Chapter 1: A Second Life, A New Game:
The winter wind cut sharp through the Shen Manor, rustling through the bare branches of the courtyard plum trees. A thin layer of frost covered the flagstones like a sheet of cold silk. Servants shuffled hurriedly across the grounds, their eyes lowered, their mouths sealed tight. Word had already spread — the young ladies of the Shen family had once again been involved in an incident.
In the main hall of the ancestral courtyard, silence pressed like a weight on the shoulders of everyone present. Only the low crackling of a brazier broke the tension.
At the center stood Shen Yulan, her thin shoulders trembling, wrapped in a snow-white robe. Her pale lips were tinged with blue, and her soft eyes shimmered with tears. Anyone who saw her like this would feel their heart soften.
Before her, Commander Shen sat grim-faced on the main seat, brows furrowed deeply. Though middle-aged, his upright posture and cold aura reminded all that he comes from a military background, though in sixteen years of his serving, he had merely secured primary seventh rank as the county garrison commander in the Meixi county.
[Meixi County, under Lia'an prefecture in Hangzhou city.]
His gaze was like a knife — cold, exacting, and merciless.
"Kneel properly," he barked at Shen Yuhan, who stood beside her sister.
But Shen Yuhan, who should have been shaking in fear, remained standing straight, her soaked robe clinging to her frame. Her dark eyes, half-lidded and indifferent, held no trace of panic.
She looked completely out of place.
Unlike her sister, Shen Yuhan was taller, colder, and gave off a detached air like someone watching a theater performance she wasn't particularly invested in.
"Father," Shen Yulan whimpered, falling to her knees and clutching at her sleeves. "Let eldest sister go this time. I'm sure she didn't mean it. Even though she pushed me in the cold Lotus pond, even though she knows my health is frail and I cannot be exposed to cold…" Her voice broke. "I can understand sister's hatred toward me. If it weren't for my mother and I, sister wouldn't have lost her mother so early. It's my sin, not hers…"
She paused to sob delicately, her body trembling with grief.
"…If sister truly wants me dead to ease her heart, then let it be so. I do not blame her."
What a scene.
Even the hard-faced steward at the door looked slightly moved.
Shen Yuhan blinked slowly. In her previous life, she had read this exact chapter in a trashy romance novel on a rainy afternoon. Back then, curled on her sofa with tea in hand, she had sneered: Deserved it. Spoiled brat got what was coming.
Now, standing in the shoes of that "spoiled brat," with damp hair clinging to her cheeks and water squelching in her shoes, her perspective had…shifted.
This body was trembling from cold, but the mind inside it was sharp. Calculating. Amused.
God must have a wicked sense of humor, she thought dryly.
She lowered her gaze and smiled, her voice carrying a lazy drawl.
"How touching. A sister who pushes me into a frozen pond, then jumps in herself to turn me into the villain. If I hadn't felt the bruise on my spine from your push, I might've believed your little play."
The hall grew cold.
Commander Shen's expression turned thunderous. "Audacious! You still dare—"
But Shen Yuhan calmly interrupted. "Father, why don't we call in the servants who witnessed the scene? Or do you believe only tears can speak truth?"
That froze Commander Shen in place. Calling witnesses? That was not how these matters were typically handled. It was always the tears, always the younger daughter's pleas, and always Shen Yuhan who was punished.
But this time… Shen Yuhan's eyes gleamed like tempered steel. The obedient daughter who used to stammer and cry was gone.
Shen Yulan flinched slightly, but still kept her pitiful posture. "I was trying to pull sister out… that's when I slipped…"
"Ah," Shen Yuhan drawled, finally kneeling beside her sister — but with the kind of grace and threat that made it seem she was kneeling only to prepare for a strike. "What a brave heart. So brave, in fact, that even when you knew I hate the cold more than you, you still dragged me out in the middle of a snowstorm for a stroll."
"Did I?" Shen Yulan blinked, then quickly looked away. "Sister, if I did wrong… I apologize…"
Shen Yuhan tilted her head, an elegant smile tugging at her lips.
