SFL Chapter 1

[The First Male Lead – Substitute Wangfei]

[Ding! Target Strategy: Su Qianluo

The target’s current favorability towards the host is 0%.]

[Good Luck and Keep it up, Host!]

Mu Yunfeng woke up, lifted his head, and saw everything in red.

It wasn’t a bloody scene, but a dazzling celebration of red silk hanging all over the manor. He could even hear the high-pitched Suona music in his ears.

What was strange was that he was wearing a white robe in this place where everything was red. It was like a collision between red and white, triumph and despair.

If he were a guest of honor today, this attire would not be inappropriate. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. He was the main character of today’s festivity. With this in mind, Mu Yunfeng turned and walked towards the backyard.

The steward beside him exclaimed, “My Lord, where are you going?”

“Back to my room to change clothes.” Mu Yunfeng said with an inexplicable expression.

In his heart, the steward was pleasantly surprised and quickly followed Mu Yunfeng, asking, “My Lord, have you changed your mind?”

While he also believed that what the Su family did was wrong, it would be extremely impolite for their Wang Mansion to mention offering a big rooster and the bride at the wedding. Now that he saw Mu Yunfeng had changed his mind, the steward, who had faithfully served Mu Yunfeng since childhood, was naturally overjoyed.

While the steward was preparing the wedding attire for him, Mu Yunfeng took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the plot. It’s an ancient historical romance novel set in an alternate universe, and the male lead is incredibly popular – a Prince. Yes, he’s the kind of prince who can sometimes rival the Emperor in popularity.

Basically, when the Male lead is an Emperor, there has to be some infightings. But in the case of a Prince’s residence, things are much simpler.

He has now assumed the role of that prince, and today, he is marrying his wife, Su Qianluo. Unfortunately, Su Qianluo is not the female lead of this novel; she’s merely a Supporting character.

The female lead is Su Qianhuan, Su Qianluo’s cousin, who should have been today’s bride. She ran away before the wedding. To avoid the wrath of the royal family, the Su family placed Su Qianluo, Su Qianhuan’s cousin, in the wedding sedan chair, making her a stand-in bride.

Mu Yunfeng didn’t understand the difference between their actions and the crime of deceiving the emperor, but this is, after all, a novel. The Female lead has to fall in love with the Male lead at first sight and have his child after their second meeting—how else could the author create a deep and passionate romance?

However, the innocent woman, Su Qianluo, has been mistreated by both the male and female leads. Not long ago, she was merely a young lady in her boudoir, preparing to help her cousin with her makeup, but, in the blink of an eye, she became the bride. The male lead is not dense; he naturally knows that she’s not his legitimate wife. Su Qianhuan has impaired his dignity as a prince. Thus, has developed a keen interest in this yet-to-be-met fiancée.

On the day of the male lead’s wedding, he did not personally attend. Instead, he gave the Su family a show of authority by having the bride, Su Qianluo, and a big rooster perform the wedding rituals. While the Su family was at fault, Su Qianluo was innocent. However, because she was a daughter of the Su family, she bore the brunt of their anger.

How could she gain the respect of the people in the Manor without the respected Royal Consorts? As a result, Su Qianluo became Cannon fodder in the Royal household, forgotten by the Male lead, Mu Yunfeng. When Mu Yunfeng finally remembered Su Qianluo, the Male and Female leads had already met and developed feelings for each other. The Female lead, Su Qianhuan, felt jealous of her cousin in the Royal household. However, since she was the one who had run away before the wedding, she couldn’t bring herself to ask Su Qianluo to step aside and give up her position.

Unable to obtain a legitimate status, the Female lead started to cause trouble for Mu Yunfeng. The Female lead was the person who was closest to the Male lead’s heart, so how could he harm her? In this way, Su Qianluo once again appeared before Mu Yunfeng.

But this time, Su Qianluo did not passively wait to be ignored in the royal household. Instead, she took action by treating her husband, Mu Yunfeng, with gentle care. She also challenged her cousin, Su Qianhuan, both inside and outside the Manor.

