Marrying Up

Yaoyao was abandoned as a child and left to wander. Every day, the first thing she did when she opened her eyes was think about how to fill her stomach. Then one day, by the river, she found an elegant carriage. Inside lay a lone corpse.

Yaoyao stared. She had never seen clothes so beautiful.

"I'll bury you if you give me your clothes."

So Yaoyao buried the woman, changed into her bright, lovely dress, and sat in the carriage with a happy smile, enjoying a brief moment of comfort.

Without warning, someone outside drew back the curtain. "The bandits have been driven off. Is Madam Zhong safe?"

Yaoyao paused for a long while, then replied with a beaming smile, "I'm fine."

And so she rode off in the carriage, with no idea where she was going.

But she wasn't afraid. At least now she'd have something to eat.

*

Zhao Yan, son of the Grand Princess, was a spoiled, domineering playboy who spent his days cockfighting and racing dogs.

After Grand Commandant Zhongli fell from power, Zhao Yan sought revenge on him and went after even the illegitimate daughter he'd raised elsewhere.

The day they met, Zhao Yan looked Yaoyao up and down and sneered. "Well, well, Madam Zhong. You're still a scrawny little chick who hasn't even grown her feathers."

He locked Yaoyao in a separate residence, feeding her cold leftovers and dressing her in coarse hemp clothes. He planned to slowly torture the last surviving member of the Zhong family to death.

**

After a banquet, Zhao Yan came to the residence to enjoy the sight of Madam Zhong in distress.

Instead, the little girl had grown more and more lovely, almost like a budding beauty.

With drink in his head, Zhao Yan thought she might make a decent mistress.

He expected her to resist, but she threw her arms around him with fervent enthusiasm and looked up at him with an innocent face. "Thank you for bringing me food every day."

Beneath the red silk lantern, Zhao Yan's desire-filled eyes flickered with surprise. He gripped her chin hard. "You... don't tell me you're stupid?"

**

To Yaoyao, having enough to eat and warm clothes, and living quietly in one corner of the world, was the greatest happiness. Even being someone's mistress would be more than she could hope for.

Until Zhao Yan, in a rare moment of kindness, took her to a private banquet.

The gentle, moon-bright Crown Prince suddenly grabbed her hand. Staring at the jade pendant she'd worn for years, he said in a trembling voice, "Yaoyao... you're my little cousin, my Yaoyao..."

Zhao Yan was dumbfounded.

How could the silly mistress he'd taken in be the little cousin who'd gone missing all those years ago?

[Both leads are virgins. The male lead is awful at first, but later gets his comeuppance and chases his wife.]

Theme: Growing resiliently in the darkness