Legend has it that every thousand years, a flower spirit appears on Spirit Mountain. White Camellia tastes sweet, pungent, and slightly bitter. It is cooling in nature and can stop bleeding in the lungs.
In February 1921, Master Gu was nearly sixty, coughing up blood day after day and nearing the end of his life. His foolish First Madam believed the rumors and brought her down from the mountain.
Life in the mountains had been poor, but it had offered a hundred times more freedom than the old Gu residence. Besides, the man she was marrying was already dying.
With little to do, she met the youngest son, Gu Qingchi, who had just returned from studying abroad.
"So you're the new little mom my father married?"
White Camellia was polite enough not to roll her eyes at Gu Qingchi.
But afraid of provoking gossip, she usually stayed in her room whenever Gu Qingchi was home.
Still, under the same roof, they were bound to run into each other.
Gu Qingchi kept crossing the line, and she had no choice but to put on the airs of an elder.
Before she could throw the fan in her hand, Gu Qingchi caught her by the wrist.
His grip hurt. She endured it for a moment, but he didn't loosen his hold. Instead, he slowly rubbed his thumb over her wrist bone. White Camellia was horrified.
"How dare you!"
Gu Qingchi had heard back when he was abroad that his father didn't have long to live.
On the way home, he was told that his father had taken a flower spirit, White Camellia, as his new wife.
He had always dismissed such supernatural nonsense and was determined to tear the mask off this fraud.
They first met beneath a magnolia tree. The woman didn't even look at him, yet she caught his eye.
The second time they met was at the old Gu residence. The woman was distant toward him.
The third time, the fourth...
He even tried to tempt her with his good looks, but all he got from White Camellia was a once-over and a cold "Oh."
Damn it! This fraud was good at what she did! But he refused to believe in any of it!
On the day his father died, he personally presented evidence of White Camellia's true origins.
"You've enjoyed more than enough comforts as the Ninth Madam of the Gu family."
That night, in a dark woodshed, Gu Qingchi pushed open the door, wrapped an arm around White Camellia's waist, and pressed close to her ear.
"How are you going to repay the Gu family for all the riches and luxuries you've enjoyed?"
Reader's guide:
Use your brain at your own risk. One-on-one romance, both leads have only had one partner.
Neither the heroine nor the hero is a good person in the traditional sense.
Theme: Don't be superstitious
