Reborn as My Ex-Husband's Stepmother

On the third day after Jiang Fuwan married her military husband, he left for war on the frontier.

Gentle by nature, Fuwan stayed at home in the capital, managing the household. Everyone praised her as virtuous and gracious, until her husband returned victorious with a woman by his side.

The woman was Jiang Fuwan's elder half-sister. Holding her swollen belly, she told Fuwan that she and Huo Sanlang were true love, and that she should have married into the Huo family if not for the arrangements made by their family.

Jiang Fuwan looked at her husband, the childhood friend who now stood protectively in front of her half-sister. He told her that what was done was done, and that from now on they would all be one family. She needed to be magnanimous.

Sadly, before Jiang Fuwan could be magnanimous, she was poisoned and killed.

Fortunately, she returned to the time when she was still a young maiden. She witnessed her fiance and her half-sister sneaking around behind a rockery and discovered that they had been carrying on behind her back for some time.

This time, before her half-sister could harm her, she threw herself into the arms of her fiance's father, Huo Changjin.

*

Reborn, Jiang Fuwan remembers Huo Changjin. This Marquis is cold and aloof, and in both her lives, he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to his family and the imperial court. Though they rarely saw each other after she married him, she had a hard-won peace and quiet.

Tending flowers and growing plants, and punishing her stepson, her ex-husband, and her half-sister when she was in a bad mood. What more could she ask for?

But not long after the wedding, Jiang Fuwan notices that Huo Changjin is coming home more and more often. That is fine by her. As his wife, she ought to satisfy his needs.

It isn't until Huo Changjin himself breaks the three rules they agreed on for their wedding night that Jiang Fuwan begins to suspect something is amiss.

*

As the head of a noble clan and a close confidant of the emperor, Huo Changjin is a seasoned political player, commanding both respect and fear. He rarely concerns himself with domestic affairs.

But when he sees his future daughter-in-law pushed into the water, he saves her, and they end up touching skin to skin.

Huo Changjin tells himself that he married Jiang Fuwan at first out of a sense of responsibility. Later, he thinks that since she's young and has no children, he should come home more often and give her a child or two to rely on for the rest of her life.

Later still, Huo Changjin "rescues" Jiang Fuwan from a pleasure house and sells off the handsome young servants recently hired for the estate.

He reassures himself that Fuwan is naive and has chosen her friends poorly. Then he discovers that his charming, captivating wife only likes young men.

...No matter. He's still in his prime.

*

After marrying Jiang Zhidai, his former fiancee's elder half-sister, Huo Mingyang discovers that he isn't the only man in her life.

Only then does he remember Jiang Fuwan, who used to secretly bring him pastries at the training grounds. Even the dimples at the corner of the young girl's lips had been full of love for him.

Huo Mingyang regrets it. He wants to get rid of Jiang Zhidai and marry Jiang Fuwan again, but when he speaks frankly with his father in Huo Changjin's study, a book corner flies at him and cracks his head open.

Huo Mingyang misses Fuwan terribly and wants to act first and tell everyone later. But as he leaves the study, he sees a corner of a bright red shawl sticking out from beneath his father's desk.

He recognizes it as the one Fuwan was wearing when he passed her this morning.

# His wife takes care of looking beautiful. He takes care of his career and making her even more beautiful.

Rebirth, marriage before love, light domestic scheming, ten-year actual age gap, an old flame reignited, the ex-husband is an adopted son, and every kind of revenge awaits

Also known as The Daily Life of a Cool and Aloof Marquis Doting on His Wife

Theme: Truly loving yourself