On my wedding night, I was about to drink the ceremonial cup with Lin Ye'an when his childhood sweetheart jumped out from under the bed. She climbed onto his lap and whined, "You always stayed at my place before. I cannot sleep when you are not there." Lin Ye'an's face darkened. He dragged her into the side room and looked at me, frozen in my wedding dress. "Mingyue is too wild. I must teach her a lesson and make her remember." Soon Jiang Mingyue's crying came from inside. The passing maids did not blink. One even brought a basin of hot water. "The young master is bullying Miss Jiang again. They have played this game since they were children. Even after the wedding, they cannot stop." "Everyone in the house knows it is consensual." Then they saw me in the corner and their smiles stiffened. "Madam, you are not the first. It is better for everyone if you close one eye." I gripped my wedding dress until my fingertips turned white. "We have not drunk the ceremonial cup. What kind of madam am I?" If I had not married in, then everything I had promised Lin Ye'an, he would get none of it. The red candles burned inside for the length of an incense stick. The maids walked past me to change the water without pausing. At last an older woman said, "Madam, do not stand there. Miss Jiang has clung to the young master since childhood, and he indulges her. You are new. You do not know the rules." "What rules?" I asked. She lowered her voice. "Miss Jiang's father is the master's old classmate. The two families agreed long ago that when the young master inherits the title, she will enter the household."0

"So tonight, I am the one who must yield?" I asked. The old woman sighed and carried her basin away. When the side room door finally opened, Lin Ye'an came out with his collar loose and a faint scratch on his neck. He frowned when he saw me, as if I were the one who had done something wrong. "Why are you still standing here?" "Waiting for an explanation." "There is nothing to explain. Mingyue is spoiled. I will deal with her." "You dealt with her for an incense stick," I said. "The whole household knows. They call me the second woman before I have even drunk the cup." His face changed. "Do not make a scene on our wedding night." "I am not making a scene. I am annulling the marriage." He laughed, disbelieving. "You cannot. The contract is signed. The betrothal gifts have been delivered." "The contract says the marriage is complete after the ceremonial cup," I said. "We did not drink it. The gifts will be returned. The shops and the salt license my family promised you will be withdrawn." His smile vanished. "Shen Suining, you would use that to threaten me?" Jiang Mingyue appeared at the door, her eyes still red. "Sister Shen, this is boring. Brother Lin marrying you is a favor. Do not refuse a face when it is given." I looked at her and suddenly did not want to argue. Arguing with these people would only make me as dirty as they were. Lin Ye'an put his arm around her shoulder and turned back into the room. The door closed.0

I walked out of the wedding courtyard still wearing my red dress. The servants watched me from the corridors but no one dared stop me. At the gate, the steward asked whether I wanted a carriage. "No," I said. "Tell your master that the Shen family will send men for the gifts at dawn." I walked through the night streets to my family's shop. My parents were awake, waiting for news of the wedding. When they saw me alone in my bridal clothes, my mother's face went white. I told them everything. My father was silent for a long time. Then he said, "Good. I never liked him." The next morning, the Shen family's men carried every betrothal gift back to the Lin house and set them in the front courtyard. Lin Ye'an's mother came out screaming. "You have ruined my son's reputation!" "Your son ruined it himself," my father said. "He left my daughter standing in her wedding dress while he entertained another woman. Ask the servants. They will tell you." The neighbors had gathered. The Lin family's gate had never been so crowded. Lin Ye'an did not come out. I stood across the street and watched the red boxes pile up. Everything I had brought into that house was leaving with me. It was the first time in years I had felt clean.0