The Runaway Bride in a Substitute Marriage Story 02

In the Pingyuan Hou's household, the old marquis and his wife had two sons. The eldest son inherited the title and became the current Pingyuan Hou, and he had only one daughter, the eldest young lady, Jiang Chenyao. The second branch had a son and a daughter, and that daughter was the female lead, Jiang Lingxuan.

The two branches were not particularly close, but they maintained a surface-level civility.

So when Lady Pingyuan proposed taking the two young ladies of the mansion to Yunfu Temple to offer incense and pray for blessings, the second branch naturally had no reason to refuse.

And so the matter was settled.

Chen Yao: "Fine, whatever."

To be honest, she was living well in the marquis's household—eating well, sleeping well, with little maids to massage her shoulders when tired and ancient storybooks to read when bored.

She had only been in this tiny world for a little over half a month, yet she already felt she had completely sunk into laziness.

"Think about your mission. How can you sleep at night?" System 04 gnashed its teeth in frustration.

"Oh, it's not like I'm being lazy and not doing the mission. The plotline just hasn't come up yet, has it?" Chen Yao argued confidently.

System 04 had long seen through its host's true nature as a slacker. It knew she just wanted to follow the plotline passively, earn a bit of base character value, and had no interest in any extra effort. It was honestly exasperated.

Seeing that System 04 had gone silent, Chen Yao figured she had annoyed it. Thinking that they were, after all, good partners who would be bound together for a long time, she decided to console it.

"Look, isn't the scene of the male and female leads meeting for the first time at the temple coming up soon? I promise I'll be a good foil to the female lead and let the male lead see her virtues at once."

The plotline at Yunfu Temple was still relatively important in the early stages, after all, since this was the first meeting of the male and female leads.

This meeting didn't make the male lead, Xie Qingyan, fall in love with the female lead, Jiang Lingxuan, at first sight, but it did give him a fairly accurate understanding of the temperaments of the two Jiang sisters.

It also laid the groundwork for later—when the supporting female character fled the marriage, the female lead substituted as the bride, and on their wedding night, the male lead could immediately believe that it was the supporting female character who had caused the trouble.

After all, the eldest young lady of the Jiang family, despite her stunning beauty, was utterly willful and spoiled. The second young lady, though not a rare beauty—only modestly pretty and proper—was gentle, courteous, and measured in her behavior.

Especially her eyes, which were clear as if they were fresh snow melting in a mountain stream, transparent to the bottom.

Chen Yao's slender, elegant fingers rolled a grape in her hand, then lifted it to her lips and took a delicate bite. Clear, glistening juice immediately stained her full, rosy lips.

She had run into the female lead before, in the Qing Shui Garden. Indeed, she was a fresh and charming beauty, like a pure white jasmine, with a pair of large, round eyes that were innocent and lively. She was quite pretty.

But it wasn't that exaggerated. As expected, it was just that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" for the male lead.

Chen Yao turned and looked at the small face reflected in the polished bronze mirror. Even though it was a bit blurry from a distance, it couldn't hide her extraordinary beauty.

Well, she still thought she was the prettiest.

"Just keep being vain, why don't you," System 04 couldn't stand it.

Chen Yao ignored it. She was just stating the truth, nothing more.

*

Soon, the day for the trip to Yunfu Temple arrived.

The night before, Chen Yao had planned to throw a little tantrum before setting out the next morning, to further emphasize her discontent with the marriage and reinforce her spoiled, willful persona.

It would kill two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, the departure time in the morning was too early. At just four in the morning, Chen Yao was roused from bed. She was groggy, her eyes half-closed the whole time, like a puppet on strings as the maids dressed and made her up.

By the time they set off, the sun hadn't even risen, and the sky looked gray and murky.

Once she sat in the cushioned carriage, Chen Yao only wanted to drape the embroidered handkerchief in her hand over her face and lean on her mother's shoulder to go back to sleep.

She had no energy to stir up trouble. Sleep was the top priority, above all else.

"Didn't I tell you to go to bed earlier last night? How can you be this sleepy?" Lady Pingyuan saw her daughter struggling to keep her eyes open, swaying left and right on the carriage, and couldn't help frowning.

"I did go to bed early, but it's way too early," Chen Yao said with her eyes half-closed, her voice slurred.

Jiang Lingxuan, sitting to the side, watched with a trace of envy. She had an older brother, and although her mother also doted on her, it wasn't like Lady Pingyuan, who treated her daughter as the apple of her eye, indulging her without limit.

"Aunt, there's still a long way to Yunfu Temple. If Sister is tired, she can take a nap in the carriage," Jiang Lingxuan offered.

She knew the purpose of today's outing. Jiang Chenyao would be married into the Xie family in the spring of next year. Today was an opportunity for her to meet her future brother-in-law and build some rapport.

Lady Hou smiled in Jiang Lingxuan's direction. "You're so proper and sensible, Xuan'er. Unlike your sister, who's been utterly spoiled by me."

Jiang Lingxuan lowered her head in embarrassment, pressing her lips together with a faint smile. When she smiled, her big, round eyes curved like crescent moons, pure and bright.

"Alright, Yao Yao, lean on me. You're swaying all over; watch out that you don't hit your head," Lady Hou said with a sigh, her voice full of helplessness.

Chen Yao leaned over drowsily, nuzzling into her mother's arms like a little kitten, and said in a soft voice, "Mother, you're the best."

Lady Hou patted her daughter's back gently to soothe her, her heart softening.

They traveled all the way to the foot of Kongming Mountain, where Yunfu Temple was located, before Chen Yao was woken up again.

Lady Hou dipped a corner of her handkerchief in water, lightly dabbed her daughter's eyes, and then simply tidied her clothes, which had gotten a bit mussed from being pressed.

"Alright, you've slept enough. When we're outside, you can't be so unladylike."

"Mm." Chen Yao blinked her eyes. Although her mind was fully awake now, her voice was still soft and languid.

She didn't know how long the carriage had traveled, but judging by the light coming in from outside, it was clearly broad daylight now.

"Xuan'er, do you feel tired from sitting? We'll be there soon," Lady Hou asked with concern.

She looked at Jiang Lingxuan, who had maintained her proper posture the whole way, and compared her to her own daughter. It was enough to make one want to sigh.

Jiang Lingxuan shook her head obediently. "Thank you for your concern, Aunt. I'm not tired at all."

"The difference between people is huge. Even though I slept the whole way, my butt still hurts a bit, and the female lead looks completely unaffected," Chen Yao remarked.

System 04 chimed in, "Well, why else would she be the female lead?"

Chen Yao nodded in profound agreement. "You've got a point."

The carriage finally stopped in front of the temple gate, where two young monks with shiny bald heads were already waiting.

Chen Yao knew nothing about the protocol of offering incense at an ancient temple. Since the male lead wasn't around yet and to avoid making any obvious mistakes, she didn't cause any trouble at all.

She simply followed obediently beside Lady Pingyuan through the whole process—kneeling, offering incense, presenting tributes—pretending to be a pretty decorative vase in the background the entire time.