Jiang Yuan was born into humble circumstances. Though she was the illegitimate daughter of the Earl's household, her birth mother died young, her stepmother disliked her, and her father despised her. She was abandoned at an estate as a child and left to fend for herself.
Everyone knew she was a castoff. The servants lorded it over her, beating and berating her at every turn.
Then, one winter when she was six, Jiang Yuan could bear it no longer and ran away. But heavy snow had sealed off the mountains, and wolves surrounded her.
Just as she thought she would be torn apart that day, an arrow flashed past her cheek.
She turned and saw a young man on horseback in the distance, his red robe billowing. His expression was blank, and the air around him was as cold as the snow. Yet Jiang Yuan's heart burned warm.
When Jiang Yuan was sixteen, the emperor heard that the Earl of Pingyuan's legitimate daughter was extraordinarily beautiful, known as the “Greatest Beauty in the Capital.” He ordered the earl to send her into the palace. Only then was Jiang Yuan brought back, forced to take her stepsister's place in marriage.
But the moment Jiang Yuan appeared at the palace banquet, Grand Preceptor Xie, a man who never showed his emotions, suddenly dropped the teacup in his hand.
The previously cheerful gathering fell silent. Those who knew the truth did not dare look at Xie Qiyu's face.
Everyone close to Xie Qiyu knew he cherished Jiang Yuan as dearly as his own eyes.
The moment Jiang Yuan saw him, she ran over and threw herself into his arms, sobbing.
Everyone thought: Has she lost her mind?
Over the years, plenty of women had tried to throw themselves at Xie Qiyu, but every single one had paid with her life.
Just as everyone thought Jiang Yuan would die there that day, the usually aloof Grand Preceptor Xie lowered his head, drew her into his arms, and gently comforted her.
This was the first time in over a decade that the Earl of Pingyuan had truly paid attention to this daughter. He had no idea that the daughter he disliked had been treasured like a pearl by the foremost young noble and the most powerful minister of the age for nearly ten years.
That night, Jiang Yuan was taken to Xie Qiyu's room. When she woke, she found a gold chain fastened around her ankle.
She looked at Xie Qiyu helplessly.
“Y-Young Master?”
Looking at the radiant young woman he had carefully nurtured and cherished, bit by bit, Xie Qiyu raised a hand to the pulse in her neck. Darkness swirled in his eyes.
“Didn't I tell you to wait for me obediently?”
Jiang Yuan had been with Xie Qiyu for years and already knew that the man before her was nothing like the noble gentleman people described.
On the contrary, he was deeply possessive.
She quickly wrapped her arms around Xie Qiyu's waist, half pouting and half shaken as she told him how wronged she felt, and threw her deadbeat father under the carriage.
Watching the woman bury her face against his chest, Xie Qiyu's anger vanished at once.
Never mind. What could A-Yuan have done wrong?
It was all the Earl of Pingyuan's fault.
Content warnings: 1. An adoptive upbringing romance, with a ten-year age gap between the leads.
2. The heroine is not a strong female lead, so don't expect her to be particularly clever.
3. What the author can promise: the leads have no past romantic or sexual partners, in every sense of the phrase, and the ending is happy.
4. Though he helped raise her, the hero's feelings only changed around the time she was fourteen (the traditional age of adulthood in ancient times). The hero is not a lolicon! (Emphasis!)
Theme: Life will get better.
