The Second Daughter is Not Normal!

Death/Wedding

Outside the Minister of Rites' manor, firecrackers lit up and crowds happily smiled, laughed, and chatted amongst one another. Today was the wedding of the Minister of Rites, Minister Zhu Yuan's Eldest daughter to Right Prime Minister Li's eldest son, Li Wei.

"Congratulations Minister Zhu, they are a perfect match."

"Madame Gong, Eldest Miss Yu Xiao and Young Master Wei must have been destined for one another. They are a picture-perfect match."

"The city's beauty and the young talented Master are definitely well-matched! Congratulations!!"

Everyone echoed the same sentiments and commentaries as they greeted and congratulate Minister Zhu and Madame Gong.

The whole atmosphere was filled with nothing but joy and harmony. Not even one of the guests who attended the grand wedding was aware that just last night, the Second Miss of the Zhu Manor had breathed her last breath.

Now, they all knew that the Second Miss Zhu (Zhu Chen Lu) was the one who was originally engaged with Right Prime Minister Li's eldest son (Li Wei) from birth, and that the Zhu manor had completed a substitute bride - which was not commonly heard of. But in thinking about what young Master Wei had mentioned a year ago about his encountered with a wise monk at the famous Taiyang Temple, everyone could not help but silently agreed with the switch.

About a year ago, when Li Wei went to Taiyang Temple to pray, he encountered a wandering monk who had advised him to get married before turning 22-years old. According to Li Wei, the monk did not go into detail, but had mentioned that if Li Wei failed to get married by 22, he'll meet with great misfortune.

When the Right Prime Minister and his wife heard of this, their hearts filled with distress. They wanted to get Li Wei married the very next day. Afterall, Li Wei was the eldest and only legal (or in other words Di) son of the Right Prime Minister; nothing can happen to him. So, even though Chen Lu was only 17-years old at the time, since Li Wei was engaged to Zhu Chen Lu since birth, Madame Su (Right Prime Minister Li's wife) wanted to rush up the wedding and planned to go ask for her hand the very next day. It was Li Wei, who convinced them to wait a year.

It took numerous arguments and words, but eventually, the Li couple was persuaded by Li Wei to wait until Chen Lu became of age the following year.

Unfortunately, who could have predicted that Chen Lu would meet with such disaster.

With Li Wei's 22nd birthday just around the corner, and Chen Lu was not showing any signs of recovery, the Li couple became more and more frantic. When they eventually brought up little mentions about dissolving the engagement with the Zhu family, Minister Zhu made the decision to switch the bride from Chen Lu to Yu Xiao. After all, having a relationship with the Li family was very important to his career. Minister Zhu could not just sit still and let the opportunity slip away, when he still has many daughters left who could take Chen Lu's place.

The engagement between the Zhu family and Li family was set up by Grandfather Li. When he was alive, Grandfather Li was a very spiritual person and would visit Taiyang Temple frequently. One time, while praying at Taiyang Temple, he met Minister Zhu and Madame Senli (Zhu Chen Lu's mother) and had overheard a high monk say that Madame Senli had the fate to bring wealth and prosperity to her husband. Thinking about the high monk's words and seeing the prosperity of the Senli family and how the Zhu family had risen from a 5th rank official family to a 2nd ranked official family in no time at all, Grandfather Li felt that Madame Senli's daughter may carry the same fate as Madame Senli.

In wishing the best things for his eldest grandson, Grandfather Li quickly betrothed Li Wei to Madame Senli's daughter - Chen Lu, when she was born. Prime Minister Li and Madame Su was not even given a tiny bit of say in the matter. So, when talks about possibly dissolving the engagement with the Zhu family arose, the Li couple entertained the idea of marrying their son to a more important official's daughter, such as the Grand Tutor's family, First Rank Military Families, Noble families, etc.

They felt that those First Ranked families will be better able to support Li Wei with his career and as such, they were very reluctant to accept Minister Zhu's bride substitute proposal. It was only after they took into consideration the huge dowry the Zhu family promised to give and the fact that Zhu Yu Xiao is one of the few recognized beauties on the city's famous Shensheng Di Mei beauty & talent ranking, that the Li couple finally agreed.

...

As the wedding celebration progressed, inside Chen Lu's room, there was a cold chill in the air.

"Hmpf. Why us?!" Ju Mi, a lean young maid, wrinkled her brows and scrunched up her mouth as she grabbed one end of the long white blanket.

While making sure that the ends of the white sheet that she grabbed was for the feet, Ju Lo, a chubby and tall maid quickly picked up the ends of the white sheet and shook it free of folds. "Are you expecting the Eldest Miss to do this?! Just hurry up. I can't bear to stay in the room with this dead wench any longer!" Ju Lo furrowed her brows and cursed.

Both Ju Mi and Ju Lo are 2nd ranked maids who served under Chen Lu. Like many of the maids that served Chen Lu, Ju Lo had always shown Chen Lu very little respect. Especially, because of her association with Madame Gong, she felt belittled to have to serve Chen Lu and would slack off most of the time. In fact, if it was not for Madame Gong personally ordering her to take care of Chen Lu's body today, Ju Lo would've never cared to step foot in this dreaded courtyard again.

As Ju Lo cursed about this dreaded task to herself, Ju Mi hurriedly followed in Ju Lo's lead and shook out the folds on her end. While turning her head away from Chen Lu's pale and lifeless face, Ju Mi shook off the shudder that ran down her back and could not agree more with Ju Lo. Even though the doctor had only declared the second miss's death yesterday and Chen Lu still looked very human, there was something in the air that chilled Ju Mi all the way to the depths of her bones. The scary sensation, especially seemed to intensify when thoughts of how she had treated Chen Lu before popped in her mind.

Feeling her heart chill more and more as she stayed in the room with Chen Lu's body, Ju Mi wasted no time in flicking the white cloth up in the air and then pulled it down to cover the lifeless young woman's body below. As the sheet fell on Chen Lu's body and was slowly hiding her face, because of the fear she felt, Ju Mi forced herself to eye away from Chen Lu's face. However, at the very last second - just as the last bit of the sheet fell over Chen Lu's nose, Ju Mi could not quell her curiosity anymore and subconsciously lifted her eyes towards Chen Lu's face. 

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