#What should I do if the wife I forced into marriage is a vicious violent maniac?#
Xiao Heng, the upright and stern heir to the Duke of Zhenguo, catches a maid having a secret affair in the courtyard on a rainy night.
Shen Ling is tearfully bidding farewell to her lover. With tear-bright eyes and a frail frame, she looks like a flower battered by wind and rain.
His heart stirs. Using his power, he breaks up the couple and locks her in a golden cage, thinking he can keep this delicate flower all to himself from now on.
Little does he know that Shen Ling is a man-eating flower who never spits out the bones.
*
That night, he was only a little late getting home.
Shen Ling greets him with tearful sobs. "If you don't love me, then let me go!"
Xiao Heng is about to explain when he hears a crack. The bones in his hand have been snapped by her sheer force.
As pain sears through him, his seemingly helpless concubine rushes over, on the verge of tears, and clings tightly to him. Her tears patter against his face. "I... I didn't mean to. I was just so scared..."
Xiao Heng is drenched in cold sweat from the pain. Looking at her frightened, pitiful expression, he thinks to himself, "Forget it... She's so delicate. She must have done it by accident..."
From then on, beatings become an everyday occurrence for the heir to the Duke of Zhenguo.
*
With a bruised and swollen mouth, Xiao Heng gets up in the morning and goes to court.
In private, the emperor asks with concern, "My dear minister, what happened to your face?"
Xiao Heng answers without changing expression, "I bumped into something by accident."
It isn't until the flower-viewing banquet that Cui, the censor's wife, accidentally stumbles upon a scene behind a rockery.
The lowborn concubine, who looks plain and unassuming, doesn't say three words before raising her hand and viciously slapping the powerful heir to the dukedom.
Cui is terrified out of her wits. She covers her mouth and backs away, remembering Xiao Heng's vindictive, sinister, and ruthless nature. She assumes the concubine is surely doomed.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Heng only gives Shen Ling a sinister glare and says in a hard voice, "Behave yourself for the next few days. I've already asked His Majesty to grant us a marriage, and our wedding is coming up. It wouldn't look good if I had an injury on my face then."
*
Xiao Heng thinks that if he can just endure it, the rest of his life will pass by.
Beating is a sign of affection, scolding is a sign of love.
At least she cares about him.
Who could have guessed Shen Ling would poison him with a slow-acting toxin for over half a year, trying to kill him?
That alone, Xiao Heng can still endure.
But he never expected Shen Ling to get involved with another man and make off with most of the family fortune.
...She ran away.
#A vicious, violent heroine who beats emperors, princes, and powerful nobles up top, and middle-aged and young men down below#
1. The hero is a pretty awful patriarchal jerk at first. He fights back when beaten, then gets subdued by the heroine. The heroine seems delicate but is actually a violent control freak with a screw loose. She won't harm anyone outside the hero (or heroes?) The two are a perfect match, since neither of them is a good person. The hero is sexually inexperienced.
2. The heroine is a delicate, pitiful, plain little white flower on the outside, but selfish and vicious inside. If that's not your thing, move along.
Theme: Opposing feudalism