Chapter 3 Rebirth
"Creaky——"
Someone pushed the door open quietly, with gentle footsteps, like a martial artist.
On the couch lay a girl of sixteen or seventeen, with beautiful eyebrows and eyes, but at this moment, the girl's eyebrows were tightly knitted, her breathing was rapid, and her chest was violently heaving. She must have had a nightmare.
The maid reached out to the person on the bed, but before she touched the person, the person on the bed suddenly turned over, and her hand was as fast as lightning. In a moment, the maid was pinched by the neck and pressed on the couch.
"Little, cough cough... Miss..." The maid opened her eyes in shock, her face flushed due to breathing obstruction.
After seeing the maid's face clearly, Shen Yu suddenly let go of her hand and said uncertainly, "Lv Yao?"
Lv Yao was one of her personal maids. That year, she went to the front line to collect the bones of her father and brother. On the way, she met a group of villains. Her martial arts were abolished. Lv Yao and Hong Qiao died in front of her to save her.
Shen Yu stared at the bed curtains in a daze. Was this a dream? If it was a dream, it was too real. But if it wasn't a dream, rebirth was unheard of.
The maid named Lu Yao rubbed her neck, "Miss, did you have a nightmare?"
Shen Yu was still panting violently, and her back was almost soaked with cold sweat. Just now, she seemed to still feel the bone-chilling coldness and suffocation in the lake.
"Why are you here?"
Lu Yao twisted the towel to clean her face and wiped her sweat for her. "Finally, the fever has subsided. Miss has been in a coma for three days. Even the imperial physician in the palace has been invited to see her."
Shen Yu looked around in a daze, and a long-lost sense of familiarity came over her.
This is her boudoir. From childhood to adulthood, although she has not lived here for a long time, every plant and tree here, every furnishing and layout, were arranged by her brother himself.
There was a dressing box by the window. Shen Yu brushed away Lu Yao's outstretched hand and rushed to the mirror.
The girl in the mirror had bright eyes and white teeth, and her eyebrows and eyes had a heroic spirit that ordinary women did not have. Her face did not have the sickness she had in the Jiang family before, and her eyes did not have the occasional decadence.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Shen Yu could not help but laugh.
God has eyes, she was reborn!
Now Lu Yao is still here, so what about her father and brother?
Shen Yu grabbed Lu Yao, "What year and month is it now?"
Lu Yao was confused by her question and answered blankly: "Ah? Today is the 17th year of Tongxu, September 6th."
Shen Yu silently recited the date in her heart.
In her previous life, when her father and brother went to war, it was the 10th day of September in the 17th year of Tongxu.
She remembered it very clearly. She originally wanted to go with them, but she had reached the age for marriage. Her grandmother was originally scheduled to leave in early September to come to Beijing to see her with her stepmother, so no matter how she threw a tantrum, her father did not agree to let her go that time.
Who would have thought that within a month, in addition to my grandmother, I would also receive news that my father and brother died in Yanliang Pass.
So my father and brother are still alive now.
Great! Everything is still in time.
"What about my father and brother?" Shen Yu hurriedly put on her coat.
Lu Yao smiled playfully, "The general and the young master are meeting guests in the front hall. The Jiang family came to propose marriage."
Shen Yu only heard the first half of the sentence and walked out. When she heard the second half, she suddenly stopped and turned back in surprise, "Who are you talking about? Which Jiang family?"
"Which other Jiang family," Lu Yao said with a smile, "It's the Jiang Shilang that the young lady met in Hongfeng Mountain outside Beijing when she returned to Beijing last time."
Shen Yu's heart suddenly shrank, and the scene of Jiang Lianzhi pulling Lin Qingli away in the lake flashed before her eyes. It seemed as if she was still in the winter ice lake just now, and her body couldn't help trembling.
Seeing this, Lu Yao hurriedly supported her and reached out to touch her forehead, "You don't have a fever, are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere else?"
"It's okay, I'm fine now." Shen Yu said calmly after recovering from her shock.
After that, she went to the front hall, thinking that her first meeting with Jiang Lianzhi was indeed at Hongfeng Mountain in the suburbs of Beijing, but Jiang Lianzhi didn't see her at that time.
The elegant young man was very different from the big and strong man she saw at the border. That was her first heartbeat when she was young.
Later, when the Shen family was in decline, the young man reached out his hand to her, but who knew that his hands would drag her into the abyss.
"Are you happy, Miss?" Lu Yao asked behind her.
"No."
"But didn't the young lady mention that she wanted to meet Minister Jiang a few days ago?"
Shen Yu said solemnly: "It was just a whim. Don't mention it again in the future."
Lu Yao shrank her neck and dared not speak. Shen Yu was always easy to talk to, but the voice just now sounded a bit majestic.
Approaching the front hall, the familiar voice of her father came.
"The Jiang family has always produced civil officials. My daughter grew up with me on horseback since she was a child. She has a bad character and likes to wield swords and guns all day long."
Shen Zhongan took a sip of tea and continued: "She calls herself a horse on the grassland. I'm afraid that the deep mansion can't hold that wild girl. It's hard to manage."
It sounds like a disparagement, but in fact, there is a hint of pride in the words.
Through the window sill, Shen Yu saw her father and brother in the hall again, and her eyes suddenly became hot.
This is not a dream.
Her mother passed away early, and Shen Zhongan and Shen Zhao loved her very much. They were reluctant to leave her alone in Shengjing, so they took her to the border when she was still an infant. Although Shen Zhongan later married a second wife, many of his children were treated harshly by his second wife, and they were worried about her, so they kept her by their side and sent her to her grandmother's house in Xunyang during the war.
The woman in the hall was mostly blocked by the pillars, so it was hard to see who she was. But as soon as she opened her mouth, Shen Yu recognized the voice as Jiang Lianzhi's mother.
Madam Jiang said, "General Shen is joking. My son told me that he should marry a woman like Miss Shen who is as good as a man when he married her last time at the Jokhang Temple. So today I came to propose marriage in person."
Madam Jiang, Shen Yu's mother-in-law in her previous life, had never seen her in a good mood since she married into the Jiang family, and she had never heard her speak in such a gentle tone as this one. She was usually either sarcastic or mocking her.
However, in her previous life, she and Jiang Lianzhi were married by the emperor, and Madam Jiang had never come to propose marriage. Besides, she had never been to the Jokhang Temple, which was simply nonsense.
In her previous life, Madam Jiang was obviously dissatisfied with her in every way, and Jiang Lianzhi was deeply in love with Lin Qingli. It was difficult to disobey the emperor's order to marry her. How could she take the initiative to let his mother come to propose marriage in this life?
Could it be that everything is messed up after living a new life?
The conversation in the hall is still going on.
Shen Zhongan said: "Mrs. Jiang is so straightforward, so I won't beat around the bush. My daughter is now seventeen, and although she has reached the age of marriage, she is a person who can't stop and has a stubborn personality. I'm afraid..."
Mrs. Jiang smiled and said: "I understand what the general means, but engagement is one thing. We can choose an auspicious day to get married after Miss Shen turns eighteen. I think it's better to arrange the marriage for the two of them first, so that both will not be delayed."