The Lowborn Daughter Marries Up

Her maternal grandfather was a high-ranking second-rank official, and she was born into the Prime Minister’s household. Raised from childhood by her maternal grandmother, she had always been surrounded by privilege. But in the end, she was still only a concubine’s daughter, born to a woman who had been a favored concubine.

Her legitimate mother was kind on the surface but secretly vicious. Her own birth mother was selfish, trying to win her father’s praise by helping her stepmother frame her. Shen Yinqiu merely smiled. No matter what traps or schemes others laid for her, she would keep her head down and behave as a concubine’s daughter. Surely they couldn’t turn her into a helpless victim at their mercy.

It was easy to dodge an open attack, but hard to guard against one from the shadows. The marriage arranged by her maternal grandmother was stolen by her sisters at her stepmother’s bidding, making her a laughingstock in the household. Her birth mother wanted to spend more time with her father, so she joined forces with her stepmother and married Shen Yinqiu off as the second wife of a marquis who had fallen gravely ill after losing his beloved wife. Fortunately, Shen Yinqiu took it in stride. She thought that after a year or so, living alone as a widow would be just fine, and at least her life would be peaceful and quiet. Little did she know that this marriage would throw her entire peaceful life into chaos.