Chapter 1 His… Bride?
- It was autumn in the year 2015 when Xia Micheng took the train to Haicheng City from the countryside.
- She had been abandoned in the countryside when she was a nine year-old. It was only on this day that she was finally being taken back to the city. There was only a single reason for this—the Xia family intended to marry her into the Orchid Garden in order to counteract their son’s bad luck. This was a practise that was supposed to save an ailing one’s life.
- She had heard that the groom from the Orchid Garden was already terminally ill. Neither of the Xia family’s two daughters were willing to marry him, so the people of the Xia Family took her back from the countryside—where she had lived all this while—so that she could take their place instead.
- Xia Micheng sat on her bunk with a book in her hand. Just then, the door suddenly opened. The bitingly frigid wind invaded the space along with a sickening, sweet metallic scent of blood.
- Xia Micheng looked up, only to see a tall and handsome man suddenly topple over into the room.
- He was unconscious.
- A few people dressed in black swiftly charged in. “Boss, there’s no one around now. Let’s immediately dispatch him.”
- “Who said that there’s no one here?”
- The leader of this group—a man with a scar seemingly caused by the slash from a blade—glanced at Xia Micheng.
- Xia Micheng hadn’t imagined that misfortune after misfortune would pile up this quickly, nor did she expect that this man who suddenly collapsed in her carriage would end up jeopardizing her life. Heavy murderous intent swirled in the scarred man’s eyes; it was apparent that he wanted to silence her by killing her.
- Xia Micheng attempted to keep her composure as she glanced at the weapons in their hands before frantically begging for her life. “Please don’t hurt me. I didn’t see anything!”
- The scarred man walked closer to her to take a look at Xia Micheng’s face. She had a veil on, which obscured her face, but her clear eyes were exposed to the outside world.
- Those clear eyes were unbelievably crystalline. Even when they were darting around, they still managed to be so gentle and beautiful.
- The scarred man had never seen such a pair of stunning, alluring eyes before; he was taken by them in an instant. Adding on the fact that he hadn’t touched a single woman in recent days, it wasn’t surprising that less than savory intentions arose within him.
- “My pretty little thing, we can leave you unharmed, but you’ll have to service me and my comrades here.”
- Xia Micheng’s long, feathery lashes trembled as she said in a pitiful tone, “I don’t want to die. I’m scared. As long as you don’t hurt me, I’ll serve you well.”
- The scarred man could no longer restrain himself at the sound of the girl’s wobbly and feeble pleas as he straightaway leaped onto her, pinning her under his body.
- “Boss, you go first. We’ll go ahead and send this guy on his merry way before we enjoy ourselves.”
- With the ringing of vulgar laughter in his ears and the feeling of the warm feminine body under his own, the scarred man put down his weapon and reached out to tear at the buttons of Xia Micheng’s shirt.
- However, an alabaster little hand suddenly grabbed at him.
- The scarred man looked up and instantly saw the girl’s clear, crystalline eyes. Right now, her eyes had lost the weak and panicked look to them; a cold glint shone in them instead.
- “You!”
- The scarred man was about to continue, but Xia Micheng raised her hand and drove the silver needle she held in it into his head with an unbelievably smooth motion.
- The scarred man’s eyes closed as he fell straight to the ground, unconscious.
- “Boss!”
- The other men in black were taken aback. They tried to surge forward, but then the man who had collapsed earlier abruptly opened his eyes. With a sweep of his arm, he snatched away the weapon that one of the men in black was holding.
- One by one, the men dressed in black collapsed to the ground.
- It was so sudden that they didn’t even have the time to process what was happening.
- Xia Micheng sat up. She had already known that this man was pretending to be unconscious; the blood on him was not his own.
- Xia Micheng raised her head to look at the man. He too looked back at her. He had a pair of narrowed eyes that had a universe of meanings behind them. They were as sharp as an eagle’s talons, and there were even abysses hiding at the bottom of his eyes; whoever looked into them would feel like they were being sucked in.
- “Young Master, I apologize for our late arrival.”
