The Beauty's Bedchamber

#Clear-Headed, Scheming Beauty vs. Noble, Pure-Hearted Sickly Young Master#

Marriage first, love later, 1v1

Liangzhou has two wealthy families: the Jin family and the Lu family.

A marriage between the two would secure both their businesses and a happy match.

The Song family's young lady was peerlessly beautiful, delicate, and kindhearted.

The Lu family's young master was handsome and striking, gentle and refined.

Everyone sighed, certain it would become a beautiful love story.

But then the Lu family's business suffered a setback, and the family fell into decline. The Song family took the opportunity to break off the engagement.

*

Her father valued profit over loyalty and broke the betrothal arranged when the children were still in the womb.

Having heard that her betrothed was clever, Song Hua planned to help him in secret, then discuss marriage again once he had rebuilt the family business.

But her betrothed was proud and haughty. He left without a word and vanished without a trace.

Later, her father decided to marry her off to a notorious playboy in the city.

On the wedding day, however, the newly appointed prefect arrived with a marriage contract in hand. Citing the broken engagement, he had her father and the playboy thrown into prison together.

Only then did Song Hua learn that the prefect was the young master of the Lu family, who had returned to avenge the way they had kicked him while he was down.

To save them, she went to plead with him in person.

Unexpectedly, he gazed at her for a long while, smiling without a smile, and said, "I have always been fair. If you have done wrong, you must be punished. Whatever you owe, you must repay."

Song Hua thought it over and suddenly understood.

"All right, then let's get married."

*

Once the pride of the heavens, Lu Zichen had lost his parents, watched his family fall into decline, and now faced the annulment of his engagement. Frail and sickly, he had long since lost hope.

He thought, Let her break it off. Given my circumstances, I shouldn't drag a young lady down with me.

Lu Zichen personally brought the marriage contract to her home, intending to put an end to things.

But he accidentally overheard his future father-in-law negotiating with someone.

So the Song family intended to dominate the whole market.

So it was all the Song family's fault that he had ended up in this state.

Lu Zichen clenched his teeth and glared at the marriage contract in his hand, then resolutely left Liangzhou.

He went to the capital, took the imperial examinations, and eventually became prefect of a province. Then he returned to his old home.

He heard his former fiancee was about to marry someone else?

"As if I'd let you have your way."

So he had the father-in-law and his son-in-law thrown into prison.

When his former fiancee came to plead for them, he intended to make things difficult for her. He deliberately said, "I have always been fair. If you have done wrong, you must be punished. Whatever you owe, you must repay."

They owed the Lu family justice, so they naturally had to make amends.

Unexpectedly, after thinking it over, the young lady suddenly said, "Then let's get married."

Lu Zichen: ?

In the years that followed, people out boating would sometimes come across the prefect and his wife, perfectly in harmony and devotedly in love.

The people of Liangzhou sighed in amazement: Three years later, that beautiful love story had come true after all!

[Little Scene]

Lu Zichen learned that his wife had once used her engagement to him to extort a share of the family fortune from her calculating father.

That night, in the blue-hazed bed curtains, Lu Zichen suddenly stopped. Gazing at his wife's lovely, tear-bright eyes as she lay in his arms, he asked in a low, restrained voice, his eyes dark and unreadable, "You hid houses and fields from me, hundreds of miles outside Liangzhou. Were you planning to divorce me?"

Song Hua, who really had considered doing just that, was secretly startled. But she showed nothing on her face, clung to his neck with a trembling pout, and looked utterly aggrieved.

"Back then, I thought you had returned to take revenge and would drive me out sooner or later, so I made sure I had a backup plan."

The moment his wife started crying, Lu Zichen was at a loss. Though he knew she was just telling him a convenient lie, he still bent down to kiss away the tears at the corners of her eyes and gently comforted her.

"I won't drive you away."

"And I won't divorce you."

Theme: When the clouds part, the moon shines through.