Stealing Jade, Brewing Fragrance

Everyone knew that Cui Yan had married into a noble family by climbing the social ladder, becoming the immensely honored wife of the heir. No one knew she had spent six years as a substitute, bearing pain she had no one to confide in.

On the day the emperor came in person, Cui Yan was made to stand in the garden as punishment by her husband, Cheng Yu. Through the misty rain, she looked up and saw the young emperor in his splendid robes. A single umbrella became the first link between them.

She thought they would be like duckweed, drifting together only to part again. But before long, the Cui family was caught up in a corruption case.

Her husband's family refused to help, and her cousin had ulterior motives. With nowhere else to turn, Cui Yan took that umbrella and asked for an audience with the emperor.

*

Xiao Lingyi was seventeen. He had ascended the throne as a boy and was carefree and irreverent.

When he heard Cui Yan say, "I am willing to serve you with my body," he burst out laughing. "I'm the emperor. Why would I lay a hand on a subject's wife? Especially an old woman?"

After an accident left Xiao Lingyi drugged with Yangchun Powder, he slept with Cui Yan. When he came to, he glared at her furiously. "How dare you scheme against me!"

With no way to undo what had happened, Xiao Lingyi had no choice but to help Cui Yan reopen the case. But he was furious, and in private he was always finding ways to make things difficult for her. Since she had no shame, he would make her accompany him on all his outings...

Later, Xiao Lingyi played with fire and burned himself. She was in his eyes, in his heart, and even in his dreams.

But she did not belong to him completely...

Whenever Cui Yan and Cheng Yu appeared before him together, he wanted to hold her but dared not, wanted to embrace her but could not. He could only play the wise emperor and act as if nothing were wrong, while secretly digging his nails into his palm until it bled.

The feeling was enough to drive him mad...

*

At the banquet, Cheng Yu drank himself into a stupor, and the emperor personally escorted him to a room to rest.

Candlelight flickered as Xiao Lingyi pulled Cui Yan down onto a couch just a few steps away from Cheng Yu. Sulking, he bit her lip. "Yanyan, he held your hand just now... I can't take it anymore. I want to kill him so badly..."

[Tips: Set in an alternate Ming dynasty. Younger man, older woman: she is 24, he is 17. The male lead is a virgin; the female lead is not.]

Theme: Let go of the wrong people to meet the right one.