A Chilling Spring

When Xie Nian returned from Jiangnan to the Duke of Guo's residence, he saw several women gathered in the back courtyard, smiling falsely. Apart from a few familiar faces, there was one stranger. A servant told him she was the new concubine taken by Duke Xie. As the fourth in order, Xie Nian ought to call her "Fourth Madam." The woman sat on a stone bench, her jade fan raised to hide her face as she smiled gently. Yet the aloofness in her bones was utterly out of place. Like recognizes like. Xie Nian saw through her. This woman was a complete fake. Later, he saw her fall on hard times several times. She still smiled gently, just as aloof as before. Xie Nian grew curious. He wanted to see how he could tear away that false smile. A childless concubine had a hard life in the household. The old duke was elderly and unlikely to father another child. Xie Nian stopped Yin Siniang. "Fourth Madam, life without a child must be difficult." "What do you think of the idea of Duke Xie having a child in his old age?" Ying Chunhan was the daughter of a disgraced official. Now that her family was gone and she had nothing left to hold her back, she returned to the capital alone to clear their names. Partly coerced and partly used, she became Duke Xie's concubine under the name "Yin Siniang." Xie Nian, Duke Xie's second son, wielded immense power at court. He was known as the handsome young lord, but in truth he was cold and vicious. Now favored by the Emperor, he was the ideal person to reopen an old case. When they first met in the little garden, his expression was frivolous, but it could not hide the bone-deep chill and the madness beneath it. She lowered her head slightly, concealing her plans behind a smile. If you want someone to walk into your trap, you have to use yourself as bait. Xie Nian, Xie Nian, Xie Nian. "Fourth Madam, you always smile so gently, but how much of it truly comes from the heart?" "It's not enough. That calm is only a facade. Xie Nian is a real madman. It's not enough." [Reading guide:] * The female lead is not a virgin, the male lead is. The female lead had a late husband, and she also got together with the male lead's father. Historical romance has to go there. * A melodramatic happy ending. * The male lead agonizes over what he thinks are moral and ethical issues. The female lead couldn't care less. * The leads are not married by the end, have no official relationship, and never discuss marriage. Please don't read if that bothers you. Theme: Love can only begin when both people are independent individuals.