Raising the Spoiled One

Yao Shangqiu, the only daughter of the Yao family of Jingzhou, could write prose at three and poetry at seven. She was a heaven-blessed prodigy.

No one among the younger generation in the capital could match her.

Then the Cui family of Huangyang produced a young master out of nowhere, a martial arts prodigy, clever from childhood, and blessed with a handsome face.

If not for the fact that literary families and military families did not intermarry, the two would have been a match made in heaven.

Who could have guessed that they would become enemies at first sight?

As the saying goes, enemies are better reconciled than at odds. Young General Cui was silver-tongued and quick-witted, while Miss Yao was just as unyielding. Whenever they met, sparks flew as they clashed.

Everyone thought they would keep competing and each shine in their own way. But then the late emperor declared that women were unsuited to politics and stripped Yao Shangqiu of her positions as the Crown Prince's companion and a future official.

The heaven-blessed prodigy was suddenly turned into a sheltered young lady.

Princess Pingyang and Yao Xing, the Left Chancellor, abandoned their former kindness and treated their own daughter coldly. The noble young lady was condemned by all and mourned by everyone.

From then on, Yao Shangqiu lost heart and spent her time chasing pleasure. She befriended Feng Shixuan, a lowborn wastrel, and the two reveled in wine and women.

A marriage decree sent the lowborn wastrel soaring to become the Yao family's son-in-law.

Beneath his wastrel exterior, however, lurked a sinister heart.

Feng Shixuan was the younger brother of the current Right Chancellor. The two had fled from the south, and while the Chancellor was upright and honorable, his younger brother was ambitious and treacherous.

It was precisely his lowborn origins that made his inferiority complex grow harder to suppress amid the capital's splendor.

He hated Cui Fuyan, who had been born rich and powerful, with status and influence readily within reach.

After marrying Yao Shangqiu, he took advantage of her yearning for family affection to repeatedly frame Cui Fuyan, all while playing the victim.

Yao Shangqiu was too close to the situation to see what he was really like. Even though Cui Fuyan rescued her time and again, his sharp tongue left her no room to respond, and she had no desire to repay him.

But one day, Yao Shangqiu suddenly realized something.

The man she had once considered her rival might actually be her best partner.

So, whether it was to get revenge on her ex-husband or because she had truly fallen for the enemy she once despised, the two went from bitter rivals to husband and wife in the eyes of everyone else.

[Bonus Scene One]

That scoundrel Feng Shixuan was hanging around Yao Shangqiu again.

The moonlight was like water.

"Chengyin (the male lead's younger sister), is this right?" Cui Chengqi (the male lead's elder brother) clung to the wall of the Feng residence, wobbling precariously.

Cui Chengyin wiped her nose and said with a determined look, "It's fine, Big Brother. Watch me deal with that bastard." At her command, a terrifying howl rang out from Feng Shixuan's residence.

"Who! Who did this?!" The wails were pitiful yet strangely melodious.

With that, the two jumped down from the wall and walked away.

The next day, word spread throughout the capital that the Feng family's second young master had been doused in manure.

Early the next morning, the Cui family gathered around the round table. Yao Shangqiu was groggy after staying up all night reading by lamplight with Cui Fuyan, and she felt that everyone was looking at her strangely.

Her sister-in-law, Fang Jing, noticed her tired expression and asked, "Didn't you sleep well last night?"

"Mm. I found an old book in the study, so Fuyan and I spent the whole night researching it. But why are Father, Mother, Big Brother, and Chengyin all looking at me like that?"

Their faces seemed to hold a smile, as if they were waiting for praise.

After everyone told her about their heroic exploits the night before, Yao Shangqiu was speechless. She managed a stiff smile, then turned to Cui Fuyan, who was sitting quietly beside her with a smile, and whispered, "Is everyone in your family this... this uninhibited?"

[Bonus Scene Two]

Something big happened at the Cui residence.

Whether it was because Cui Fuyan was busy keeping the capital in order at the Commandery Governor's Office all day or because he had been eating too much spicy food lately, his throat hurt.

"Aaaaaah!" Yao Shangqiu's earth-shaking scream echoed through the entire Cui residence. Everyone was startled into thinking something had happened to her, so they hurriedly got dressed and rushed over.

Instead, they found Yao Shangqiu holding the youngest Cui's face in her hands, looking terribly concerned.

"Father, Mother, this is serious. Fuyan's throat is bothering him. Do you know any good remedies?" Yao Shangqiu gently held and rubbed Cui Fuyan's face, as though he were the most precious piece of jade.

For the sake of her darling husband, Yao Shangqiu ordered every merchant under her to find the finest honeysuckle flowers at once.

Her people throughout Great Chu suffered terribly searching for the supposedly finest honeysuckle. They complained endlessly, and one of them finally asked, "Who needs honeysuckle tea anyway~~"

"Who else? Our shopkeeper Yao's darling husband. You have no idea how much she spoils him. She's afraid he'll melt if she holds him in her mouth, and afraid he'll fall if she holds him in her hands. Tsk, tsk, tsk. We're the ones suffering from all this public affection, aaaaaah!"

Reading guide:

1. The male lead is mute for part of the middle. Please decide for yourself if that's a dealbreaker.

2. The second male lead gets a lot of page time. The leads both have a rough time early on.

3. Both leads have only ever been with each other.

4. The blurb may change, but the story's plot will not. Read with confidence.

4. The dynasty is fictional, so please don't scrutinize the history.

Theme: Companionship is the most heart-testing weapon in the world