Forced to Marry My Mortal Enemy

*Marrying a wastrel / aloof beauty x young wastrel marquis

*Bickering couple and marriage before love / airhead x grump

1.

Everyone in the capital knew that Xue Shaoan, the young marquis, and Su Yunzhu, the Third Young Master of the Imperial Medical Academy, were sworn enemies who couldn’t stand one another. Whenever they met, they would tear into each other, neither willing to back down.

But during one palace banquet, the two accidentally ate a potent drug sent as tribute from the Western Regions. By the time anyone found them, they had already been lost in a passionate embrace, oblivious to the world around them.

Everyone: So that’s what you mean by being unable to stand each other, and tearing into each other!

The Emperor: I hereby decree your marriage! No time to waste. You’ll wed at the earliest opportunity!

2.

Xue Shaoan and Su Yunzhu were hustled into marriage before they knew it.

Even after the wedding, they still couldn’t get along. They even began finding suitable partners for each other, figuring that once the other had found true love, they could reasonably escape their marriage.

And so...

Xue Shaoan: Hey, hey, look at this one. Handsome, charming, and refined. He may not be half as impressive as your young marquis, but he’s more than good enough for an unfeeling block of ice like you.

Su Yunzhu: You should take a look at this one. Gentle and virtuous, clearly good at managing a household and patient enough to put up with anything. You could spend the rest of your life with her without being driven to an early grave.

Neither would give in, so each went looking for a match of their own.

By an extraordinary coincidence, they both found someone. A month later, dressed to the nines, one headed for the east gate and the other for the west, eager to meet the kindred spirits they had hit it off with in their letters. But then

Xue Shaoan: Why is it you?!

Su Yunzhu: Why is it you?!

3.

Their days had been filled with bickering, cockfighting, and dog racing, until disaster struck. All seventy-two members of the Xue family were charged with crimes, while Su Yunzhu was thrown into prison over a case left over from the previous dynasty.

Overnight, Xue Shaoan went from a wastrel who did nothing but eat, drink, and have fun to a man who had lost everything. Only when the authorities came to seize the family home did he finally realize that the imperial decree and even their correspondence had all been part of Su Yunzhu’s plan.

His wife was far cleverer than he was. With the last of his own wits, he had helped her flee the capital and never return.

Su Yunzhu had never expected Xue Shaoan to come back.

He knew how sincere and softhearted Xue Shaoan was, and he also knew the man had no brains and was not fit for any great responsibility.

In the winter of the tenth year of Qingde, Su Yunzhu left the Ministry of Justice prison under guard. He had expected to face the executioner’s icy blade, but instead, the newly crowned top scholar rode up to plead his case and take him back to their new home.

Xue Shaoan, now the top scholar, had red-rimmed eyes. As he looked at Su Yunzhu, tears threatened to fall.

“My dear, marry me again.”

“This time... I’ll give you what you want, and follow my heart.”

Theme: Hold fast to an innocent heart