On her way to seek refuge with her brother, Jiang Meiyu bought a male courtesan named Duan Yulang to test her medicine on.
No one knew that the younger sister the Marquis of Jingyuan called radiant as spring flowers, beautiful and dignified, had a secret. The most potent aphrodisiacs in the pleasure houses and taverns all came from her hands.
In the carriage, Jiang Meiyu bound Duan Yulang's hands and feet, then forced him to swallow a bowl of her latest concoction.
When the effects kicked in, Jiang Meiyu took out her notebook and carefully recorded her observations.
"Red patches on cheeks, dazed yet fierce eyes, biting his lower lip repeatedly, effects lasting half an hour."
Jiang Meiyu shook her head.
"This one doesn't seem to last long enough."
At the inn, Jiang Meiyu fed a bowl of medicinal soup to Duan Yulang, whose body was burning hot and who had lost consciousness, then took out her notebook.
"Burning breath, flushed and feverish, tears at the corners of his eyes, unconscious."
Jiang Meiyu frowned.
"What did I put too much of this time?"
Just as Jiang Meiyu brought her eighth new concoction to Duan Yulang's lips, the hand that had been tied up with hemp rope suddenly landed at her waist, and Duan Yulang pressed himself against her.
He took a sip of the new medicine and passed it into her mouth.
After a forced, passionate night, Duan Yulang held Jiang Meiyu's hands captive and bit the side of her neck.
"Well? Are you satisfied with how this one worked?"
-
When they returned to the Marquis of Jingyuan's residence, Jiang Yanzhao noticed the lingering red marks on the back of his younger sister's neck.
Afraid of reopening her wounds, he pretended not to notice and swore he would tear the person who had humiliated her limb from limb.
He thought the matter was over.
Until one day, Jiang Meiyu came across a group of people fighting in the street. On one side were her brother and her childhood sweetheart; on the other was Duan Yulang.
She watched as her brother twisted Duan Yulang's arm. Duan Yulang merely leaned close to her brother and her childhood sweetheart's ears, keeping his eyes fixed on her like a hawk.
"There's a mole behind your sister's left shoulder, isn't there?"
Only then did Jiang Meiyu learn that the man who had been entangled with her for months was not Duan Yulang at all, but Pei Xiao, her enemy, whom her brother had sold to a male courtesan house.
In the twelfth year of Honghua, Jiang Yanzhao was implicated in a major crime.
In the prison, unable to bear seeing her brother covered in wounds, Jiang Meiyu could only beg Pei Xiao to save his life.
Pei Xiao clasped her waist with one hand, gripped her chin, and turned her to face Jiang Yanzhao.
"What's so bad about Jiang Yanzhao dying? I'll be your brother instead."
"I'll be your good brother by day and your lover by night."
Reader's guide:
1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first and only.
2. Lots of melodrama, coercive romance, childhood sweethearts, and a fierce rivalry over the heroine. The heroine is irresistible to everyone, with many unrequited admirers.
3. Fictional setting with many original elements.
Theme: Sincerity and devotion can overcome anything.
