Both leads are faithful to each other. The male lead fights for her, climbs into her bed, happily becomes a father, and works his way up from being her lover. He gives himself his own title, while the heroine seeks revenge and raises her child.
The Gu family fell overnight. Her father was falsely accused of treason, and her family was destroyed. Gu Nianzhao married far away in Jiangnan to escape the danger.
Three years later, she returned to the capital with her child to clear her father's name and exact her revenge.
The young man she once knew had become a powerful Grand Tutor and was set to marry the Prime Minister's legitimate daughter the following month.
She, too, was now another man's wife. That was for the best. From now on, they would be strangers, each living in peace.
Yun Zheng's life was one step away from perfection. All he had to do was wait for the young woman to come of age, then ask for her hand.
But his world came crashing down. The girl he had cherished and protected for fifteen years went away, and the next news he heard was that she had married someone else, been caught in a landslide caused by a mountain flood, and died!
Even if he had to dig her up, he would bury them together. She could only be his.
Heaven smiled on him: she came back, alive... and with a little boy in tow.
It was fine. As long as she was alive, he could wait for everything else.
The Empress Dowager decreed a marriage?
Whoever accepted the decree could marry her. His father had been married twice before, so if he thought he could do it, he could take her himself.
He devoted himself to being the boy's father, eagerly claiming the title of her lover... If all else failed, he could grit his teeth and put up with having no name or status for now.
Who cared whose child the boy was?
Did it matter? He would be Yun Zheng's sooner or later. The sooner he claimed the title of father, the better. How far could he be from becoming the young woman's husband?
Gu Nianzhao: Have you no manners? Did you ask the child's father before claiming him?
He had barely managed to beg for the status of lover when a doctor surnamed Qing came along to compete for her affections. They went everywhere together, even sharing a bed?
And there was still a husband in Jiangnan, alive and watching him like a hawk.
He was out of options. If he couldn't beat them, he might as well join them. He wasn't above offering himself up for her bed...
From then on, he only got better at climbing into her bed.
