All three of my sisters were poisoned, bedridden with pale faces, delirious and incoherent. I glanced at them once and thought that even such intelligent and talented sisters could end up like this, leaving me with a faint sense of relief that I didn’t quite understand.
No one knew how they were poisoned, only that it had happened three days before the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. After being poisoned, they fell unconscious. Although some suspected it was someone from the tribe, no one could find any evidence to prove it.
In the span of these three days, as the tribe thoroughly investigated and examined everyone, I was also questioned. But no one thought I could be responsible because I was simply too insignificant in their eyes. I couldn’t have been capable of such a scheme—so cunning and silent—that no one even noticed how it was done.
Three days later, amidst the chaos of my sisters’ poisoning, I was summoned by the tribal elder to meet a group of people who had come to deliver medicine from afar. Among them was a young man about seventeen years old, leaning against the doorway, his expression neither hurried nor serious, looking slightly indifferent yet piercingly sharp.
“Who would’ve thought that after several days of waiting, the poisoned person would be you?” he said. Then, with a faint smile, he casually asked if I would dare to drink the medicine he had brought.
I froze for a moment, unable to understand the meaning behind his words. However, when his companions handed over the medication, I had no choice but to reluctantly accept. Only later did I realize that the medicine was to save my sisters' lives...
“Yes, this medicine is indeed very bitter.” The young man called Zijing straightened his posture and addressed the tribal elder, saying, “I think the poisoning of these three young ladies must have something to do with me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have summoned me in such a manner and insisted on having me intervene.”
I looked at him. Zijing, a young man of no more than seventeen or eighteen years, possessed an aura that was distinctly refined and striking. His voice was calm and gentle as he turned to me and said, “I’ve already informed you about the most straightforward treatment for this. This matter…”
“Enough,” the elder interrupted him, “Please discuss this with the merchant team leader. You have fulfilled your responsibility. You may leave.”
Zijing glanced at me one more time, and then he left. I lowered my head, avoiding his gaze.
I had always known that I was merely a dispensable existence in the family. People preferred to whisper about me behind closed doors, doubting my value. It was not that I was incompetent—I was the eldest daughter, born with the responsibilities of managing family affairs, yet my meekness and apparent ineptitude had turned me into an afterthought in their eyes. I thought I could peacefully drift through life like this, unacknowledged, unseen—a futile existence.
But I never anticipated...
The elders suddenly made a decision that was so incomprehensible to me that it almost shook my perception of reality.
They wanted me to marry... Zijing.
I first explained myself to the elders, stating that I had spent over thirty years in the family as an inconspicuous and powerless eldest daughter. I lacked cultivation achievements, elegance, and the charm of youth. Despite this, I had contented myself with a modest life. My only goal was to live quietly, fulfilling minor responsibilities. That had been my simple vision for life.
But now, they wanted to send me, someone no better than a commoner, to another family.
Who would believe such a scenario?
Zijing wasn’t even twenty years old yet, but his cultivation level at seventeen had already exceeded the achievements of many older practitioners.
He was, perhaps, the type of person for whom the phrase “blessed by Heaven” was meant.
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