My Upright Uncle, How Did He Turn into a Lunatic?

[Period Setting + Making Money + Self-Interest + Overbearing Possessiveness + Eight-Year Age Gap]

[Female lead: Introverted, sensitive, insecure, and socially anxious, yet forced to adapt to her surroundings. She looks like a pitiful little rabbit, but if you really push her too far, she'll bite back hard. Male lead: Refined at first, a scoundrel later.]

[The author has no particular moral compass. Readers looking for virtuous, righteous protagonists, please look elsewhere.]

Zhang Meizhen, alone and helpless, was sold by her adoptive parents to be buried alive as a ghost bride for a death-row inmate. Desperate to avoid being buried alive, she took a gamble and begged Uncle Xie for help.

She made the right bet. Uncle Xie rescued her from danger, took her to Nancheng, and gave her a place to stay.

He hired her as a housekeeper at his villa, where she did easy work, earned a generous salary, and learned all kinds of useful skills.

Xie Zhinan's many admirable qualities made her develop feelings for him despite herself.

When he stayed away all night, she came to her senses. Though it hurt, she quickly pulled herself together and accepted her place.

Just as life was starting to get better, fate took a cruel turn. A lecherous man appeared out of nowhere and deeply upset her, while her uncle's drunken behavior pushed her into a desperate situation.

She chose to run away.

From then on, she relied on herself, worked hard to earn money, and hoped to find a man and start a family...

But when Uncle Xie came back into her life, he shed his refined facade and cornered her, pulling out the little note she'd left behind.

“Serve you in the next life? I want you to give yourself to me in this one!”