Raising a Delicate Darling

Yangzhou has ten parts lotus beauty, and the Shen family claims eight of them. Known as the most beautiful woman in Yangzhou, Shen Mizhu was raised to marry into a wealthy and powerful family. Just as she was about to get her wish, the land fell into chaos, and her older sister tricked her into being given to Ji Heng, the leader of a rebel army. After three years of being kept in a gilded cage, she was framed by her sister and lost her life. Even in death, she was buried with that man. Reborn at fifteen, Shen Mizhu decides to rewrite her fate. She persuades her family to move to the capital, where she meets Ji Mingyuan, the chief councilor's son by a concubine. Ji Mingyuan is elegant and refined, with a gentle, luminous air. But he is sickly, and still unmarried past the age of twenty. Having had enough of Ji Heng's cruelty and tyranny, Shen Mizhu likes Ji Mingyuan's frail, delicate sort. The two hit it off and marry. On their wedding night, Shen Mizhu lays down three rules: no masks, no red clothes, and no swearing. Ji Mingyuan agrees with a smile. After their wedding, Ji Mingyuan seems to have gained a cheat code. His health improves, and his career flourishes. Amid the envious gazes of the noblewomen, Shen Mizhu follows Ji Mingyuan from being the wife of a concubine's son to becoming the chief councilor's wife. She smugly assumes she picked the right man. Until one night, she dreams of her past life and sees the man who tormented her so cruelly. He takes off his mask and red clothes, and beneath them is the face of her new husband! Shen Mizhu wakes in a cold sweat, packs her things, and runs away at once. But the once-gentle chief councilor has changed completely. Holding a knife, he blocks her escape route, his face dark with fury. Shen Mizhu looks at him with tearful eyes. “M-My lord?” Ji Mingyuan smiles darkly. “I knew you'd run again. I should have stopped pretending sooner.” [Bonus Scene] In their previous life, Ji Mingyuan and Shen Mizhu spent three years as “husband and wife” in name only. He raised her from an innocent, sheltered girl, indulging her until every bit of her personality was shaped by his preferences, and she drove him utterly wild. Later, when their passion was at its height, Ji Mingyuan pressed close to Shen Mizhu's ear and demanded in a hoarse voice, “Why did you run away back then?” Shen Mizhu gently wrapped her arms around Ji Mingyuan's neck, her voice as lilting and delicate as a helpless little oriole's. “My lord, be gentle. Mizhu is in pain...” Ji Mingyuan's heart instantly melted. Theme: Even if the wheels of fate are powerful, I will fight them to the death