Jiang Lian was the adopted daughter of the Li family, with delicate features and skin as fair as ice and jade. A lonely girl with nothing but her beauty, she was destined to attract endless bullying and hostility. The ringleader was Li Yuan, the Li family's legitimate daughter.
What Li Yuan had once been most proud of was her extraordinary, otherworldly fiance:
The Prince of Yan, Meng Qingcheng, a brilliant strategist and warrior said to be a once-in-decades military genius in Youzhou. He made his name young and was hailed as a peerless warlord.
Now the imperial family was weak, and the Prince of Yan held unrivaled power. But the Li family had once made an enemy of him and had already pledged allegiance to another. The Prince of Yan refused to break off the engagement, leaving the Li family in a terrible bind.
So Jiang Lian became Li Yuan's sacrifice.
At a banquet, she was drugged so she could be used to entrap Meng Qingcheng.
That night, with nowhere left to turn, the girl's dark hair spilled across her lover's lap, the corners of her eyes blooming with the rosy hue of spring blossoms.
"My lord, please take pity on me."
Meng Qingcheng cupped her tears in his hands. His eyes darkened, his jaw clenched. "You won't regret this?"
But before she could answer, he had already pulled her into his arms.
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Everyone knew that Youzhou's Meng Qingcheng kept a concubine by his side, a frail and pitiful beauty whom the lord adored and cherished.
Li Yuan gritted her teeth, but only sneered. "She's just using her looks to please him. He'll cast her aside sooner or later."
After a night of passion, Jiang Lian nestled in the man's arms and asked lazily,
"Will Your Highness marry me?"
Meng Qingcheng stroked her soft, pale shoulder and back, his voice hoarse. "Just behave yourself and don't overthink it."
He thought to himself that she must be hopelessly in love with him.
At the victory banquet, Bai Ze, the Divine Healer Valley's Lord Fusu, asked the Prince of Yan to fulfill a promise he'd made earlier.
All Bai Ze wanted was one person: Jiang Lian.
Meng Qingcheng's face darkened like a stormy sky, but he was still sure he would win. "Then let her choose."
When Jiang Lian entered the banquet hall, her legs were still weak and unsteady. Just the other day, for some inexplicable reason, Meng Qingcheng had refused to stop, no matter how much she cried and begged.
Thinking of Meng the Dog's shameless behavior, she smiled on the surface and ground her teeth in anger inside.
Everyone watched as the beauty, seemingly unruffled, walked over to stand behind Bai Ze. "I choose to leave with Lord Fusu."
The cup in Meng Qingcheng's hand shattered, and so did his heart.
#An unpredictable warlord vs. a beauty as delicate as a flower reflected in water
In truth: #A dog of a man who's head over heels for his wife but too proud to admit it vs. a seemingly fragile and pitiful, but actually calculating and cold-hearted white-lotus heroine
* One-on-one, first-time couple, happy ending.
* The blurb only shows the surface perspective.
* The main characters aren't perfect. The male lead is secretly a lovesick fool.
Theme: Be bold and speak your love aloud.