"No need to apologize," she murmured. "You were just following the script."
Shen Yuhan's words, though spoken lightly, hung heavy in the air.
The "script" — only she knew what that meant.
In the novel, this exact scene had played out to perfection. Shen Yulan's frail figure, soaked in cold water, shedding crystalline tears for her hateful elder sister. Her nobility, her sorrow, her generous heart — all had painted Shen Yuhan as a jealous and wicked woman. And the readers, the characters in the story, even the cold-hearted father — they had believed it without question.
But now Shen Yuhan was no longer a character reading lines from someone else's script. She was a killer reborn.
And she was going to rewrite this story.
"Isn't it odd," she continued, tapping her fingers softly against the polished floor. "If I really hated you so much, wouldn't I have pushed you in while no one was watching and then pretended to rescue you? Why would I jump in myself after that? Am I such a fool?"
The room fell silent.
Even Commander Shen frowned, clearly unsettled by his daughter's calm demeanor.
She turned her head to him, eyes glinting under the hall's hanging lanterns. "Father, I don't ask you to believe me. But if the matter is unclear, I suggest we investigate it properly."
Commander Shen's expression darkened. He looked at Shen Yulan, whose eyes shimmered with fresh tears, and then back at Shen Yuhan, whose gaze held no desperation, no fear — only calculated patience.
He didn't like this version of his eldest daughter. She used to be loud, unreasonable, easily angered — easy to control. But now she was too calm. Too sharp. Too… dangerous.
Before he could speak, the heavy curtains were pushed aside.
"Master Shen," Steward Liu entered with a bow, his breath slightly rushed, "the young masters of the Lin and Qi families are here. They say they heard the second miss fell into the pond and wish to see if she is well."
Perfect timing.
Shen Yulan's delicate face lit up with just the right amount of restrained joy. "Young Master Lin came?"
But Shen Yuhan tilted her head slightly, just enough to hide her mocking smile.
Ah yes. Lin Zhixuan. Her supposed childhood sweetheart and fiance. The one who had fallen in love with 'kind and gentle' Shen Yulan and hated Shen Yuhan for always bulling and harming his 'gentle goddes'.
He was supposed to arrive just in time to witness her fragility. To speak up for her. To show his devotion towards her.
Shen Yuhan straightened her back. She was tired of watching this rerun.
"Let them in," Commander Shen said.
Moments later, two young men entered, their elegant outer robes still dusted with snow. Lin Zhixuan stood at the front, tall and noble-looking, with sharp features and a hint of arrogance. Qi Yanzhou trailed behind, yawning slightly as if he would rather be anywhere else.
Qi Yanzhou glanced at the brazier, then at the soaked floor. "Quite the storm. Outside and inside."
The moment Lin Zhixuan's eyes landed on Shen Yulan, his steps quickened. "Second Miss Shen—Yulan, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," Shen Yulan said softly, lowering her gaze with perfect shyness. "I only fell into the pond by accident. I fear… elder sister may have misunderstood me."
Shen Yuhan watched this act play out like a theatergoer bored of the performance.
"I see," Lin Zhixuan said, turning toward Shen Yuhan now. His tone shifted, colder and filled with anger. "So the rumors were true. You lost your temper again, Shen Yuhan?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she looked him up and down once — an assassin's glance — and then let out a low chuckle.
In the book, she had once cried for this man. What a waste of tears.
"Lin gongzi, do you always judge matters based on tears?"
Lin Zhixuan's expression stiffened.
Before he could speak, she rose to her feet, brushing her sleeves clean of dust.
"If there's nothing else," she said lightly, "I'll be returning to my courtyard. I've spent long enough kneeling for a crime I didn't commit."
If they wanted to play with knives in the dark, she would show them what a real blade looked like.
She didn't wait for permission.
She turned and walked out of the ancestral hall, her soaked robes dragging behind her, leaving behind a stunned silence.
Even Shen Yulan, for the first time in a long while, seemed caught off guard.
The "spoiled" Shen Yuhan was gone.
And something far more dangerous had taken her place.