She was an unloved concubine-born daughter of the Ning family. Her mother had come from a brothel and died young, leaving her with no one to rely on.
An imperial decree forced her elder sister to flee her wedding, and she was pushed into the bridal sedan to marry in her place, into the foremost marquis’s household in the capital.
On their wedding night, her husband gives her a cold look and says only, “I’ll give you the title of heir’s wife. As for anything else, don’t you dare expect it.”
Ning Xin’er neither argues nor makes a scene. She moves into the east wing and keeps her life impeccably in order.
She audits the accounts and asserts her authority, wins over the servants, and organizes the Mid-Autumn banquet, gradually establishing her place in the marquis’s household.
But just as she thinks they can continue living in peace, a forged marriage document comes to light, an old servant woman dies mysteriously by “suicide,” and a forger is murdered
Only then does she realize her marriage into the marquis’s household was never an accident.
Someone laid this plan two years ago, and she was the carefully positioned pawn.
A secret lies hidden in her origins. Her appearance connects her to the prominent Shen family of Jiangnan. Her husband, Gu Yanzhi, the cold-hearted heir of the marquis, seems to have known everything from the beginning, yet watched from the sidelines.
This is a game of strategy played in the name of marriage, and a covert battle in which every move is calculated.
She won’t sit around waiting for someone else to tell her the truth. She’ll tear through the layers of fog herself and find the person pulling the strings from the shadows.
And when the truth finally comes to light, how will the cold veil between her and Gu Yanzhi be torn away and melt, transforming into an unexpected romance that began with marriage?
She never thought she would fall in love with him.
But fate has never been ours to command.
