When Ren Yu was fifteen, the eldest young master of the Huan family, Huan Lingyuan, rescued her from a brothel. She served as his concubine for four years, receiving his endless affection, and came to believe that he truly loved her.
Perhaps the lanterns of the Lantern Festival had dazzled her. In the heat of passion on the bed, she boldly caught the ends of his hair between her teeth and murmured, flushed with shyness and wine, "Yu'er heard a verse: 'May our hair be bound together, our hearts entwined.' I like it very much."
"Mind your manners." He pinched her chin and looked down at her. "Remember your place."
A bucket of cold water poured over her head, and Ren Yu came to her senses at once.
She was nothing more than a plaything, not even worthy of being called a concubine. To hope they could be bound together as husband and wife was ridiculous.
After that night, he treated her much more coldly, and she learned to behave, keeping to her proper place.
When his marriage was settled, she swallowed her bitterness and prepared to serve a second master.
Until she saw that perfect couple before a pond filled with flower lanterns.
The young woman tied their hair together and laughed with innocent delight. He smiled indulgently, letting her do as she pleased.
"If you find her an eyesore, I'll have someone take care of her."
With just a few words, Ren Yu's fate was decided. She knew all too well how he would deal with her, given his ruthless nature.
Ren Yu feared the cold most of all, yet in winter she threw herself resolutely into the freezing river. Her heart was already frozen through. Why should she care how cold the water was?
In Huan Lingyuan's heart, everyone had a clearly defined place, and he never allowed anyone to make an exception.
Ren Yu, however, thought she was the exception. Spoiled by his favor, she forgot her place and didn't know when to stop.
He restrained her nature and taught her to be obedient.
He trained her into a gentle, compliant woman, like a flower vine forever leaning into his palm.
He never imagined she would leave him.
When her corpse was hauled onto the bank, he refused to believe it. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he smiled with chilling madness. "That can't be her. Search every last inch of the land for her."
Two years later, on a spring day, Huan Lingyuan traveled south to seek treatment for his increasingly severe mania.
As he passed a rouge shop, he heard a clear, bright laugh.
A flower adorned the woman's hair. She was radiant and beautiful as she chatted and laughed with the man beside her.
The woman who occupied his fevered dreams turned a calm gaze his way. "We're closed, sir."
As if he were a stranger.
That night, Huan Lingyuan knocked on her door and threw her fiance's right hand onto the ground. Meeting her eyes, full of fear and loathing, he went deathly pale and snarled like a demon from hell: "If Yu'er wants a fiance, then of course it can only be me."
Blurb finalized on 2026.7.3
Theme: Cherish the beauty you have now.
