The Cousin Is Unmatched in Charm

[Possessive Pursuit, Past and Present, Relentless Pursuit of His Wife] Jiang Yao dreams of her past life, when her stepmother betrayed her and sold her to a brothel. She went from a respectable official’s daughter to the brothel’s most famous courtesan. The night she made her name, a military general bought her and kept her confined in his estate day after day. After that, he tormented her endlessly in bed. Just as she was about to accept her fate, the country fell and the city was lost. The general vanished without a trace. She, too, died beneath trampling hooves, left in a mass grave. Her life ended in misery. Given another chance at life, Jiang Yao refuses to repeat the same mistakes. She takes the initiative to break off her engagement and writes to her maternal aunt in the capital, hoping to find a good match and live a decent life. But as soon as she arrives at the estate, she catches the attention of its most ruthless man: Xie Yuanqi, master of the marquis’s household. Born into the principal branch, he holds a distinguished position and has earned military honors. The emperor trusts him deeply. But he is cold and arrogant, with a brutal streak. He is exactly the kind of man Jiang Yao fears most. She deliberately avoids him time and again, even hoping to find a suitable husband soon and leave the marquis’s estate. But who could have guessed that one day she would end up lying beside Xie Yuanqi, with hardly any clothes on? The man’s gaze is as sharp as an eagle’s. She is so frightened that she cannot bring herself to move. Afterward, Jiang Yao keeps thinking of running away. But every attempt fails. She can only meet the man in secret, again and again, in the vast marquis’s estate. Xie Yuanqi dislikes scheming women and believes a man should marry a virtuous wife. Yet whenever he sees the young cousin from the estate “seducing” men left and right, he feels a surge of displeasure. He holds back several times, wanting her to show some restraint. But he never expected to be the one who would end up with her. Xie Yuanqi grabs the woman’s slender wrist and fixes her with a probing stare. “Jiang Yao, do you dare deny what happened?”