A carriage sped down a bumpy little road, driven by a middle-aged man who looked about forty or fifty. But inside this ordinary carriage sat three very unordinary people.
Adrian Night sat with his arms folded and eyes closed, resting, while Lucian Vane kept fiddling with his silver needles as if studying something. The third, silent passenger was Ivy Shen.
That morning, Lana had brought her wash water and learned she was going out, then delivered a wooden box, saying it was from Steward Liu. Ivy found an excuse to send Lana away, then curiously opened the box to find a small white bottle and a note inside.
Face-Changing Elixir: just smear it on your face and your skin turns yellow, wrinkly, and your looks change drastically. To undo it, just dampen your face with warm water for a bit, then rinse with clean water, and you’ll go back to normal.
Steward Liu giving her the Face-Changing Elixir was already surprising, but what really got her was the note at the end: 'It’s time to be yourself again. Don’t worry, I’m here.'
It wasn’t strange that Steward Liu knew about her peerless beauty—he’d raised her since childhood. But why help her disguise herself instead of letting her show her real face? Wasn’t that weird? Was there some secret behind it? And what did 'be yourself again' even mean? Who was she really supposed to be?
Suddenly, Ivy started to think this so-called 'foolish young miss' wasn’t simple at all. Adrian Night and Lucian Vane were both drop-dead gorgeous, yet willing to marry a 'dummy.' Plus, judging by their skills, they could handle anything themselves—so why go out of their way to drag her along?
Secrets, secrets—right now Ivy felt like she’d fallen into a puzzle, and this puzzle seemed way too deep!
"Why so quiet? Regretting not bringing a maid?" Lucian Vane finally asked, waving his silver needles around for ages and getting no response from her.
Hearing that, Ivy glanced up at Lucian. Everyone had their own agenda, but what if they couldn’t find Master Xuanluo and she couldn’t go home—what then?
At that moment, Ivy suddenly felt a little sad. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath and let it go. If she really couldn’t go back, then she’d just live out this life well—as long as she didn’t have to get married. But there was one thing she refused to ignore or run away from.
She had to solve the mystery!
After all, no matter what, she was living in someone else’s body. Whether she ever made it home or not, she felt obligated to uncover these secrets—if you borrow someone’s body, you’ve got to do something for them, right? Plus, she’d always had a bold hunch: the original Ivy Shen was probably no ordinary person!
"Why aren’t you talking?" Lucian Vane asked again, noticing she was staring at him without saying a word.
"Nothing worth saying," Ivy quickly shook off her heavy thoughts. For now, she could only ‘ride the donkey while reading the play’—just take things as they come and see what happens!
"Oh? How come you seem like a totally different person after getting married, huh?"
Ivy shot back sarcastically, "People always change! Before, I was just acting, tricking you guys into marrying me. But now I realize—handsome men aren’t all that. Sure, you look good, but you don’t have a clue about romance or how to treat a woman. So really, there’s no need for me to keep sticking my warm face to your cold butts, right?!"
Lucian nodded, "Yeah, don’t go pasting your face around. With your waxy yellow complexion, it’s honestly scary. You look even uglier today! I think you should just slap on more lime—honestly, a plaster-white face would look way better than your yellow dung one!"