Curing Jealousy

Lin Huaizhen was honest and reserved, born into a humble family. Everyone said she was lucky: Chen Yizhi, heir to the Marquis of Yongyi, loved her deeply, had passed the imperial examinations, and had a bright future ahead of him.

But on their wedding day, she discovered that Chen Yizhi already had a concubine.

Heartbroken, Lin Huaizhen wanted only a divorce. "You once promised me a lifetime of faithfulness. Since there's already someone in your household, this marriage is off."

But everyone said she was being unreasonable, and that a divorce was out of the question.

After that day, word of Lin Huaizhen's reputation as a jealous wife spread throughout the capital, even reaching the palace. The Empress Dowager summoned her to the palace to relearn proper conduct.

Rumor had it that the new emperor disliked jealous women and had never approved of the marriage in the first place. Now he had people admonish her every day to cure her jealousy.

Everyone felt sorry for her, believing her life was ruined.

No one knew that the person admonishing her every day in the depths of the palace was no palace servant.

*

In the inner hall, Chen Yizhi knelt before the emperor and begged him to show mercy and let his wife return home.

Behind layers of curtains, two figures were entwined.

The emperor sat behind the curtains. At his words, he lowered his head and brushed a barely-there kiss against the hair at the temple of the woman in his arms. "Zhenniang?"

Lin Huaizhen bit her lip, her eyes unfocused as she trembled in his arms, not daring to make a sound.

*

Li Yu had risen to power through military accomplishments. Handsome and cold-hearted, he was notorious for his cruelty.

Lin Huaizhen had no idea how she had offended him. Afraid her family would be dragged into it, she could only pretend to submit, promising to behave herself and serve her husband properly from then on, hoping he would leave her alone.

But Li Yu seemed even more displeased by her words. After a long silence, he said unhurriedly that she deserved to be punished.

His punishment was to make her sit on his lap, kiss her, and knead her soft flesh as he whispered words that made her blush. He forced her to say them, too. But at the end, he gazed at her dazed face and asked, over and over, who she was thinking of now, and who she was still jealous for.

He hated how fiercely jealous she was, and hated even more that her jealousy was not for him.

*As the blurb says, the male lead is a truly old-fashioned patriarch, and he acts like a jerk at first.

*Love at first sight, possessive pursuit

Theme: Love and jealousy are inseparable