Scheming for the Branch

Thanks to a life-saving kindness from her childhood, Jiang Zhiyin crossed paths with Xie Xuzheng.

As they spent more time together, that hazy affection swelled into an obsession she couldn't let go of for years. Their families exchanged betrothal documents, but Xie Xuzheng never sent a marriage contract, and the wedding remained on hold for years.

Xie Xuzheng was cunning and decisive, a wolf waiting for the right moment to strike. Yet she kept remembering the pale boy he had been as a child and forgave him again and again.

He was skilled at putting on an act. She could no longer tell which of his words were true and which were false, so she decided to believe none of them.

Jiang Zhiyin never expected that she would be the one to call off the engagement.

Her father chose another husband for her. She thought that from then on, their paths would part and they would never meet again.

But Xie Xuzheng kept appearing before her.

By the time she married, she thought everything was settled.

The matron of honor stood to one side, not yet beginning the wedding rites, when a low voice sounded beside her. "My lady, please lift your fan."

-

Xie Xuzheng had known since childhood that only those with power could escape having to bend to others and abase themselves.

He didn't believe in true feelings. Jiang Zhiyin's love had no value to him, but the Jiang family behind her could give him ample support as he navigated the stormy court.

His career had gone smoothly. As he grew older, he had never suffered the pain of being denied what he wanted. He assumed everything would fall into place: he would marry Jiang Zhiyin and spend his life with her.

He thought victory was assured. He never imagined that the special favor he believed belonged only to him would go to a white-robed scholar, leaving him forever the loser in their rivalry.

The tribute bird that should have been his, the letters that had stopped coming for a year, and even Jiang Zhiyin's love were all flying toward that man.

He didn't know what he could do to make someone who had fallen out of love come back to him.

Watching the woman who once revolved around him grow more distant by the day, his jealousy, repressed to its limit, threatened to burn straight through him.

Amid the drifting incense smoke between the curtains, he took advantage of his drunkenness to barge into Jiang Zhiyin's room. His eyes were clear, showing no sign of drunkenness; only his words carried a hint of it. "Choose again."

His hoarse voice sounded by her ear. His thin lips brushed her cheek, his warm breath falling against her ear. "Choose me, Jiang Zhiyin."

Only then did he understand that no matter how powerful he was, he still had to humble himself and plead.

"The aloof beauty turns into a devoted puppy for love"

Theme: Keep growing upward. Every year brings progress.