Após Casamento por Substituição na Família Nobre, Ela Morre e Escapa

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Bianjing was graced with a rare, heavy snowfall that lasted through the night. Snowflakes fell thick and fast, blanketing the city for six or seven hours without pause, quietly covering the jade tiles and vermillion eaves, pavilions and towers of the Marquis of Eternal Peace’s residence.

At the break of dawn, the world seemed still half asleep, garbed in silver, silent and picturesque, with only a few plum trees blooming serenely in the courtyard.

Inside the Marquis’s inner chambers, in the Soaring Clouds Pavilion, a maid named Su Yue poked her head from the warm quilts, only to be driven back under the covers by the sudden chill. Wide awake, she hesitated a moment before steeling herself, throwing off the bedding and swiftly donning an elegant lotus-colored, narrow-sleeved short coat embroidered with orchids and a floor-length skirt, then slipped out of bed.

A younger maid, Xiang Mo, stirred at the movement, rubbing her sleepy eyes and mumbling, “Sister Su Yue, why are you up so early?”

Su Yue blew into her hands for warmth, her breath misting in the cold. “It’s the first day of the month. The young madam is sure to be up early—I must go keep her company.”

After a quick wash, Su Yue placed a pot of mushroom and chicken broth, which had been simmering by the fire, into a food box. She layered on a deep-purple, silk-cotton vest, lifted the curtain to check the snow, and though it was only a few steps, the snow was so heavy she returned to fetch an umbrella before heading out.

She was the dowr