When she was sixteen, Shang Shixu accepted fifty taels of silver to stand in for the Duke's legitimate daughter and undergo a trial marriage at the General's residence.
Rumor had it that General Sheng Shi'an of the Northern Frontier suffered from a hidden ailment and was crude and uncouth.
Who could have guessed that after three nights together, the general would prove not only perfectly healthy, but as voracious as a wolf?
She thought she'd traded her life for the money, cured her mother's illness, and settled her debt to the lofty general once and for all.
Later, the General of the Northern Frontier, who was supposed to marry the legitimate daughter, cornered her, the trial-bride maid, behind a secluded earthen mound when bandits attacked in the wilderness.
He gripped her chin, his gaze dark and deep. "I've had a taste of you, and now I can't sleep at night. Did you really think you could get away?"
