Chai Yunsheng was born into poverty and knew from childhood that the gulf between social classes was as wide as heaven and earth. Everyone told her that this was her lot in life, and that if she wanted to change her fate, she would have to attach herself to the powerful.
Fortunately, she was beautiful, and eventually married into a prestigious family. People praised her for her cleverness and good fortune, saying she'd found a loving husband who was perfect for her. In reality, her husband suffered from a hidden illness and had only married a lowborn woman because he thought she would be easy to control.
Several years into their marriage, Chai Yunsheng still had no children. The Duke's household could not go without an heir, so her mother-in-law wanted her husband to take a concubine. But he flatly refused, claiming that he and his wife were deeply devoted to each other.
Until one day, Chai Yunsheng was caught in the effects of an intoxicating incense. When she woke, the person lying beside her was not her husband.
The first time Pei Xuanzheng saw Chai Yunsheng, he knew she was shrewd and calculating. Though born into poverty, she'd used her beauty to make the heir to the Duke of Jing refuse to marry anyone but her. She was no kind soul.
But one day, he was caught in the effects of an intoxicating incense and spent the night with Chai Yunsheng.
The next morning, Liang Chengxian caught them. His friend swallowed his humiliation and begged him to keep the matter secret, so as not to ruin his wife's reputation.
But a month later, his friend came to him with a request: he wanted Pei Xuanzheng to give his wife a child.
Born into the Pei clan of Hedong, Pei Xuanzheng was a man of high status and impeccable virtue. He had never entertained such an absurd request in his life.
Yet faced with his friend's plea, he hid the inky darkness in his eyes and finally agreed.
Chai Yunsheng had known since childhood that the gulf between social classes was as wide as heaven and earth.
Born into low station with no means to change her fate, she was told by everyone that she would have to attach herself to the powerful if she wanted a better life.
Fortunately, she was beautiful, and eventually married into a prestigious family. But she never imagined that all her careful schemes would come to nothing.
Chai Yunsheng finally understood that the idea of a noble-born man falling in love with a poor girl was nothing but a daydream dreamed up by the naive. Behind all that celebrated love lay self-interest and calculation; it was never to be trusted.
She quickly gave up on the dream and turned her attention to her husband's friend.
If this husband won't do, then she'll find another.
Years later, now the wife of Pei, Chai Yunsheng thought: Men in this world are all so shallow. They think women are weak, yet never see the true face of the person beside them.
Little did she know, she had never seen the true face of the person beside her, either.
For instance, the first time Pei Xuanzheng saw her at the moonlit banquet all those years ago, he thought she ought to be his.
Content Warnings:
1. A calculating, cold-hearted female lead x a male lead who appears to be a proper gentleman but is actually dark and obsessive. While still married, the female lead will not have a physical relationship with the male lead.
2. More warnings to come.
Theme: Even in a cage, the heart can remain bright.