The two cousins fought for an undetermined amount of time. As Mu Yunfeng’s heart gradually began to lean towards the cunning charms of the outside “Vixen,” Su Qianluo took direct action and drugged Mu Yunfeng. She had her way with him, and she successfully became pregnant. Needless to say, this became a major point of conflict between the Male and Female leads. Su Qianluo’s actions infuriated Mu Yunfeng, and the balance of power began to shift in favor of the Female lead.

The Supporting character can be said to be the most cunning person in the entire book. However, no matter how cunning she is, she cannot resist the radiance of the Male and Female leads. The Male lead’s infidelity to the Female lead is a fact, and the child in Su Qianluo’s womb is something that cannot be erased. Su Qianluo was killed by the Male lead with his own hands after giving birth to the child, removing that thorn from his heart.

Later, the successful Su Qianhuan, who had risen to the top, often felt regret for her runaway behavior in the past when she saw the child left behind by the Supporting character. The Female lead couldn’t reconcile her heart, and the Male lead wasn’t any better. After all, even if others didn’t know, how could he not know how the child came into being? To make themselves feel a bit better, the couple simply left their legitimate child on the estate to fend for themselves. The helpless child, without a mother’s protection, soon died on the estate.

Without the annoying child, the couple finally truly understood each other. Then came the grand finale. The male and female leads’ torturous and deep romance was built upon the bones of others, with the supporting character Su Qianluo having the most scenes and making the greatest sacrifice.

* 

Wearing proper wedding attire, Mu Yunfeng’s appearance became even more exquisite, like a carved jade, his features perfect. At this moment, the grand red wedding sedan had already been carried inside the gate.

While Su Qianluo was inside the wedding sedan, she still held a small glimmer of hope for this marriage. She felt a bit anxious about whether the groom would be angry if he found out that the bride had been replaced. Thinking about this, she bit her red lips slightly, and there was no trace of joy left beneath the bright red veil.

Mu Yunfeng arrived at the front courtyard and had someone remove the big rooster. He personally stepped out of the gate to welcome his new bride. As the wedding sedan gently descended, Su Qianluo’s heart did not fall with it. Just as Su Qianluo’s hand was about to reach higher, the light inside the sedan suddenly brightened, and a long, well-defined hand reached in. On the wrist, there was the same dazzling red as her wedding attire.

Su Qianluo’s heart immediately settled down. Seeing that Mu Yunfeng understood the situation and had personally come out to welcome the bride, without going along with the original plan of having the big rooster appear, several brothers who knew of Mu Yunfeng’s plan breathed a sigh of relief.

“Third brother is something else. A real man shouldn’t worry about not having a wife. Besides, this lady is also from the Su family, after all. The Su family has at least compensated Third brother with one. It’s good that Third Brother has figured it out,” The Youngest Prince muttered with a grin.

The other Princes, who were a bit more calculating, couldn’t help but smile. Apart from those who had no chance of competing, who would want to see the Third Prince, who was already favored, marry another wife with such a strong background?

They said that the bride had run away, but who knew if the Su family had used this as a diversion to appease Mu Yunfeng? In any case, Mu Yunfeng was marrying Su Qianluo, the legitimate daughter of a fifth-ranking official, which was much better than they had initially thought. With a clear conscience, their words were now much more sincere.

Mu Yunfeng didn’t care about the thoughts of these Princes, but he led Su Qianluo into the mansion. The couple, dressed in red attire, were connected by a red silk bridge in the middle. They were unquestionably the main focus of attention today. When the guests looked at Mu Yunfeng’s appearance, there was no shortage of admiration. Perhaps it was an illusion, but they felt that the Third Prince looked even more charming today than before.

Su Qianluo had a veil covering her head, and the sound of Suona playing in her ears. She could only follow Mu Yunfeng’s steps closely as they walked together. Finally, the officiant began to sing loudly, “First bow to the heaven and earth—”

The newlyweds turned simultaneously and bowed to heaven and earth.

