Shen Qingci, Yong’an City’s “jinx,” once even picked up a sickly man while visiting a grave. She thought she’d stumbled on a fifty-tael deal, but the man turned out to be Xiao Jue, the powerful regent rumored to be near death.
From then on, her tumbledown hut became forbidden territory within the prince’s manor. The debt-ridden orphan was forced to take a job as the regent’s personal caretaker. He glared when she brought him medicine and complained when she brought him food. When she tried to run, Xiao Jue casually said, “I owe my life to you for picking me up, so naturally, it’s yours to take care of.” Just like that, he glued her to his side.
Shen Qingci fumed. “Your Highness, this is a shakedown!”
Xiao Jue coughed up blood and smiled. “Mm. And you’re the one I’m shaking down.”
Who would have guessed that this sickly man had a hand in everything? First her creditors were arrested and their property confiscated, then the powerful came to apologize. Even the emperor had to mind his temper around him. Shen Qingci gradually realized that the man she’d picked up wasn’t sickly at all. He was a living ancestral relic with eight hundred schemes up his sleeve!
Worse, the way he looked at her was becoming more and more suspicious.
“Qingci, my medicine is too bitter.”
“...Should I add some sugar?”
“No need.” He pulled her wrist toward him, his fingertip brushing her pulse. “Just kiss me, and it won’t taste bitter anymore.”
Shen Qingci: ??? Where’s the cold and aloof regent I was promised? This isn’t how this is supposed to go!
