Chapter 495 Lu Hanyi Reveals the Secret of Rebirth

Chapter 495: Lu Hanyi Reveals the Secret of Rebirth

Upon hearing that Lu Lingyun had been conferred the title of Lady Fengguo (a prestigious noble title for women), Lu Hanyi collapsed into a chair.

Her eyes glazed over, staring emptily into space.

In her past life, Lu Lingyun had been granted a first-rank noble title.

In this life, she had been granted the supreme-rank national noble title.

At that moment, the nameless obsession in her heart abruptly shattered.

She'd been reborn into a second life, snatching away Lu Lingyun’s betrothal, all to steal her fate.

Yet how was it that Lu Lingyun did better with each life?

Now, she could no longer muster even a drop of resentment or expectation to make Lu Lingyun 'eat her words.'

She realized, with absolute clarity, that she had lost.

Just then, Li Wenxun returned home.

As soon as he spotted Lu Hanyi sitting in the main hall, he turned to leave, but a servant intercepted him.

"Sir, Lady Cheng of the Ningyang Marquis's residence has been personally honored by His Majesty as Lady Fengguo! The Ningyang Marquis's household invites you to the feast!"

When Li Wenxun heard that Lu Lingyun had been granted the national noble title, he froze.

At that instant, flashes of memory surged through his mind—images of himself, after being appointed chancellor, standing triumphant in the golden hall, petitioning for his wife to receive a noble title.

A first-rank noble title.

What shocked him was that, in those memories, his wife was...

Just then, a roar shattered his reverie.

"You bastard! My noble title, my noble title!"

"You owe me my noble title!"

"That was supposed to be mine! It was finally my turn!"

"What the hell is wrong with you now?" Li Wenxun, interrupted, shoved the snarling Lu Hanyi aside.

He no longer cared about restraint or propriety. If Lu Hanyi raged, he'd match her rage.

After all, she had already dragged his name through the mud beyond repair.

Pushed aside, Lu Hanyi fell to the ground with a thud, and once there, she let out a guttural sob.

"This wasn’t how it was meant to be, this wasn’t!"

"It should have been my turn."

"I stole her future, I took the man destined to be chancellor—so why, in the end, was she still granted the noble title? I was the one who should have become the titled lady!"

Li Wenxun stood frozen, gaping at Lu Hanyi as she uttered these words.

With each sentence, more fragments of memory surged through his mind.

Twenty years ago, he took a wife.

His wife perfectly shielded him from the family's scorn and ridicule.

His wife pulled every string for his imperial exams and secured exam leaks.

He achieved the title of top scholar and was assigned to serve as an official in Jiangnan. His wife handled his official duties, resolved all kinds of knotty issues, and paved his way up the ranks...

He climbed effortlessly through the ranks, eventually becoming the prime minister. In the imperial court, he petitioned for her to be granted an imperial honorific title...

And his wife was... Lu Lingyun!

“What are you saying!” Li Wenxun's eyes suddenly turned red as he rushed to Lu Hanyi, grabbing her and roaring, “Whose marriage did you steal?”

The shattered Lu Hanyi looked at the man before her, as if she had found someone who could share her despair. She taunted him wildly, “I stole Lu Lingyun’s marriage! Didn’t you know? You were supposed to marry her back then!”

“I was reborn! I took her marriage because I knew you would become the prime minister in the future, that you would petition for her to receive the highest imperial honor!”

“But why are you so useless in this life!”

“Where is my imperial honor?”

Lu Hanyi's words detonated like thunderclaps in his ears.

In an instant, he fully understood why she had been fixing on the imperial title since the moment they married.

So it was her—she had ruined his destined greatness!

She had driven out the wife who would have led him to success!

“I’ll kill you!”

Li Wenxun, driven to madness, lost all reason and seized her throat with all his strength.

The servants nearby, seeing this, rushed forward.

Just before Lu Hanyi was strangled to death, they wrestled Li Wenxun away like subduing a mad bull, saving her.

By then, Li Wenxun was utterly broken. After reeling back a few steps in a daze, he ran straight out of the house.

Meanwhile, Lu Hanyi, who had narrowly escaped death once again, gazed vacantly at everything around her.

All the concubines and bastard children she despised in the household had come, gawking at her as at some spectacle.

Under their mocking gazes, the frenzied and broken Lu Hanyi gradually quieted down.

She collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. The woman who had never conceded defeat in two lifetimes suddenly lost all her will to fight.

At that moment, she realized—

It wasn’t that her man was inferior to Lu Lingyun’s, but that she herself was inferior to Lu Lingyun...

Even after stealing her marriage and pushing that scoundrel Cheng Yunshuo onto her, Lu Lingyun still prospered magnificently, attaining loftier heights than in her previous life!

She had lost!

She had lost completely!

Meanwhile, the Ningyang Marquis's residence was abuzz with activity.

Aside from most of the officials and nobles in the Imperial City coming to offer congratulations, plenty of old friends showed up too.

Cheng Hui had returned to the capital.

Ten years ago, Lu Lingyun set her up with a decent, upstanding military governor. After the wedding, she followed her husband to his post in another region. Now, back in the capital on official business, she happened to make it just in time for Lu Lingyun’s honorary banquet.

She showed up early and dropped some news on Lu Lingyun.

"Sis, my brother dumped that woman."

"What?"

"He dumped Qin Shaojing!"

"You’re kidding!"

"When did this happen?"

Liu Qingping, Liu Qingshuang, Tong Nanyuan, and Tong Nanxia were all present, and they all jumped into gossip mode.

Cheng Hui, seeing their eager faces, spilled the whole story.

It turned out that shortly after Cheng Qi took Qin Shaojing back to his remote hometown near the border, she couldn’t handle the rough living and kept nagging him to go back to the capital.

But Cheng Qi had no face left to return. He just had to put up with her fits.

During those days of tolerating her behavior, he slowly saw Qin Shaojing for who she really was.

Some people grow more likable the longer you know them, while others may seem stunning at first sight—only for every moment after just to ruin it.

Qin Shaojing’s extreme selfishness, her obsession with power and wealth, and her using his feelings to milk him for all he was worth only deepened his disgust.

Finally, when he discovered that she had been secretly involved with one of his subordinates behind his back, he knew for sure—she was a total gold-digging snake.

At that moment, he thought back to those who had warned him, recalling their words and advice, and was overwhelmed with regret.

He had truly been bewitched back then, stubbornly insisting on marrying such a despicable woman!

What was even more infuriating was that, even knowing her behavior at the time, he’d still made up excuses for her in his head. Only after choking down that bitter pill did he finally wake up.

He divorced Qin Shaojing.

But here’s the kicker—after he dumped her, Qin Shaojing actually had regrets.

——————

Final chapter drops in a day or two!