“Second bow to the ancestral hall—”

As a Prince, Mu Yunfeng’s parents were in the palace, so he could not perform the bowing ceremony in his ancestral hall in the same way that commoners would. Therefore, the position of the ancestral hall remained empty, but this did not affect the couple’s performance of this important ritual.

“Third bow as husband and wife—”

Su Qianluo took graceful steps toward Mu Yunfeng. They bowed together. Through the gap in her veil, Su Qianluo could only see Mu Yunfeng’s dazzling red attire. For some reason, her face turned slightly red.

[Ding! The favorability of the target towards the host is 30%. Keep it up, Host!]

This small voice was also drowned out by the overwhelming sound of the suona. After the ceremony, the newlyweds, Mu Yunfeng and Su Qianluo, were surrounded by people and led to their new room. The new room was the main hall of the Wang Manor, which had been Mu Yunfeng’s residence before. It had been decorated with festive red wooden furniture, and even the curtains and beddings had been changed to bright red.

There were many auspicious embroideries on the bedsheet. Su Qianluo had just sat on the edge of the bed when she let out a small, involuntary exclamation and lifted her bottom slightly. Mu Yunfeng found a handful of red dates, peanuts, longans, lotus seeds, and other items on the bedsheet. He smoothed the bedsheet for Su Qianluo, and then she continued to sit down, her face blushing, but the blush did not seem to fade.

Then, Mu Yunfeng took the wedding veil and lifted it up to reveal Su Qianluo’s face beneath it, which was as radiant as the morning glow. Seeing Mu Yunfeng scrutinizing her, Su Qianluo felt shy, lowered her head slightly, and kept her eyes on her own dress.

A palace servant poured two cups of wine and presented them to the couple. Su Qianluo suppressed her embarrassment, intertwined her wrist with Mu Yunfeng’s, and they both drank from the ceremonial wine cups together. Once all the formalities were completed, the sky outside had turned pitch black. Candles were lit inside, casting flickering light in the room.

The husband and wife sat facing each other, both remaining silent. Finally, Mu Yunfeng spoke first and asked, “What happened with the Su family?”

Su Qianluo recalled the matter of being a stand-in bride for her sister and her face turned slightly pale. However, she respectfully replied, “Reporting to Your Highness, it was because my elder sister ran away without permission. To avoid missing the auspicious time, my family sent me to the wedding sedan. I hope Your Highness can forgive us.”

As she was about to kneel and beg for forgiveness, Su Qianluo did not mention that the Su family had dispatched people to bring her elder sister, Su Qianhuan, back home. With unclear eyes, Mu Yunfeng stopped her and said, “Since you are already here, let’s forget about this matter. Tomorrow, you and I will go to the palace to register our royal marriage. In the future, you will be a good queen in the mansion.”

Before the male and female leads developed feelings for each other, this was naturally a political marriage. However, Su Qianluo, the legitimate daughter of a fifth-ranking official, had a different status than Su Qianhuan, the legitimate daughter of a second-ranking official. Mu Yunfeng had no intention of following the previous host’s path, and he did not need to continue marrying for political gain. Since Su Qianluo had married him, Mu Yunfeng naturally intended to treat her well. However, Mu Yunfeng’s thoughts did not necessarily align with the views of those behind him.

* 

The next day, Mu Yunfeng entered the palace with his newlywed wife to meet the Emperor and Empress. He introduced Su Qianluo’s identity to the Imperial couple. The Empress wore a displeased expression and said, “This Empress remembers that my son’s queen should have been named Su Qianhuan. What is the meaning of Su Qianluo?”

This matter had been orchestrated by the Female lead, and Mu Yunfeng did not want to take responsibility for it. Hearing Mu Yunfeng openly mention the Su family’s substitution of brides, the Emperor and Empress, who were standing nearby, exchanged surprised glances.

Mu Yunfeng’s words meant that he would not be able to use the Su family’s influence in the future. Although Su Qianluo’s father was also from the Su family, the status of a fifth-ranking official could not compare to that of a second-ranking high-ranking official in the court.