The First Wife

Wen Tingshu is the legitimate daughter of a noble family. She is accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and her parents cherish her dearly. She has a betrothed, Song Qing, a handsome and refined gentleman who is disciplined and courteous, and admired by all as a man of impeccable virtue. It is not until their wedding day draws near that Wen Tingshu learns Song Qing keeps a mistress. Her maid speaks up for her, but Wen Tingshu kindly replies that it is only natural for a man to have three wives and four concubines. After they marry, Wen Tingshu finally meets his mistress. The woman is delicate and soft, like a frail little white flower swaying in the breeze. Song Qing expects Wen Tingshu to be jealous, but instead, she asks him to bring his mistress into their household, hoping to win his favor. At first, Song Qing sees Wen Tingshu only as a vessel for producing an heir. But his wife not only fusses over him and cares for his every need, she is also gentle and considerate. When he falls ill, she tends to him day and night, moving him deeply and filling him with guilt. He decides he will love her a little more from then on. Until one day, he happens to see his wife emerge from a grotto in a rock garden, her cheeks flushed and her expression flustered... Only later does he discover that his wife has become involved with Jiang Yan, the notorious heir to the Marquis of Dingbei. When Song Qing learns the truth, jealousy consumes him, and he nearly coughs up blood. * Before marriage, Wen Tingshu was a flawless young lady from a distinguished family, dignified and proper, so shy she could hardly bear to exchange a single word with an unfamiliar man. After marriage, she upheld a wife's virtue and remained faithful, enduring her husband's infidelity and indifference. But no one knows that she does not love Song Qing at all. She has long admired another man, ever since she was an unmarried girl. He is irresistibly charming and wickedly rakish, the center of attention wherever he goes. But so many women adore him that he has never once looked her way. She carefully keeps him tucked away in her heart, never daring to mention him to anyone. * Before the heir to the Marquis of Dingbei, Jiang Yan, falls in love with Wen Tingshu, he indulges in romance and cares nothing for convention. After he falls in love with Wen Tingshu, she is his one forbidden thing, and he becomes her most loyal slave. Important: * The male lead is Jiang Yan, heir to the Marquis of Dingbei. Neither lead is a virgin. * The title The Principal Wife is another heavy shackle placed on the female lead, and is not meant as praise. * This story is set in an alternate world. -- Preview: Draw Me Into My Dreams Xu Banmeng is a full-time housewife. Her husband, Shen Jia, owns a film company. They fell in love in college and married after graduation. She gave up her dreams to devote herself to their family, believing they would be happy forever. But Shen Jia still cheated on her, and with her cousin Wu Xueli, no less. Wu Xueli is a glamorous and beautiful celebrity. Beside her, Xu Banmeng looks like a washed-up housewife. To get revenge on them both, Xu Banmeng approaches Wu Xueli's fiance, Han Chuan. Han Chuan is the heir to Tianqi Technology Group. They say he is the real power behind the company, a shrewd man with ruthless methods and a playboy reputation. But when she steps into his villa, she finds a handsome man in a perfectly tailored suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and puffing on a cigar. He looks more like a polished scoundrel. When she proposes that they work together to get revenge on Shen Jia and Wu Xueli, the man makes her an utterly outrageous demand... One-line premise: A full-time housewife rises to become a top-tier star and award-winning actress. -- Preview: Beneath the Skirts 1. Su Qingyu is the apple of the Yong'an Marquis household's eye. Well-read, courteous, gentle, and dignified, she is praised by everyone as a model young lady. When she was thirteen, she met a young man from a neighboring academy. He was as beautiful as a spring blossom, elegant and peerlessly refined. Because of his gentle disposition and his family's poverty, everyone shunned and bullied him. But Su Qingyu fell for him all the same. One day, she finally worked up the courage to set aside her pride and have her maid deliver a sachet she had sewn with care. She saw him accept it gracefully in front of everyone, only to throw it into a filthy corner once they were alone. Then he accepted a sachet from her younger half-sister, Su Yingxue. At that moment, shame and fury clouded her eyes. How dare a penniless nobody trample her affection so brazenly? From then on, Su Qingyu joined the others in bullying him. They mocked him for a toad who dared dream of eating swan meat, and even beat him viciously with a whip. Seeing the hatred in the young man's eyes, she felt both sorrow and satisfaction. 2. At twenty-six, the Marquis of Yong'an was implicated in a crime. His household was confiscated and his title stripped away, and her husband's family was implicated as well. Su Qingyu fell from a pampered young lady to the daughter of a disgraced official. Meanwhile, Fu Renyu, the poor boy she had once bullied, became a powerful minister who could dominate the court. He was put in charge of the Marquis of Yong'an's case. As his enemy, Su Qingyu was sent to his residence. The man was still as he had been in those days, elegant and exquisitely handsome. Leaning languidly against a couch, he looked at the woman prostrate at his feet with a gaze as tender as if she were his beloved. Yet his words were cruel and frivolous: "Pleasure me, and perhaps I can save your father and husband." Humiliated, Su Qingyu obeyed his command, setting aside the dignity and pride of a young lady from a distinguished family, and kissed him. Sensing her reluctance, he roughly shoved her down onto the couch and seized her by the throat. He pulled the jade belt from his waist and lashed it across her, leaving a vivid red mark on her fair skin, as if he meant to repay every humiliation he had suffered at her hands. She trembled with fear, yet refused to beg for mercy. Like a lofty judge, the man looked down at her coldly. She was no longer a rich young lady, yet she still clung to her pride and refused to lower herself. This stirred in him a desire to break her and watch her fall into depravity. Reader advisory: * The female lead is not a virgin, while the male lead is. Forced possession, love born of hatred, and plenty of melodrama. Completed novels: Beauty and the Powerful Minister: Alluring heroine vs. chaste hero How Can I Resist Her Soft, Warm Embrace: All about desire, no feelings Red Dust Tribulation: The hero pursues his wife after losing her Theme: Oppose the oppression and restrictions imposed on women by feudal ethics, and courageously pursue freedom and true love.