All of the Capital Think I’m a Frail, Cast-Off Daughter

She is frail and easy to bully. He wields power over the court. And yet he loves her to the point of madness. Liu Qingwu is the lowliest concubine-born daughter in the capital. For eighteen years, her stepmother fed her poison, hoping she would die quietly one winter. No one expected her to survive. Still less did anyone expect her to become a court physician personally appointed by the Empress Dowager, casting a shadow over every noblewoman in the capital. Shen Moyan is the most ruthless junior official at the Court of Judicial Review. When they first met, she was covered in blood, cutting flesh from his body to draw out the poison. He thought only that she was audacious. When they met again, she was on her knees in court, falsely accused. He watched coldly, thinking the intrigues of the inner household had nothing to do with him. It was only when she smiled at him that day, her expression as gentle as spring water in March, then turned without hesitation toward her own death, that he went mad. “Liu Qingwu, aren't you always saving people? Then save me, too.” He cornered her against the wall, eyes bloodshot, voice hoarse. “Save me, the madman who's so hopelessly in love with you.” She raised her slender, pale fingers and gently wiped away the tear at the corner of his eye. Her voice was as tender as if she were soothing a child: “Lord Shen, a sickness of the heart is hard to cure. Your condition... is beyond help.”