Spring Returns to the Old Year

A note before reading: Because of illness, the ending of this novel comes too quickly. Su Jiunian has terrible luck. Though she is low-born, she is beautiful, and her legitimate elder sister uses her as a tool to get pregnant and secure her husband's favor. She is forced to become her brother-in-law's concubine. The man is selfish and sinister, yet he is the only one who has ever shown her tenderness. She dies, murdered by her sister's jealousy. When the man hears the news, he says only, "She was nothing but a maid." Only then does she realize that all his tenderness was an illusion. When she opens her eyes, she is back at the moment her sister is urging her to become a concubine. To save her own life, she secretly sets her sights on Qin Jiangchun, the young, low-profile head of the powerful Huaiyang Marquis household. Everyone says Third Master Qin is gentle as jade, noble and self-possessed, a perfect gentleman who keeps his distance from women. Su Jiunian believes them. She tries every way she can to seduce him, but nothing works. On the first night, she mistakes wine for aphrodisiac powder and gives it to him. When she meets his heated gaze, her heart trembles, and she senses she may have misunderstood something. Overnight, she gains a powerful protector. Then her former lover is reborn... Bonus scene: When selecting candidates at the academy, Third Master Qin brings along Su Jiunian, who is disguised as a man. Su Jiunian leans close to his ear, her red lips moving. "I think that young gentleman in the blue robe looks nice. He seems scholarly, so he must be well-educated. And that gentleman in the purple robe..." Qin Jiangchun secretly takes note. That night, he works her to exhaustion, then asks in a low voice, "Who is the best?" With red eyes, Su Jiunian gasps out, "Third Master is... the best. None of them can compare." Outside the window, the night is fading, and Jiangchun carries the old year into the new. The Couple in Name Only Everyone in the capital says Third Young Master Lu is gentle as jade and a paragon of virtue. Only Jiang Wanrong knows how decisive and ruthless he really is. In time, he will command a mighty army and become an emperor of his age. In her previous life, Jiang Wanrong was forced to marry him and turned the Lu household upside down. In the end, she was framed and left dead in the wilderness, wrapped in a mat. In the blink of an eye, she is reborn before her wedding. Faced with her stepmother and stepsister's earnest persuasion, Jiang Wanrong pulls down her red bridal veil. "Marry him? Of course I will!" All she wants is the position of Third Madam of the Lu household, so she can help her man rise to greatness until she becomes empress. Theme: