At eighteen, William Carter married into the Marquis’s household to bring good fortune, becoming the sickly young marquis’s male wife.

On their wedding night, the young marquis lounged lazily on the wedding bed and said, “Beauty, to be honest, I really don’t want to get involved in household intrigue. I just want to eat, slack off, and be a salted fish.”

A year later, the young marquis was gravely ill, holding William Carter’s hand and sighing, “Wife, I’m about to die, but I feel like I can keep transmigrating. So that we can recognize each other in the future, let’s set a secret code.”

After the young marquis died, William Carter prepared to be a widow for life. Unexpectedly, after only half a year, a great general with outstanding military achievements came to propose.

William Carter would rather die than comply, but the general only said one sentence: “Odd changes, even don’t change?”

William Carter: “…I’ll marry.”

Two years later, the general died in battle. Before William Carter could even grieve, he was summoned to the palace by the emperor.

The emperor complained aggrievedly, “Darling, I’ve become emperor this time, and my dream of being a salted fish is completely shattered…”

William Carter knew well that although his husband was lazy, when it came to scheming, no one could match him.

He patted the emperor’s head. “Stop thinking about it. Go review the memorials, be good.”

Chapter 1

Nan’an Marquis’s Residence, wedding night.

Two bridesmaids finished their tasks and, together with the marquis’s maids, filed out of the inner chamber. Before they even left the room, they couldn’t help but whisper to each other.

“I’ve lived most of my life, and I’ve never seen a man this handsome.”

“Too bad he married a sickly one, sigh.”

“What’s there to pity? He’s now the young lord of the marquis’s household. If it weren’t for the need to match the young marquis’s birth characters for good fortune, would the marquis and his wife have considered the son of a fifth-rank Imperial Medical Bureau judge?”

“You have a point. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, only time will tell.”

…

As they chatted, the bridesmaids reached the outer chamber. Before closing the double doors, they glanced inside: amidst the festive red, the newly married young lord of the marquis’s household sat quietly on the wedding bed, a red bridal veil on his head, as if carved from jade.

The main doors slowly closed, leaving only the newlyweds in the wedding room.

All around fell silent. William Carter’s back, stiff from a whole day, finally relaxed. He shifted slightly, and the tassels hanging from the bridal veil swayed with the movement.

Wearing the bridal veil was truly inconvenient. When a woman marries, her husband is supposed to lift the veil; surely it’s the same for a man.

However, his husband was probably not up to the task.

His… “husband.”

William Carter raised his hand and removed the bridal veil himself, finally clearing his vision. He looked around at the light gauze curtains and the warm red bedding. At last, his gaze fell on the man sleeping on the bed—the young marquis of Nan’an Marquis’s Residence, Henry Clark.

By candlelight, William Carter expressionlessly sized up Henry Clark.

Henry Clark wore a bright red wedding robe, brows like distant mountains, long thick lashes, a thin face, lips pale as paper. Even with his eyes closed and his body frail, it was clear he had an exceptionally fine appearance.

From today on, this man was his husband.

Though he was a man, he had become another man’s wife—he was the first “officially married” male wife in the Dayu dynasty.

Utterly ridiculous.

He had spent three years preparing for the Imperial Medical Bureau’s exam. If he passed, he would become a medical officer like his father. Even if he didn’t enter the palace, he could open a pharmacy in the capital and be an ordinary doctor.

But just as he was about to make his mark, the empress summoned his father and said, “I hear you have a son, born on the eleventh day of the third month in the year of Guiwei, at the hour of Chen. Is that true?”

After Lin’s father confirmed, the empress asked the emperor to grant a marriage, betrothing William Carter to the legitimate eldest son of the Nan’an Marquis, Henry Clark.

All the nobles in the capital knew that Henry Clark was frail and had been bedridden for years. When he was born, the marquis specially invited an imperial physician to examine him, who predicted that the young marquis would not live past the age of twenty.

This year, Henry Clark was already nineteen, his health worsening by the day. With his end near, the marquis had no choice but to write to the Dayu dynasty’s national preceptor, who was said to have supernatural powers. The reply contained only one line of birth characters: eleventh day of the third month in the year of Guiwei, at the hour of Chen.

Defying an imperial edict was a capital offense. William Carter’s own death was of little consequence, but he had to protect his aging parents and young brother. And so, he became Henry Clark’s fortune-bringing male wife.

More than ten years of hard study had become a joke.

It was already past the hour of Hai. Outside the door, a maid on night duty said, “Young lord, it’s time. Please help the young marquis to bed.”

William Carter clenched his fingers at his sleeping husband—he was supposed to serve Henry Clark? What a joke.