[Bickering Couple + Both Pure + Marriage First, Love Later + Vast Difference in Social Status]
In his previous life, Xie Guiyan held power over the entire court and was the Grand Secretary everyone feared. After a lifetime of bloodshed, he reached the pinnacle of power, only to be dragged down by cheap familial affection until his heart turned cold.
Reborn at sixteen, his eyes held nothing but icy indifference.
His father was blindly devoted to his own father, his family was timid, and his siblings went hungry.
In this life, he would trust only himself, respect other people's fates, and carefully regain his immense power. He would never again let anyone drain him.
But a marriage contract from the Dongxiang Marquis's residence threw all his plans into disarray.
The woman marrying him in this life was the older sister of the woman who had died young as his wife in his previous life.
Jiang Zhao was a wandering soul who had transmigrated into this world. As a concubine's daughter of the marquis's household, her family forced her to marry into a farming family in place of her legitimate younger sister, for the sake of the latter's future. They thought a few words about the honor of being the legitimate daughter would be enough to fob her off.
Everyone laughed at her as a sacrificial pawn, but she only curled her lips in a cold, alluring smile. She would gladly take the outward glory, but she wouldn't give up a single coin of the substantial dowry that was hers in truth.
What if she was marrying into a farming family? What if she was moving to the countryside? With her status and private savings, far from the strife in the marquis's household, she could still carve out a good life for herself.
As for her gentle, handsome young farmer husband, as long as he behaved himself, she would support him.
She had no idea that beneath the young man's mild exterior lay a heart full of ambition, carefully concealed at every turn.
She thought she was the one moving the pieces, but she was merely a pawn he could discard from his board at any time.
Later, everyone said that a concubine's daughter from the marquis's household was unworthy of the young Grand Secretary.
Only Xie Guiyan bowed close to her, gently gripping her slender neck, his eyes surging with the possessiveness of a man determined to claim what he wanted:
"Now that you've entered the Xie family, my future, my power, every glory of the rest of my life..."
"All of it belongs to you."
