[Full story completed, expected to launch around Lunar New Year]
When Jiang Wan married Cheng Yu,
everyone envied her for having such a handsome husband with a bright future ahead of him.
Jiang Wan knew better than anyone how good-looking Cheng Yu was.
Their marriage had been arranged without either of them knowing each other, and at first, she had opposed it.
Until her sisters coaxed her into sneaking to the front hall. Beyond the screen, a young man stood tall and elegant, his gaze lowered.
He wasn't even looking at her, yet fifteen-year-old Jiang Wan still blushed.
After that, she never objected to the marriage again. Before the wedding, she even hugged her bridal veil and giggled foolishly in bed.
Jiang Wan's feelings were always intense and unmistakable. When she loved someone, she loved them passionately. Even Cheng Yu, usually as cold as ice, had once blushed at the ears because of her.
But Cheng Yu was still Cheng Yu: calm and restrained. Even in their bedroom, he never offered her more than a few tender words. Whenever he came, he left in silence.
It was as if her bedroom and his Court of Judicial Review were one and the same, both places for handling official business.
People said Cheng Yu didn't love her, that he had a beloved woman he could never have, a white moonlight, and had even kept her outside as a concubine.
But Jiang Wan didn't believe it. She was too deeply in love with Cheng Yu then.
Later, Cheng Yu was wrongfully imprisoned. The servants fled, and Jiang Wan was left standing alone outside the vast Cheng estate.
To save Cheng Yu, she even agreed to become the companion-wife of Xiao Lin, the powerful chief eunuch, in exchange for securing Cheng Yu's freedom.
Xiao Lin treated her well. He built her a golden house and a garden, planting thousands upon thousands of roses with his own hands.
Everyone said Xiao Lin was sinister and cruel, with blood on his hands. But the hand that did her makeup was always clean and warm, and his smiling eyes quietly watched over her no matter what.
Later, when Cheng Yu was released from prison, she went to welcome him in person.
Through the curtain of rain, Cheng Yu gave her a cold look and turned away.
She reached out to grab his sleeve, but Cheng Yu shoved her to the ground. "You consort with a filthy eunuch like that. You're beneath contempt."
At that moment, Jiang Wan suddenly felt that perhaps she had never truly known Cheng Yu.
Reader's guide:
1. The female lead is not a virgin, but both male leads are.
2. The second male lead becomes the endgame. The male lead is headed for the crematorium.
3. Synopsis saved on October 22, 2021.
Theme: Break free from the constraints of marriage and find yourself again.
