Delicate, aloof, emotionally distant, sharp-tongued but soft-hearted x restrained, self-conscious, sensitive boy with a secret crush. Female teacher and male disciple / a killer finds a new job in the countryside
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Shen Xun, a former Fengtian Bureau Shadow Guard, was as beautiful as a flower. Unfortunately, she was half-blind.
Not only blind, but broke, too.
Luckily, aside from killing people, Shen Xun could also... build houses, lay bricks, scavenge, tell fortunes, fix doors, and make kitchen knives...
While leading her disciple Yan Zheng on the run from their pursuers, Shen Xun scavenged for things to sell and occasionally pretended to be a fortune-teller, swindling people with a straight face.
Yan Zheng stood to one side like a young apprentice, thinking that his master's way with words was one of a kind, from Heaven to Earth.
Yan Zheng's parents were both dead, and he'd traveled far and wide with his master. All he knew was that the man who killed his entire family was called Bai Xiao, a Shadow Guard of the Fengtian Bureau. Yan Zheng had searched for Bai Xiao for years and sworn to avenge his parents.
Though he was still young, Yan Zheng already knew how to cook and do laundry, chop wood and carry water. He never let his sickly master lift so much as a finger to do hard labor.
But Yan Zheng never expected his master to kill people as easily as slicing a watermelon.
The bandits who'd abducted Yan Zheng fell one by one beneath Shen Xun's sword. She had a lovely face, but a cold temperament. With two feet of white cloth wrapped over her eyes and coarse clothes fluttering in the wind, she looked like a ghost.
Shen Xun shook the blood from her sword and looked down at him. "Are you going to run off again?"
Less than two days later, Shen Xun ran off first.
Years later, Yan Zheng saw Shen Xun again at a wedding feast at the Marquis's estate. She lifted her red veil and glanced at him indifferently. "Who are you calling your master?"
In front of everyone, Yan Zheng grabbed her hand and pleaded, "Master, I'm grown up now. I can take care of you. Please don't marry him, all right? If you won't acknowledge me, I'll kill myself right here in front of you!"
"You've mistaken me for someone else." Shen Xun's eyes were utterly calm as she slowly withdrew her hand. "Go ahead."
Yan Zheng spat out a mouthful of blood. She didn't even turn around. Only then did Yan Zheng realize that he hadn't wanted Shen Xun to be his master. He wanted her to be... his wife.
The night he passed the imperial exam and earned third place, Yan Zheng went to the Marquis's estate to offer himself to her.
"I hear the madam has poor eyesight. How can you sleep soundly without a disciple by your side to look after you?"
Reading Guide:
The female lead's marriage into the Marquis's household is a ruse. Later, she'll reveal her true identity.
Neither lead is perfect. The female lead is formidable in her true identity and has a loose sense of right and wrong. The male lead is completely love-struck. The plot and romance are currently planned to be split about evenly.
Includes faked death and some tragic romance.
Theme: Sincere love is precious.
