After Mistaking Me for Someone Else, They Took Me by Force

Xie Xuan, the foremost young noble of the great clans and the legitimate son of the Xie family head, was as pure and bright as moonlight after rain. He was disciplined and scrupulous about propriety, and people throughout the court and the streets praised his gentlemanly virtue, saying he was as flawless as jade.

That is, until his younger brother accidentally fell off a cliff. His mother was so heartbroken that she asked Xie Xuan to take his brother's place and consummate the marriage with the newly-wed Wen girl, so she could bear an heir to remember him by.

Xie Xuan naturally refused to do something so contrary to propriety.

Then one rainy morning, he saw the woman standing beneath a crabapple tree with an umbrella. Her cheeks were peach-pink, and faint tear tracks showed beneath her bright eyes. Her voice plucked at his heart like the strings of a zither as she softly called, "Elder Brother..."

In the eyes of Xie Xuan's personal attendant, the new young woman in the manor was full of schemes. She had actually seduced his master into consummating the marriage with her. And that still wasn't enough: afterward, his master was clearly cold toward her and had no intention of sharing her bed again.

Yet she came to his master's quarters, cheeks flushed with shyness, and said, "Last time, I... I didn't conceive..."

Thankfully, no matter how she played it, his master ignored her and would never fall for her tricks again.

*

When Su Tan was young, Xie Xuan saved her. In secret, she vowed that she would marry no one but him. But he was the legitimate son of the distinguished Xie family, a man of great power, someone she could admire but never reach.

Marrying his deceased younger brother was the only way she could get close to him.

But fate played a cruel trick: by chance, she discovered that Xie Xuan was not the person she had been looking for at all.

Su Tan had no choice but to curry favor with the old madam and be adopted as her honorary granddaughter. Using the Xie family's name, she approached the benefactor she had truly been seeking. Fortunately, before long, she finally got her wish and became engaged to him.

But before the wedding, the courtyard where she lived caught fire. She perished in the flames, leaving no remains.

In a hidden chamber in the legitimate son's residence of the Xie family, chains rattled. Xie Xuan's cool fingertips wiped away the tear at the corner of her eye. His voice was low and hoarse as he whispered in her ear, "A Tan, you came whenever you pleased and left whenever you wished. How dare you toy with me like this?"

Theme: Love is written in the stars