promise I'll never bully you again! Shen Zhu, please, just let me go!"

Yet Shen Zhu remained entirely deaf to my pleas. His fingers clamped around my wrist with a crushing force that left me utterly powerless to break free.

"You tormented me for three full years."

"Why on earth would you ever assume I would let you off so easily?"

The boy who once only knew how to lower his gaze and plead with me to be reasonable now wore an expression of chilling, insurmountable authority, radiating an oppressive aura that chilled me to the bone. Desperation washed over me like a towering wave. I bolted upright with a violent gasp, snapping fully awake!

Outside the window, the morning sun was just beginning to break. My cheeks burned fiercely, and I panted heavily, sucking in mouthfuls of air. It was only a dream. Yet the lingering terror felt agonizingly real.

No. I could not simply sit here and await my doom! I had to save myself!

In the entire capital, the only person resourceful enough to devise a scheme that could pull me out of this boiling oil was Xie Xiaolou. He possessed the sharpest mind and the most devious ideas. Furthermore, a vast majority of the malicious tricks I had played on Shen Zhu in the past had been concocted with his assistance. Strictly speaking, he was an accomplice to my crimes. There was no way I would allow myself to suffer divine retribution all alone!

3

Fuming with righteous indignation, I stormed straight into the Xie estate. Xie Xiaolou was lounging languidly on a couch within his study, lazily eating grapes to pass the time. He was dressed in pristine white robes that appeared impossibly elegant. His dark hair cascaded loosely, and his features were bright and refined, making him look the spitting image of a gentle young scholar devoted entirely to the classics. The illusion shattered the moment he opened his mouth, however:

"Oh, Second Miss Ning, I hear you are about to be married off to Shen Zhu?"

Xie Xiaolou laughed outright at my misfortune. I drew in a deep, steadying breath.

"Xie Xiaolou, how do you even have the nerve to laugh?"

"Place your hand over your heart and tell me honestly: weren't those torments I inflicted on Shen Zhu partially your handiwork as well?"

"Me?"

Xie Xiaolou widened his eyes in feigned innocence.

"Ning Yufei, put *your* hand over your heart and tell me which of those schemes I actually forced you to carry out!"

"Oh, shall I list them for you?"

I sat down heavily and began ticking them off on my fingers.

"The time I planted bugs in Shen Zhu's study bag—who was the one who helped me catch those insects?"

"During the Lantern Festival last year, I chased Shen Zhu across three whole streets while holding a barking puppy."

"Who was the one who informed me that Shen Zhu harbored a deep phobia of dogs?"

"At the banquet, I spilled tea to ruin his newly tailored moon-white robe. Who was the one who leaked to me in advance what he would be wearing that day?"

Xie Xiaolou fell silent. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, and after a long pause, muttered:

"At most, I merely provided intelligence!"

"You were always the one shouting from the rooftops about making Shen Zhu suffer."

"Though, now that I think about it, you rode roughshod over the entire capital, making countless aristocratic scions miserable. Why on earth did you keep singling out Shen Zhu to torment for three whole years?"

"What other reason could there be? Wasn't it because his sister kept bullying my sister?"

Whenever the Noble Consort was brought up, it invariably led back to the bitter rivalry she shared with my elder sister. On any given day, that woman would snatch away imperial favor and cast cold, cutting insults at my sister, frequently reducing her to tears of utter frustration and grief. Powerless to intervene directly, my only outlet was to strike back: every time my sister wept, I would go out and thrash Shen Zhu. Eventually, beating him up became a habit, and a perverse compulsion to bully him took deep root in my soul.

Besides, Shen Zhu possessed an extraordinarily striking appearance. Every single time I tormented him, he would simply lower those exceptionally long lashes of his and press his lips tightly together, resembling nothing so much as a delicate orchid battered by a sudden rainstorm. Whenever I pushed him just a bit too far, he would gently tug at my sleeve and whisper:

"Can you... can you please try to be a bit reasonable?"

