At a family banquet filled with clinking cups and lively conversation, Second Young Master Pei Zhao drank too much and sat beneath the covered walkway, letting the breeze cool his flushed face.
Then he spotted a maid sitting in a corner, pure and graceful as an orchid, with delicate, nimble features.
His heart stirred. He tried to tempt her with jewelry of gold and jade, as well as power and status, but she wouldn't take the bait.
Yun Li was a maid, but she had not signed a lifetime contract.
She worked diligently, hoping that one day she could buy back her freedom and leave the household with her status restored.
After the family banquet, the old madam finally relented, giving her contract and five taels of silver as a parting token of their years as master and servant.
Before leaving the household,
she went to each residence to bow to the masters and thank them.
Only in Second Young Master's room did she linger for an extra hour.
*
A peerlessly refined man sat in a high-backed chair.
He looked down at Yun Li on the floor and saw her face turning an unnatural shade of red.
A cruel, teasing smile tugged at his lips. "My good Yun Li, where do you think you're running off to?"
Only later did Yun Li gradually understand.
Ever since Pei Zhao set his sights on her at that family banquet, she had no longer been free to soar through the open sky like a hawk. She could only become a caged bird kept in Pei Zhao's room.
For the rest of her life, she would never escape those four walls.
[Content Warnings]
1. The male lead is not a virgin.
2. The female lead never develops feelings for the male lead.
3. Genuine coercive pursuit.
Theme: Bloom with beauty even in adversity
