The top scholar Pei Wuji was aloof and proud, looking down on everyone around him.
The first time he met Peng Ying, the woman had one snowy shoulder bared and was leaning against the railing, flirting with his red-faced colleague. Her laughter rang like a bell, and she swayed like a flower in the breeze. He thought she was just like every courtesan in the world: filthy and base. Even looking at her made him feel his eyes were sullied.
Later, he thought that taking her in as his mistress would be a chance to change her fate, and that it might not be such a bad thing.
He waited for her to be grateful and serve him well. He waited and waited, only for a great fire to nearly send him to his death.
When he awoke, he found the house empty. He threw back his head and laughed, swearing a blood oath: He wanted her, and he wanted her heart. To the ends of the earth, in heaven or hell, for lifetime after lifetime!
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Peng Ying was sold to a brothel at the age of six. For the next decade or more, she made her living with a smile, working diligently and conscientiously.
Her one wish was to leave this place and become an honorable woman.
She had painstakingly saved up the money to buy her freedom for many years. In the end, she never imagined that the one to dash this tiny wish of hers would be Lord Pei, the noble, aloof man she had always looked up to.
Female lead, no male lead romance
2026.7.12
Theme: Handsome and nimble as a macaque, he stoops to gather fireflies among the weeds.
