Waiting for Hanning to Bloom

[Upcoming: Silk-Smooth Eyes. Please add it to your collection.] Xu Huai'an first met Su Wanning at a grand wedding feast. That day, he arrived with a lavish gift to congratulate his friend on marrying a beautiful woman from a distinguished family. But just as the couple were about to bow to one another, his friend Xu Zhan's mistress stormed the wedding hall, turning the marriage between two prominent families into a joke known to all. The bride, Su Wanning, lifted her red veil. Tears shimmered in her helpless, beautiful eyes. The second time Xu Huai'an met Su Wanning, it was because he ran into Xu Zhan, dead drunk at the Wanghong Tower. Xu Zhan had two lovely concubines in his arms and went on and on about how his wife was jealous and how unbearable life at home had become. After offering a few words of advice, Xu Huai'an escorted Xu Zhan home. Outside the Duke of Zhenguo's residence, Su Wanning wore her hair in a married woman's style. Her eyes glimmered as she looked at Xu Huai'an and asked, "It's cold out. Would you care for a bowl of ginger soup?" The steaming ginger soup filled the air with warmth, and Xu Huai'an lost himself for a moment. The third time Xu Huai'an met Su Wanning, was after she miscarried and insisted on divorcing Xu Zhan. This time, Su Wanning was deathly pale and frail, supported by her dowry maids as she left the Duke of Zhenguo's residence. Unable to watch her struggle, Xu Huai'an stepped forward to help carry one of her dowry chests. But she suddenly crumpled. Xu Huai'an hurriedly caught her in his arms. The soft, fragrant warmth of her body made his heart seize. Xu Huai'an was born to a noble family, proper and courteous, always elegant and refined. He was the foremost among the capital's young noblemen. He should have married a princess, entered the cabinet, and risen to the highest ranks of the court. But for the sake of a woman married once before, the wife of his close friend, he rejected a princess, abandoned his path to glory, and gave up his chance to become chancellor. People said he must have been bewitched. Only Xu Huai'an knew the truth. He had not been bewitched. He simply could not have her, and thought of her day and night. His longing grew so fierce it broke his heart. 0 [Reader Notice] The female lead is not the male lead's first love. The romance between the female lead and male lead begins only after she divorces her husband. ----------------------------------------- Upcoming ----------------------------------------- Silk-Smooth Eyes It is not Qing Si's fault that her eyes are naturally alluring. Her breathlessness when she walks is only because she was born frail. But her uncle and aunt both call her a little vixen. They have always praised her to her face while disparaging her behind her back. Now they've even devised a wicked plan to ruin her virtue. Their scheme succeeds, and Qing Si not only loses her innocence, but also finds herself with child. To survive, and to find a respectable family background for the baby in her womb, she sets her sights on a prominent gentleman in the household. He is the famed heir to the Duke of Fu's title, a learned man of impeccable character. Qing Si tries all sorts of tricks to win his favor, but he never looks at her twice. In the end, she can only give up and accept the affection of a scholar who lives down the street. The next day at noon, Qing Si is by the river, feeding the fish, when someone suddenly shoves her in from behind. The rushing water fills her nose. Just as despair overwhelms her, a hand grips her waist tightly. In an instant, she is pulled back to the surface. She blinks through her blurry vision and makes out the smile at the corner of the gentleman's mouth. Then she hears him whisper in her ear: "I hear you and that scholar exchanged betrothal tokens?" "Now you have no choice but to marry me." After her wedding, Qing Si thinks her marriage to the gentleman was just an accident. Until one day, she accidentally knocks a carved rosewood box off a display shelf. Letters, a silver hairpin, rouge, and a brocade handkerchief spill across the floor. The letters are ones she wrote by hand when she tried to win the gentleman's favor. The hairpin and rouge were once her own, kept in her boudoir's makeup box. And the handkerchief embroidered with the character "Si" is unmistakably the one she lost when she was robbed of her innocence two years ago. [Content warning] The male lead is genuinely unhinged, with a mind that works differently from most people. In other words, he's crazy. The female lead is a flirtatious beauty who doesn't realize she's leading people on. Theme: Bloom into the most beautiful flower, even in adversity.