The Virtuous Wife Marries Again

Yan Huan and Zhao Shi'an were married for ten years. She poured her heart and soul into the marriage, only to earn the title of "virtuous wife," praised by everyone, and a divorce letter.

Childless and jealous: those were the charges Zhao Shi'an brought against her.

She was childless because she had accompanied him to take up a post in a remote border region. She suffered a difficult labor on the journey and was left unable to bear more children.

As for being jealous...

Yan Huan still remembered their wedding day, when Zhao Shi'an had taken her hand and promised, "Huan, you are the only one for me in this life. I will never take another woman."

Yan Huan knew the real reason: Zhao Shi'an had fallen in love with a noblewoman who was younger, prettier, and from a better family than she was.

Yan Huan couldn't be bothered to expose him. She only wanted to get her dowry back, start a small business, and support herself and her daughter.

But on the very day she divorced him, He Yunzhou, the current chancellor, came to find her and said he wanted to marry her.

Yan Huan pressed him for a reason.

After a moment's silence, He Yunzhou said, "I need a wife to manage my household."

Yan Huan accepted He Yunzhou's proposal.

She believed there was no love or desire between them, only a matter of each getting what they needed.

Until, while helping He Yunzhou organize his bookshelves, she accidentally triggered a mechanism and entered a secret room.

The room was covered in portraits and filled with countless tender poems, all about Yan Huan.

Yan Huan also saw an exquisitely embroidered handkerchief.

Her hands had grown rough while accompanying Zhao Shi'an to his postings, and she could never have embroidered something so lifelike.

It could only have been something she embroidered as a young woman, before marriage.

That was more than a decade ago.

He Yunzhou had been poor as a boy. He went to the capital to study and buried himself in his books. His classmates never saw him lose focus.

But that wasn't true.

Whenever Zhao Shi'an's fiancée came to visit him, He Yunzhou would look up.

He would gaze at the girl named Yan Huan, lost in thought for a very long time.

[Quick Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, the female lead has no prior partners, the male lead is inexperienced, happy ending. Both leads are 28 at the start. I'm still debating whether to make them a few years older, so for now this is set. They won't be younger than this.

2. The female lead has a biological daughter. The male lead has three children, none of them his biological children. The leads won't have children after they marry.

3. The female lead's perspective is marriage first, love later; the male lead's perspective is a longtime crush finally coming true.

4. There will be some everyday family life, but not much household intrigue. Think of it as a story where parental romance takes center stage, like a family sitcom. The overall tone is warm and healing, like a fairy tale for adults.

Theme: There is love in this world.