"Mmm... ah—Alton, easy... that hurts..."

Faye Calloway had only just reached the door of the bridal room when that woman’s soft, breathy moan drifted out. She stopped dead on the spot.

It was September 18, 1958.

The day she was supposed to marry Alton Ford.

And yet her husband was in their bridal room right now, fooling around with another woman?

The woman’s gasps, mixed with a man’s heavy breathing, stabbed straight into Faye’s heart like a knife.

Her head buzzed. Then the anger shot up all at once.

She lifted her hand and started pounding on the door, so hard her fingers turned pale. Her voice shook, sharp and high. "Who’s in there? Alton Ford, open this door right now! Open it!"

Her shout cracked through the yard like thunder, and the lively wedding feast outside froze on the spot.

The guests all put down their chopsticks and came out into the courtyard, staring in shock at the tightly shut east-side room. Brandon Calloway heard the noise and hurried over at once, brows drawn tight, asking anxiously, "Faye, what’s wrong? What happened?"

Faye’s face looked awful, her eyes blazing. She did not even spare her elder brother a glance. She just kept slamming her hand against the door until her knuckles went red.

Brandon listened carefully, and then he heard it too—the kind of sounds from inside that made people’s faces burn.

His expression changed in an instant. First he went pale, then red, then so red he looked fit to burst. Half shocked and half furious, he hissed, "Good Lord... Faye, this... this is your bridal room! Who’s in there taking your place?"

The moment he said that, the relatives all crowded in, one after another, holding their breath and tipping their heads to listen.

Before long, the shameless sounds of the man and woman inside grew clearer and clearer. Just hearing them made everyone flush hot with embarrassment.

The crowd exploded at once. Some gasped, some whispered, some sucked in cold breaths. It turned into chaos in a blink.

A wedding feast that had been full of joy a minute ago was now a complete mess.

Then from the crowd, Diana Yates suddenly called out, her voice tight with alarm, "Martin, where’s Flora?"

Faye’s heart gave a hard thump. Something flashed through her mind like lightning.

Her face changed at once. She raised her foot and kicked the door with all her might. With a loud bang, the wooden door slammed into the wall, the sound ringing down the corridor.

"Flora Calloway! Alton Ford! Get out here!" she shouted into the room, nearly tearing her throat raw, eyes burning with rage.

Diana Yates rushed up and grabbed Faye by the arm, yanking her hard as she shouted, "Faye Calloway, have you lost your mind? Your sister left right after eating. How could she be in there? What kind of scene are you making?"

Inside the room, the heat from a moment ago turned cold in an instant. Alton Ford suddenly came to himself, his eyes going wide as he shoved the woman off him in panic. He stared at Flora Calloway and his voice trembled. "Y-you... you’re Flora Calloway? Not Faye?"

Flora was in no hurry at all. She slowly straightened her clothes, a smile hanging at the corners of her lips, and said in a sweet, soft voice, "Oh dear, brother-in-law, what do we do now? You mistook me for my sister just now, and now the deed’s done... so you’ll have to take responsibility, won’t you? Anyway, you and my sister haven’t even registered your marriage yet. Last month was just the engagement."

"Flora Calloway!" Alton gritted out, eyes bloodshot. "I’m not marrying you. Give it up. The one I’ve always liked is your sister!"

Flora let out a cold laugh, seized his hand, and forced it against herself. Her eyes turned hard. "Not marry me? Hah. There are so many people outside now. Everyone’s seen this. Who doesn’t know what happened between us? You expect me to lose face with you?"

She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "You know what my sister’s like. If she finds out, do you really think she’ll still marry you? Stop dreaming, Alton Ford—you touched me, so you marry me."

Alton clenched his teeth and glared at Flora, anger and shame churning in his chest.

Today was supposed to be his big wedding day with Faye Calloway, the happiest day of his life. Who would have thought he would drink too much, get dizzy, and feel a wave of heat in his gut, then stagger back to the room just wanting to lie down for a bit?

But not long after he shut the door, someone quietly slipped inside.

The moment that person entered, she locked the door, threw herself at him, and wrapped her arms around him, calling him "Brother Yan" by his ear.

Alton had been drunk and muddle-headed then. The woman before him looked exactly like his bride. He thought it was Faye, and in that drunken haze, he ended up sleeping with her before he even knew what he was doing. Not long after, Flora Calloway pulled on her clothes, climbed off the bed without a trace of expression, and strode over to yank the door open.

And right then, Faye came face to face with them. One glance was all it took—her husband stood inside with his clothes in disarray, while her twin sister, the one who looked as if they had come from the same mold, was standing there with her head lowered, fussing with her hair.

In that instant, it felt as though a knife had carved out Faye’s heart. The fury in her shot straight up. She raised her hand and slapped Flora hard across the face, her voice shaking as she shouted,

"Flora Calloway! Have you got any shame left at all? Since we were little, you’ve snatched everything from me! When we were kids, you stole my food and clothes. And now you want to steal my man too? What exactly do you want?"

Flora was caught off guard. Her face burned from the slap, but in the next second she switched to a pitiful look, covering her cheek as she threw herself toward her mother, Diana Yates, sobbing, "Mom, look how hard she hit me! She just slapped me without a second thought!

How is this my fault? I didn’t seduce brother-in-law... who told us to be twins and look this alike? Alton drank too much, mistook me for my sister, and dragged me into the room... what was I supposed to do?"

Before she had even finished speaking, Alton staggered out from the room too. His face was deathly pale. He had sobered a little, but this whole disaster had already gone too far to clean up.

Brandon was so furious he nearly exploded. In a few quick strides he charged up, lifted his foot, and kicked Alton hard in the knee, roaring loud enough to shake the room.

"You bastard, Alton Ford! You marry my elder sister and sleep with my younger one too? Or what—is this what you wanted from the start? Were you eyeing both twins in my family, planning to take them both home?"

The courtyard fell deathly still.

Only the wind brushed past the window, lifting one red paper wedding character into the air before it fluttered down to the ground, bright red against the dirt.

Alton had just opened his mouth to speak when Faye strode forward. With a sharp smack, she slapped him hard across the face, so hard the air itself seemed to freeze.

PS: About the heroine—she isn’t reborn, she hasn’t transmigrated, she’s just a native local girl. What I wrote is mainly about "gathering," and in those days, unless things had truly reached a life-or-death point, people would not lightly cut ties with family. Friends, please go easy on me. Wishing you all big fortunes and good luck!

A little quiet gripe: my father is nearly seventy and lived through those years himself. In the sixties and seventies, he barely got any schooling, did the most work, and still wasn’t valued by his parents.

When he got married, the elders wouldn’t help him build a house, and even split him off on his own. During a fight over a homestead plot, the old man even lay on the ground with a knife, threatening him.

Back in that era, there was no such thing as cutting family off. There was only "family harmony brings prosperity," blind filial piety, the favoritism of elders, the helplessness of children, and a whole floor full of domestic mess.

【Because the heroine is a native of that time, she doesn’t have the same mindset or awareness readers today have.

She wants to get into a military medical university, so she absolutely can’t casually sever family ties and leave a stain on her record. Wishing everybody wealth and good luck again!】