His Virtuous Wife

[Please add my next novel, "Marrying Up into a Duke's Household," to your collection]

Many years ago, the elders of the Pei and Su families arranged a marriage between their descendants.

Times changed. The Su family fell into decline, while the Pei family rose to prominence. The two families lived a thousand miles apart, and everyone had long forgotten the marriage contract. But Pei Bing'an honored the agreement and brought a Su daughter into his home as his wife.

He was busy with official duties and had no interest in romance. He married only to have someone serve his elders, look after his younger siblings, manage the household, and bear him an heir.

Fortunately, in the three years since their marriage, Madam Su had been gentle and considerate, understanding and kind. She was an exemplary wife, very much to his liking.

Even when he went away on official business and brought home his benefactor's daughter, she took excellent care of her, even volunteering to let him take her as a concubine.

She was so virtuous and magnanimous that he was truly gratified.

Until his birthday, when he went to her courtyard earlier than usual for once and happened to see the notes she had written in her own hand. Only then did he learn that she had married him reluctantly to honor the contract. All she wanted was to save enough money to leave, and her heart had never belonged to him!

Pei Bing'an's face turned black as a pot!

Su Yunyao had been forced to marry into the powerful Pei family, and it was making her miserable.

Her grandmother favored others, her stepmother was unkind, her sister-in-law was hostile, and her younger brother and sister each had their own problems. The household looked splendid on the surface, but it was running a deficit and so poor it had to pawn its possessions.

Even worse, her husband was cold and taciturn, dull and uninteresting. He had a fine physique, but was completely useless in bed.

When he went away on official business, he even brought back a scheming childhood friend, who fought with her openly and behind her back, creating a heap of trouble.

She patiently played the virtuous wife, waiting only to save enough money to divorce him as soon as possible, find a gentle and considerate young man, and live a carefree, happy life.

Pei Bing'an had thought that Su was in a weak position, and that a woman on her own would struggle to make a life for herself in the capital after divorcing him.

He waited for her to regret it and admit her mistake, then come back to him and obediently be his virtuous wife again.

But later, as he watched her drift farther and farther away, he suffered through countless sleepless nights, heartbroken and tasting the bitterness of loving someone who did not love him back.

Coming soon: Please add "Marrying Up into a Duke's Household" to your collection

He Jin'yuan, the duke's eldest legitimate grandson, passed the palace examination and became the top scholar before he was twenty. A favored son of heaven with a boundless future, he suddenly lost his sight in an accident and acquired the reputation of being a wife-killer.

When his marriage could no longer be put off, he was betrothed to the daughter of the Jiang family, whose head was a low-ranking seventh-grade official.

Jiang Yi'an, the Jiang family's legitimate daughter, had grown up in the countryside, slaughtering pigs and selling meat. She could barely read, and at eighteen she was still unmarried.

The "windfall" of marrying into the duke's household landed in her lap.

On the eve of her high-status marriage, she sat in the hall with one leg crossed over the other, a butcher's cleaver in hand, and cheerfully negotiated her dowry with her father and stepmother.

On their wedding night, the man had a black satin ribbon covering his eyes and wore a gloomy expression. He had no intention of consummating the marriage.

"I have an overly forceful fate and should not take a wife. I sincerely apologize for dragging you into this. If you agree, we'll set a three-year term. Then we can divorce, and I'll compensate you."

Jiang Yi'an gave him a radiant smile.

What did he mean, he shouldn't take a wife? Once they were married, he was her husband. Her fate was strong, and she wouldn't let him kill her!

On their wedding night, she put what she had just learned from an erotic manual into practice, climbed onto the bed, pinned him down, and consummated the marriage.

The duke's household was large and full of complicated relationships. Though she was the eldest son's wife, Madam Jiang had to endure a great deal from her mother-in-law, her sisters-in-law, and her husband, the heir.

When her son lost his sight in an accident, she dragged her sick body around, praying and worshipping Buddha for his recovery. No one knew how many times she cried in secret.

At long last, her son married successfully, but his bride walked through the door carrying a gleaming butcher's cleaver!

With such a fierce daughter-in-law, could her son ever have a good life?

Madam Jiang hid in her room and wept in secret, swallowing her tears.

Everyone thought that the duke's eldest grandson had gone blind, lost his chance at a government career and any hope of inheriting the title, and married the daughter of a low-ranking official who had grown up in the countryside. They thought this was all his life would ever amount to.

But three years after his marriage, He Jin'yuan was assisting the emperor at court and driving off enemies on the battlefield. He rose in rank and title, earning outstanding merit. As for his damaged eyes, they had long since recovered.

And the once meek and timid Madam Jiang now stood tall, her face glowing and her frail health fully restored. Her sisters-in-law treated her with the utmost respect, and she had earned the duke's esteem!

Her son was famous, the ducal household was running smoothly, and everyone praised her good fortune and skill at managing the household.

But Madam Jiang alone knew that without the daughter-in-law who had walked through their door with a butcher's cleaver, none of this would have happened!

A little scene:

One day, three years later, He Jin'yuan stood to one side of the study, guiding Jiang Yi'an. The third name she had tried to write was still crooked and awkward.

Out of patience, she slapped the table, stood up, picked up her butcher's cleaver, and got ready to return to her hometown.

"I'm used to slaughtering pigs with a cleaver. I don't like writing, so I'm afraid I've disappointed you, Lord He. Didn't you say we'd divorce after three years and that you'd compensate me? Give it to me now."

The proper, dignified man, who never showed his emotions in front of others, flushed with anger. He bent down and pulled her into his arms, guiding her hand to hold the brush as he spoke in the gentlest voice. "I taught you wrong. Let's practice once more."

After a pause, he looked at her puffed-up cheeks and added, "It's my fault. Tonight, I'll make a serious study of the erotic manual as punishment, three times in bed."

A bold, resourceful, straightforward little sun x a refined gentleman, a gloomy iceberg

Notes:

1. Set in an imaginary historical world.

2. Marriage first, love later, family life, sweet romance.

Theme: Love means respect and being the one and only