[Stepmother Romance + Childhood Sweethearts]
Tang Nuo was blessed with a beautiful face and cloudlike hair. At the tender age of sixteen, she became the second wife of the Xu family patriarch.
Tang Nuo was already grateful that she had escaped being sent to the government brothel.
There was only one thing that bothered her: the patriarch's son often watched her with a cold, brooding gaze.
As it happened, the patriarch was gravely ill, and before long, she was widowed.
The next head of the family would be Xu Jieyun.
Tang Nuo had no choice but to carefully fulfill her duties as his "mother" while ingratiating herself with him, hoping he would let her remarry.
Then, one day, Tang Nuo suddenly received a letter from the border.
It was from her childhood sweetheart, the former chancellor's son.
At the sight of that familiar handwriting and signature, her hands trembled, and tears streamed down her face.
Resolving to act, Tang Nuo put on her most elegant clothes and jewelry and went to Xu Jieyun's courtyard.
She wanted to remarry.
Just as she expected, Xu Jieyun refused.
Xu Jieyun indulged her until she grew bold enough to set a fire and escape. At last, he gave a cold laugh and locked her onto the bridal bed he had made himself.
Terror showed in her eyes, and her hair was disheveled.
Xu Jieyun watched her at his leisure for a long while, then sighed. "How has my stepmother still not realized that the person who's been writing to you all along is me?"
Xu Jieyun had once been friends with the chancellor's son. After flirting with Tang Nuo and growing tired of her, the man asked Xu Jieyun to write letters in his place.
Xu Jieyun fell for this innocent, lively woman. But just as he was preparing to reveal his identity, the Tang family fell from grace. Tang Nuo became the daughter of a disgraced official and married his father.
He watched coldly as she wore that bright red wedding dress and wondered how he could make her his wife.
Reading note:
1. A melodramatic misunderstanding and a stepmother romance. The heroine is single before the romance between the leads begins. Nothing here promotes anything inappropriate!!! (Blurb written on September 10, 2026)
Theme: Live life earnestly
