The Young Master Is Pretending to Be a Caged Canary Again

The Tan family, one of Shucheng's most prominent clans, has been thrown into turmoil recently over who will become the next family head.

Fourth Young Master Tan Pingyu runs his fingers over the family heirloom jade ring, utterly unruffled.

Half a month later, in Luzhen, the tide brings in a pale, slender beauty named Yu Ping.

A kindhearted couple who own a cloth shop take him in.

But the shopkeeper's son offends the Ma family, the town's most prestigious clan, and trouble comes knocking.

Fifth Young Master Ma Tingjun leads a wolfhound, his leather boots grinding over the threshold, his handsome face full of menace.

"The cloth shop's debt..."

Before he can finish, a fragrant breeze sweeps through the room.

Ma Tingjun narrows his eyes as a peerless beauty emerges from behind the curtain.

The whole room falls silent, but Yu Ping remains unperturbed, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"I'll work like an ox and horse for Fifth Master."

Ma Tingjun sneers.

"You?" He bends close, radiating menace. "How much are you worth?"

*

In less than three months, the thing people in Luzhen talk about most is how Fifth Master Ma has fallen for a beauty of mysterious origins.

"Have you heard about that Yu Ping...?"

The speaker suddenly falls silent and nods toward the doorway.

Yu Ping is hurrying along with bolts of cloth in his arms and an oil-paper umbrella tilted in his hand.

Half of his porcelain-pale face peeks out from under the umbrella. Against the misty Jiangnan rain, his beauty is breathtaking, like a fox spirit straight out of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

They say Ma Tingjun has moved heaven and earth just to win a smile from him, and would gladly put a dog collar around his own neck.

But Yu Ping only lowers his eyes and smiles, paying him no heed.

"I'm not worth a penny. How could I ask Fifth Master to go to all that trouble for me?"

*

Later, everything changes.

Yu Ping disappears for three years, and people say he is likely dead.

Ma Tingjun runs a bank in Shucheng, but loses everything.

For one last gamble, he borrows money from the Tan family, but it sinks without a trace and brings in no profit.

The bank is surrounded by creditors.

Ma Tingjun reflects on how unpredictable life is, thinking his end is near.

The person he can't let go of most, even now, is Yu Ping.

Suddenly, he hears a familiar laugh...

The newcomer is dressed in a sharp suit, a jade ring glowing green on his hand. He tips up Ma Tingjun's chin with the toe of his leather shoe.

"How much would it take to buy Fifth Master's life?"

[Bonus Scene]

"So that's why this boat's been rocking so much. Turns out you two have been making merry every night."

"Our Fifth Master is as strong as a tiger."

"Our Fifth Master is as sturdy as an ox."

[Reading Guide]

1. Both leads are each other's only partners, happy ending.

2. Set in a fictionalized Republican-era China, with no sensitive elements.

Theme: Treat others with sincerity