Living off a woman while holding your head high is a skill in its own right!
Chen Yuan, a history PhD, unexpectedly transmigrates to Beijing in 1912 and becomes Shen Moyan, a poor young man from a humble family. In this turbulent era of warlord rule and constant danger, he chooses an unconventional path to survival: living off a woman!
He marries into a powerful family and proceeds with caution at every step. Faced with a father who drinks himself senseless and revolutionary assassins on his trail, Shen Moyan thinks fast and takes the initiative to marry into the household of a high-ranking Beiyang official. There, he enters into a marriage of convenience with Song Qingyun, Beijing’s foremost beauty, known as the “Black Widow.” Their wedding night brings no candlelit bridal chamber, only a cold list of three rules.
He makes a fine art of living off a woman, navigating the turbulent times with ease. Using his modern knowledge to outclass everyone, he leaves scholars speechless at literary gatherings, resolves business crises with economics, and dispels superstition with science. From a son-in-law scorned by all to a celebrated figure in Beijing, Shen Moyan’s path keeps opening up before him.
He thrives both in love and in battle. His elegant, aloof wife, Song Qingyun, seems as cold as ice, yet hides a tender heart. Su Nianxue, a passionate and resolute revolutionary heroine, stands on the opposite side of the struggle, yet feelings quietly grow between them. How will he choose when heart and reason are weighed against each other?
As the tides of history shift, he finds a way through and rises above. When an assassination attempt on Yuan Shikai sets the city ablaze, all the evidence points to Su Nianxue. To protect the woman he loves, Shen Moyan forges evidence overnight and shifts the blame elsewhere. At the presidential palace hearing, he speaks with such confidence that he manages to steer the investigation off course. By the time he finally escapes his status as a son-in-law and secures a place of his own, the real struggle for supremacy in this turbulent age is only just beginning...
