Shu Huai waited three years for Yin Cong, only for him to return with a pregnant young beauty and demand that she break off their engagement.
On a chilly, drizzling night, the Yin family threw her out. As she watched the long, desolate street, her mind suddenly cleared.
She spent every last coin she had getting drunk at a pleasure house. After one night of drunken dreams, those three years of waiting turned to ash.
The next morning, she woke with a hangover and found a disheveled man lying beside her.
Afraid she might be held responsible, she quickly took the bracelet from her wrist and handed it to him:
"Last night was a mistake. If you see me again, pretend you don't know me."
Then she hitched up her skirt and ran, without even getting a good look at the man's face.
*
She heard the beauty's maternal uncle was the Marquis of Dark Robes, a prominent court figure and a man of peerless beauty.
Perhaps blinded by resentment, Shu Huai set her sights on the marquis.
When the marquis's residence took on maidservants, she entered the household to serve him and kept making little moves.
She would bat her eyelashes or fall into his arms as he passed, but the man never so much as stirred.
Until one day, he produced an exquisitely crafted bracelet and declared that whoever could wear it would become the future Marchioness.
Countless beauties flocked to the marquis's residence, only to leave disappointed.
They could all put it on, but he always found some excuse. In any case, none of them pleased him.
Shu Huai wanted to try too, so she went to him and cautiously held out her wrist.
The man watched her with his arms folded, looking lazy and unconcerned as he smiled and said:
"Didn't you say that if we met again, we should pretend not to know each other?"
*
A few months later, Yin Cong was married, and Shu Huai was invited to the wedding.
The Yin family had always looked down on her humble background. Now that she had married into a noble family, they mocked and humiliated her even more.
The beauty showed up with a baby bump to provoke her, making Shu Huai the biggest joke at the wedding.
But just after the newlyweds had bowed to Heaven and Earth, as they were about to kneel before their elders, the man seated above them rolled a jade ring between his fingers and drawled:
"No rush. Come over and serve tea and kowtow to your aunt first."
His beautiful phoenix eyes lifted slightly. He gazed at the newlyweds with an almost-smile.
"Make amends. Apologize."
"Reading Guide"
1. Both leads are each other's first and only.
2. The scumbag ex pursues her after losing her, but fails.
Theme: Love