- Their saviors had arrived and began to clean up the aftermath in an orderly fashion. A trusted subordinate handed a clean handkerchief to the man.
- The man wiped his hands in a most graceful way, before striding over to Xia Micheng with steady and composed steps. His knuckles popped out as his fingers closed around her delicate jaw.
- He narrowed his eyes, sizing her up with a somewhat amused look. His voice was low and charismatic as he spoke. “How do you think I will handle you?”
- His calloused fingers gripped her jaw tightly. Xia Micheng was forced to look up at him. The man towered over her, and his handsomeness was beyond this world. His aura was like the night—strong and powerful, yet chilly as well.
- He had already cleaned his hands earlier, but she could still smell that sickly sweet and metallic tang of blood on him.
- She had seen something she wasn’t supposed to, but it wasn’t easy for her to just turn around and run; this man was rather dangerous.
- Smack!
- Xia Micheng straightaway slapped the man’s hand away. “Let go of me! I am the one who will be marrying into the Orchid Garden!” she said with a stern face.
- The one who will be marrying into the Orchid Garden? The man raised an eyebrow. How interesting. His… bride?
- “You’re from Haicheng City? Then you should know that one of the Xia family’s daughters is going to marry into the Orchid Garden. This wedding is going to rock the entire city, and I am that bride that they speak of. Do you think that you wouldn’t run into even bigger problems if anything were to happen to me? Release me, and it will be as if I haven’t seen anything. I will not speak about this as well!”
- Xia Micheng really had to thank her stepmother Li Qianhui now. Li Qianhui had only given her an economy class train ticket for her trip back to Haicheng City. However, she was the one who organized the wedding—a grandiose, extravagant affair that was supposed to boost her reputation.
- The Xia Family’s daughter’s marriage into the Orchid Garden was the biggest scoop in Haicheng City, so Xia Micheng was gambling on the chance that the man didn’t want any extra trouble.
- The man looked at her with interest. He had been on the receiving end of an assassination attempt from some contract killers hired by his competitors on this day; meeting this girl was a complete accident.
- He saw that she was no older than twenty. Even though her face was drained of blood and her clothes were in disarray, her clear eyes were still bright, with a cleverness hiding within and a blinding brilliance that shone in them.
- Most importantly, she was his bride.
- The man averted his gaze and left with his men.
- Xia Micheng slowly unclenched her fists; her nails had been digging into her palm.
- The man turned his head, amused. He looked at her and said to her slowly so that she could read his lips, “We will meet again, soon.”
- ……
- The Xias’ wedding was held at Magnifica Manor.
- Xia Erxiang peered at her older half-sister Xia Micheng as they waited in the bride’s lounge. “Xia Micheng, your mother died when you were nine. Later on, you pushed Grandpa down the stairs with your own two hands. Even the astrologer said that you’re a walking harbinger of bad luck; that was why dad sent you away to the countryside. If it wasn’t for this wedding that’s supposed to counteract the Orchid Garden’s bad luck, you would have to spend the rest of your days in the boonies. So, you should recognize your place. You’re not a daughter of the Xia Family; you’re just a dog to us!”
- “Who are you calling, dog?” Xia Micheng said blandly as she sat in front of the dressing counter.
- Xia Erxiang put her hands on her hips. “You of course!”
- Xia Micheng’s lips quirked up into a smile. “I know already, so you don’t need to continue yapping.”
- It was only then that Xia Erxiang realized that she had played into Xia Micheng’s hands. She peered at Xia Micheng’s clear, sharp eyes. She had had a veil on her face the entire time—ever since her journey from the countryside—but the eyes that peeked out above the veil were so very attractive; just those eyes alone would make anyone think that she was a gorgeous woman whose beauty could fell entire cities.
- Xia Erxiang was jealous beyond belief. How she wished she could scoop out Xia Micheng’s eyes. How could this country bumpkin be beautiful? She was just hoodwinking everyone. She was clearly a hideous thing!
- “Micheng, the time has come. You may leave now!” Right at that moment, Xia Chunyang and Li Qianhui entered along with an entourage of important guests.