I Dote on the Villainous Chief Minister

After her beloved mother died in childbirth, Shen Nian'an, the legitimate daughter of a duke, became the person her father, Shen Yong, despised most.

Shen Yong doted on his adopted daughter, Bai Xiuxiu, while constantly berating his own child and keeping her at arm's length.

When Shen Nian'an was killed, Shen Yong said, "Her life was already long overdue. Don't hold a funeral! I'd sooner throw away a copper coin than spend it on her!"

After slaying zombies, Shen Nian'an returns to the past and discovers she's nothing more than a cannon-fodder character in a book.

The original heroine, Bai Xiuxiu, is blessed with incredible fortune. One word from her is enough to send everyone rushing to her side.

Bai Xiuxiu wants Shen Nian'an's engagement to Cui Zhirui, the eldest legitimate son of the Assistant Grand Secretary.

While drugging and framing her, she insists that Shen Nian'an be forced to toss a bridal ball in the street to choose a husband.

In her previous life, not long after Shen Nian'an refused, she was burned alive in her mother's residence, the Qinghe Commandery Princess's manor.

This time, Shen Nian'an returns, picks up the scarlet silk ball, and looks down at the crowd...

A stunningly handsome, cool-faced man. Why is he here too?

*

Gu Yeqing, the powerful villain in the book, constantly obstructed the male and female leads from claiming the position of Chief Grand Secretary.

He even went so far as to castrate himself and ingratiate himself with the Empress Dowager, creating a major conflict for the leads before meeting a death by lingchi.

Only after reading the book did Shen Nian'an realize

that they were both just poor souls with a useless, scumbag father!

When she was falsely accused of being naked, he covered her with his robe and had the half-dressed, unconscious wild man carried away.

She sobbed, "I didn't do it. I've been framed... You have to believe me!"

"I believe you!"

The man's voice was low, his gaze steady, his features captivating.

Then this time, she'll trust him too...

At worst, she'll be without parents, without anyone by her side, and have to make her way through the world all over again.

She never expected that by tossing the ball, she would become the youngest cabinet's "benefactor" in the Great Jin.

By the time her pampered live-in husband became Chief Grand Secretary, their marriage contract had already lasted more than twenty years.

Even when he came home, he would still pick her a pure white gardenia and remind her, "It's pretty. Keep it. Don't turn everything into medicine..."

Theme: A life of striving