Marrying a Lame Man After My Second Marriage

Coming soon: Married When My Husband Was Down on His Luck / Rejoicing in Your Presence. Add it to your collection from my sweet-romance list~

Su Wanqing married into a merchant family, but before they could even spend their wedding night, the Prince of Jingnan abducted her.

He used the authority of her parents to force her into marrying him as his second wife. Su Wanqing naturally refused and tried to escape.

To her surprise, the guards on the roof let her pass. Zhao Qianmu watched her run, and only spoke lazily when she had made it out of the prince's residence. “If you run off by yourself, I'll consider it a bit of fun. But if you go with someone else... whoever it is, I'll break their legs.”

Su Wanqing jumped in fright and didn't dare move again.

“Still running?”

“No.”

“How should you be punished for doing wrong?”

Su Wanqing knew what he wanted. She slipped her hand into his palm, pleading softly, “My lord, the snow is so cold. Will you take me home?”

Zhao Qianmu rose to become one of the four great vassal kings despite his disability, commanding an army of three hundred thousand cavalry. But what people talked about more than his power was how he'd once been a beggar and a stable boy, how he'd been beaten and crippled in the snow in the dead of winter over a mere five dou of rice, and how he'd eventually slaughtered the man who humiliated him and taken his enemy's wife.

Everyone said Su Wanqing was a caged bird in his hands, not knowing he was the one who'd been captured.

They first met in the mountains, beside a babbling stream.

She sat sideways on a rock in a red dress, her bare feet peeking from beneath her skirt as she played in the water. Bells were tied to them with blood-red ribbons. She looked bewitchingly beautiful.

The breeze stirred, and the bells chimed in his ears.

From then on, he was consumed by thoughts of her, developing an obsession with feet.

After they married, no matter how big a mistake she made, all it took was for Su Wanqing to brush him with her foot. By midnight, he would have her pinned down, holding her feet as he murmured, “Be good, Wanwan, hmm?”

His tender voice concealed a twisted heart, and then he would lower his head as desire filled the room.

There were only three people in the prince's household. Zhao Jiamu was afraid of his older brother and only liked his beautiful sister-in-law, Su Wanqing.

But after seeking her out so often, he kept finding her barefoot, and it broke his heart. “Sister-in-law, don't you have any shoes?”

Su Wanqing froze for a moment, blushed, and hid her bell-adorned feet as she shook her head. “I have some, but the prince told me not to wear them indoors. Otherwise, he...”

Zhao Jiamu: “...”

1. Both leads are each other's first and only partners. This is a fictional setting, so don't nitpick. Nine-year age gap.

2. The male lead is ill, obsessive and quick-tempered, and his psychological problems won't get better. His limp is in one leg; that might improve, depending on the plot.

3. Before signing, updates follow the rankings; after signing, six thousand words a day. [Tentatively updated at 18:30]

[Blurb written on 2020-12-24 and saved as a screenshot. Weibo: @Xie Shuyi]

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Next up: Married When My Husband Was Down on His Luck

The Su family, the richest in Jiangling, and the Wei family, a family of high-ranking officials, have arranged marriages between their descendants for generations. This time, they chose Su Mian, who has had a husband ten years older than her, Wei Chenzhang, since the day she was born.

There is not a trace of love between them, but marriage is unavoidable.

For public reasons, the Su family wants the Wei family's influence to make business easier, while the Wei family wants the Su family's status to shield them from imperial suspicion.

In private, Su Mian has a childhood sweetheart she's loved for years, while Wei Chenzhang has a woman he loves but cannot have.

Neither side loses.

When Su Mian was seventeen, they got married.

Newly out of her family home, young and nervous, she couldn't help hiding away to cry. She never expected Wei Chenzhang, usually so taciturn, to comfort her.

“Be good. Don't cry.”

“But I'm scared, really, really scared.”

Wei Chenzhang looked at his young wife and, helplessly, pulled her into his arms. “You little crybaby, there's nothing we can do. We just have to get through it, hmm?”

Su Mian pouted. “All right, then!”

She had to get used to her new home now that they were married, and he wasn't so bad...

Two months after the wedding, Wei Chenzhang went off to war in armor. Su Mian stayed home to care for his parents, thinking her life would go on like that. But then the Wei family was devastated by a sudden military defeat.

Wei Chenzhang was wounded on the battlefield, blinded and left with a limp. As everyone pointed and stared, he crawled through the streets of Huajing, his shoulders bleeding beneath the burden, refusing to let go of the bodies of his nephews and brothers.

Everyone remembered the Wei family's defeat and forgot all the victories that had come before.

“Wei Chenzhang, get up.”

“I'm tired.”

Su Mian pulled him to his feet. “There's nothing we can do. We just have to get through it. We're husband and wife. Since you can't see, I'll be your eyes. Since you have a bad leg, I'll help you bear the burden. There's nothing shameful about that.”

Wei Chenzhang had been a favored son of heaven, but all his brilliance had been extinguished in a single night. Su Mian was the one who helped him get home.

At first, Wei Chenzhang felt he couldn't drag her down and told her to leave.

“If you want to get rid of me, get well first. Once you're better, you can send me away yourself.”

Later, Wei Chenzhang rose back to the top. One warm night beneath the canopy, he heard that she wanted to leave.

His gaze darkened in an instant. “I'll give you anything you want except that. Bring up divorce again, and see what happens!”

Theme: Good fortune may hide misfortune, and misfortune may conceal good fortune.