After Having a Baby with the Scheming Minister

Jiang Qingwu is the least favored concubine-born daughter in the Jiang family. But she's beautiful, and destined to be sent off to curry favor with the powerful.

Her elder sister, the legitimate daughter, has been married into the marquis's household for three years without bearing a child. Her in-laws treat her with disdain and neglect. To secure her standing in the household, she plans to have Jiang Qingwu bear a child in her place.

Jiang Qingwu is invited to a family banquet at the marquis's residence. After a cup of wine, she's drugged and sent to her elder sister's husband's room.

She discovers her sister's plan by chance. With the last of her clarity, Jiang Qingwu runs out of the room and hides in another one instead.

After a night together, Jiang Qingwu does indeed become pregnant. Her elder sister eagerly plots and waits for Jiang Qingwu to give birth, so she can secure her place in the marquis's household and get rid of her troublesome younger half-sister.

But Jiang Qingwu knows the child isn't her sister's husband's.

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Lu Jingzhou, heir to the Marquis of Loyalty and Valor, is highly trusted by the emperor. When war breaks out on the border, he's dispatched to guard the frontier and put down the rebellion.

Before he leaves, the marquis's household holds a banquet to see him off.

He claims he can't hold his liquor and goes to rest in a side room. He doesn't expect the door to open and a disheveled beauty to stumble into his arms.

He recognizes her as the concubine-born daughter the Jiang family ostensibly sent to "visit" him.

Lu Jingzhou assumes she's a "gift" from the Jiang family, hoping to curry favor with the marquis's household. Frowning, he is about to turn and leave when the beauty grabs his sleeve.

"Please, Your Lordship, save me."

Lu Jingzhou stops and asks with interest, "You know who I am, and you still dare ask me to save you?"

Who doesn't know that Lu Jingzhou is ruthless, and that he's always the one taking other people's lives?

Hearing this, Jiang Qingwu meets his gaze without the slightest fear. "If I'm destined to live a short life hidden away in the dark, then I might as well choose someone who stands above the rest."

Pregnancy and childbirth, then marriage before love.

The male lead has no other wives or concubines.

Theme: Work hard to live, and you can have a beautiful future.