Scheming to Steal a Minister's Wife

Huai Zhu was doing laundry by the river when she came across an injured man.

She glanced at his brocade robe and the jade flower pendant at his waist, said nothing, and took him home.

She cooked for him, bought him paper and ink, and saved every good thing for him. Even when he was cold and cruel, Man Chun put up with it without complaint.

Even when she woke up one day naked and aching all over beside him, Huai Zhu simply kept quiet, got dressed, and went to make breakfast.

After that, the man treated her a little better, and the two began living together like a married couple.

The man never told her who he was. He simply left early and came home late each day, and Huai Zhu never asked.

At last, one day, he left without a word.

Man Chun became the laughingstock of the whole village. But she simply smiled, used the money he had left her to pay for her younger brother's education, bought a house and land, and found herself a good match.

He was an honest widower whose wife had died, and he held an official post. A former soldier, he didn't look down on her past. Most importantly, he had a good, strong waist, which Huai Zhu was very pleased with.

She had understood from the start that she couldn't keep that man. She was used to being abandoned.

She humored and indulged him, and made the most of the money he'd given her, enjoying herself while she could before he abandoned her. It wasn't a bad deal.

A year later, she accompanied her newly promoted husband and her younger brother, who had passed the palace examination in third place, to the capital. But her husband became embroiled in a treason case. When she went to plead for him, she unexpectedly discovered that the man was Cui Yuezhuo, the same one who had left without a word all those years ago.

Cui Yuezhuo's face was cold and frightening. Certain she had come looking for him, he was about to rebuke her.

But Huai Zhu said humbly, "My husband has been framed. I beg Your Excellency to show mercy and clear his name."

Cui Yuezhuo froze, his face dark with rage, on the verge of madness. "Who is your husband?"

Theme: Take charge of your own life