Each time I heard that low, lingering cadence, my heart felt as though it had been lightly brushed by a kitten's paw.

I remained holed up in the Xie residence for the better part of the day, yet not a single viable escape plan materialized. Just as I was preparing to storm out in defeat, Xie Xiaolou tossed a small wooden box into my lap, mysteriously warning me not to open it until I had returned safely to my own quarters.

4

Xie Xiaolou. The only son of the Minister of Rites, and my partner in crime since the days when we still wore split-bottom trousers. This fellow possessed a razor-sharp tongue coupled with a soft heart, and his head was brimming with more crooked ideas than there were hairs on his scalp. One didn't need to be a genius to guess that the contents of that wooden box were bound to be thoroughly scandalous.

Upon returning home, I pried the lid open. As expected, it contained an assortment of hidden throwing darts, paralyzing powders, and—to my profound shock—even a tightly rolled spring scroll depicting explicit romantic postures! Utterly useless trash. Did he really think I lacked such things? In my own private storehouse, I could easily unearth piles of similar contraband with a flick of my wrist.

Then again, recalling how the imperial wedding gifts had been hauled in by the cartload yesterday, packing the storeroom to the brim, searching for anything right now would be an absolute nightmare. With a sigh, I shoved the box back down into the deepest, most inconspicuous corner of my dowry chest.

No sooner had I tucked it away than my mother's booming voice rang out right behind me:

"Ning Yufei! What on earth are you squatting down there for? Get over here right now and check the dowry inventory!"

"Good heavens, do not fold this patterned brocade so carelessly! Use tissue paper as a buffer!"

I crouched quietly in the corner, shoving the box firmly beneath the lowest layer of the chest. The moment I stood up, my mother's voice struck like thunder.

"The pair of jade *ruyi* sent over by the Shen family has been placed in the front parlor! Once you are married off, you had better take care not to shatter other people's heirlooms..."

"Mother, I haven't even crossed their threshold yet, and already you're weeping over their household property?"

"I am worrying about *you*! Given your clumsy disposition, if you smash their jade on day one, kick over a flower vase on day two, Shen Zhu will personally drag you back here for a refund!"

"A refund would be fantastic."

I stated sincerely:

"I don't particularly want to go over there anyway."

Without missing a beat, my mother rolled up the dowry ledger and smacked me squarely across the shoulder.

5

The eighth day of the sixth month brought brilliant, cloudless skies. It was the day of my wedding.

Throughout the entire day, I was like a puppet manipulated by unseen strings, enduring the endless rituals. The matchmaker supported me as I bowed to heaven and earth before leading me into the bridal chamber. Dragon and phoenix candles sputtered and cracked softly. Draped in the heavy bridal veil, I sat rigidly on the edge of the bed, my sweating palms clutching a tightly wrapped paper packet of paralyzing powder. A few days prior, Xie Xiaolou had patted his chest and guaranteed that this precise dosage was potent enough to knock out a full-grown, healthy man. Just moments earlier, I had secretly dissolved half of it into a cup of wine.

The room remained deathly still. I strained my ears, listening intently. My heartbeat echoed louder and more erratically than the flickering candle flames.

After what felt like an eternity, footsteps approached. The chamber door gently creaked open before clicking shut. A pair of black wedding shoes embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns halted firmly right before my feet. Immediately afterward, the ivory weighing rod extended forward, delicately lifting the heavy crimson veil to let the bright candlelight flood my vision.

I raised my gaze. Shen Zhu stood directly before me, impeccably attired in a vibrant crimson wedding robe. The striking, vivid hue accentuated the porcelain fairness of his classically handsome face, rendering him dazzlingly ethereal. His thick, long eyelashes drooped modestly, casting faint shadows. His brows and eyes maintained their familiar, obedient, and immaculate purity. A faint flush, brought on by the wedding wine, bloomed across his cheeks. He looked astonishingly shy, and heartbreakingly tender.