Chapter 1: Reborn to Marry in Someone's Place

1965, Nancheng Hutong.

In the innermost courtyard, the front gate stood wide open, adorned with bright red "double happiness" characters. People were bustling in and out.

At the entrance, children were constantly setting off firecrackers, and over a dozen banquet tables were set up in the yard, where people were drinking and chatting, creating a lively atmosphere.

However, the main room was deathly quiet—quiet enough to be unsettling.

Father Tang, nearly seventy, had a face ashen with rage. The medicine he had just taken was nowhere near enough to suppress his fury.

Yet, with a yard full of guests outside, he couldn't simply vent his temper.

"Qiyue, why must you insist on making a scene at a time like this? Look at how angry you've made your father!"

The woman beside Father Tang whispered, trying to persuade the girl kneeling on the floor, but it was to no avail.

Tang Qiyue held her forehead, staring stubbornly at Father Tang. Her peripheral vision couldn't help but drift toward the People's Liberation Army calendar and the red "double happiness" character behind him.

The pain in her forehead reminded her that she had actually returned to her first life.

Today was the day her eldest sister had fled her wedding, the day she had been forcibly drugged by her family to take her sister's place in the marriage.

In her first life, when she woke up, she was already drifting at sea.

She had encountered a typhoon and died before ever reaching land, after which she struggled through the apocalypse.

Just as the apocalypse had finally ended and she was looking forward to a good life, she had actually returned here!

"Dad, it was my sister who fled the wedding, and it’s the Tang family that’s losing face. What does that have to do with me? Now that you want me to marry in her place, you should at least ask me, shouldn't you?"

Tang Qiyue usually had a very low profile at home and had never talked back to her elders.

That was why her lack of cooperation today made Father Tang so furious—even angrier than he had been when his eldest daughter fled!

"Yaozong, don't get so angry that you ruin your health. Qiyue isn't an unreasonable child; talk to her slowly!"

The woman speaking was Father Tang’s former concubine. After the new Marriage Law was strictly enforced, Father Tang had divorced Mother Tang specifically for her.

Tang Qiyue had been living in a different courtyard with her mother.

If not for her eldest sister fleeing the wedding, Father Tang would never have remembered he had a daughter like her.

"Then I'm asking you now: do you agree or not?"

Father Tang finally realized that she was the only daughter he had left by his side. If Tang Qiyue didn't cooperate, the Tang family would be finished, and he and his son might end up living in a cowshed.

The most important thing right now was to survive this crisis!

Having experienced the apocalypse, Tang Qiyue was no longer the timid, cowardly little girl who longed for her father's love. She stood up from the floor.

She glanced at the lively scene outside the window, then at the people Father Tang had arranged to watch her closely at the door.

"I can take my sister's place and marry the person you've arranged, but I have two demands. First, my younger brother's household registration must be moved under my mother's name, and you must publish a statement in the newspaper severing the father-son relationship with him. Second, give me ten thousand yuan to keep for myself."

Tang Qiyue’s voice was pleasant, but to Father Tang’s ears, it sounded like the voice of a devil.

He roared, "You're insane!!!"

In Father Tang’s view, as long as someone carried his surname, they were his property and could never escape his grasp.

Let alone making demands of him.

Tang Qiyue sneered, "Dad, are you sure you won't agree to my terms? If I remember correctly, the man you've arranged is a soldier who carries a gun. I heard he's a ruthless god of war. The Tang family is counting on this marriage to turn things around. If you offend him, never mind my brother's registration—the Tang family might end up being paraded through the streets, right?"

Father Tang grabbed the medicine bottle from his pocket, shook out a pill, and threw it into his mouth.

His heart was pounding too hard; he was afraid he’d meet the King of Hell immediately if he didn't take his medicine.

Beside him, Madam Tang kept patting Father Tang’s back, her eyes filled with resentment as she looked at Tang Qiyue.

Tang Qiyue wasn't in a hurry. She said slowly, "I only have these two demands. As long as you agree, I will immediately change my clothes and obediently go get married."

This blatant threat made Father Tang wish he could kill Tang Qiyue on the spot.

But then he thought, he had so many sons, what did it matter if he lost one!

Besides, a statement was just a statement. The boy still had his blood flowing through his veins; could he really not acknowledge him?

Just then, someone in the courtyard shouted, "The auspicious hour has arrived."

The time for the bride to leave could not be delayed, or it would bring bad luck to her maiden family.

Tang Qiyue added, "Dad, if you try to force me to go, I’m telling you now that the moment I open my eyes, I will commit suicide. If that god of war is provoked, I don't believe the Tang family can bear the consequences of my death!"

She clearly remembered that after she died, her soul had lingered here for a while.

When that "god of war" learned that she had committed suicide because she was a substitute bride, he had used his connections to bring about the downfall of the Tang family, and the once-glorious Tang family assets were all confiscated.

Except for the eldest sister who had fled to the countryside as an educated youth, everyone else in the Tang family had a miserable life.

Hearing this, Father Tang finally took action. He certainly knew how terrifying that man was!

Gritting his teeth, he walked to the cabinet and took out a small box. "I can give you the money, but I can't make the statement right this second!"

Tang Qiyue knew time was short and said magnanimously, "That's fine. Besides, the person I'm marrying isn't in the city. Today is just going through the motions at the groom's house. There won't be a boat to take me away for three days. Three days is enough time, right, Dad?"

If she cooperated honestly this time and left after three days, she could completely avoid the typhoon.

"Tang Qiyue, don't forget that you also carry the surname Tang. Without the Tang family, you're nothing!"

Father Tang’s reminder was met with a grin from Tang Qiyue: "Dad, a married daughter is like spilled water. I won't be surnamed Tang for much longer anyway."

Father Tang was half-dead with rage at her attitude. To avoid actually dying from anger, he pointed at the wedding dress

"Get out and change! I'll have someone go to the newspaper office to write the statement immediately, and your brother's registration will be moved to your mother's side tomorrow!"

Tang Qiyue nodded. She snatched the small box from Father Tang’s hand, opened it to confirm it contained the new currency, then closed it and carried the wedding dress into the room to change.

Madam Tang couldn't bear to part with the money in the box and was about to speak when Father Tang slapped her across the face: "Shut up! If it weren't for you stirring up trouble, Meilan wouldn't have fled!"

Father Tang wasn't a fool; he had always known about his wife's little schemes, he had just turned a blind eye to them.

But he hadn't expected her to cause such a massive disaster this time!

Before long, Tang Qiyue came out in her clothes.

The bright red wedding dress—though it couldn't compare to a phoenix coronet and robes—looked stunning on Tang Qiyue. Her face was more than enough to carry the look.

Tang Qiyue gripped the small box tightly and walked to the door, ignoring Father Tang entirely. She had long since stopped expecting anything from this father.

Now, only money could give her a sense of security.

The door opened.

A ray of sunlight fell right onto Tang Qiyue’s face, causing the people who had come to pick up the bride to gasp in surprise.

"Sister! Where is my sister!"

Tang Xiuyuan, eyes bloodshot, shoved people aside and ran into the courtyard, just in time to see Tang Qiyue shielding her eyes from the sunlight. In the bright red wedding dress, she looked so beautiful in the light that she didn't seem real.

He rushed to Tang Qiyue, grabbed her arm, and prepared to run. "Sister, come with me!"

"Xiaoyuan, I'm doing this willingly!"