I Won't Be Cast Aside

Gentle, clever female Zhuge X a dashing, kindhearted big puppy (character card from Xingyun Qiuqiu)

Yao Mingzhu is a concubine-born daughter of the Yao family. Her father doesn't care for her, and her mother is powerless. She has seen through the world's cold indifference and started preparing early for the rest of her life.

But when it rains, it pours. Two matchmakers show up at the Yao family gates, one after the other.

"What? You want me to marry in place of someone else, to the son of a Song family Inspector?"

"His rank may be ordinary, but at least you'll be his principal wife." Her stepmother, though unwilling, has no choice. She was the one who accepted the Songs' betrothal gifts first.

"Fine, I'll marry him. But I want this much..." Yao Mingzhu doesn't want to miss this opportunity. She'll be marrying far away in Fan County, and once the time is right, she can get her husband's family to divorce her and escape the Yao family's control.

But her plan may have gone awry. This young master of the Song family is a little devil, a born troublemaker.

On the eve of the wedding, the young tyrant is so engrossed in gambling that he gets beaten black and blue. He has to be helped through the wedding ceremony.

After the wedding, the unfilial son takes his new bride to a brothel, and they are both punished by being made to kneel in the hall.

But Yao Mingzhu isn't angry, because she has discovered a little secret about her husband.

Yao Mingzhu launches a plan to reform the troublemaker. She watches this spoiled young master, whom everyone had given up on, become a young general praised by all. For some reason, every time she sees him, her heart starts racing.

The Song family is summoned back to the capital and becomes a newly prominent house after earning merit by rescuing the emperor. Their home is suddenly besieged by visitors, and would-be suitors start setting their sights on her husband, all trying their hardest to persuade him to take concubines.

"You're going to divorce me?" Yao Mingzhu can't believe that after her husband has made his name, she has become a discarded wife.

"Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

It's true, but...

"I won't accept it." So what if she's changed her mind?

As long as she refuses to accept the divorce papers, she'll always be his lawful wife, not a discarded one.

Before she can finish speaking, her wrist is suddenly gripped in a powerful hand.

She looks up in shock, and an intense masculine scent fills her nostrils.

"I've already let you go. You're the one who refused. So..." His thumb gently brushes her soft lips. His eyes darken, and though his voice is unhurried, it sends a chill through her. "So don't blame me."

In an instant, a fierce wind sweeps through, scattering blossoms from a thousand trees like stars and rain...

---------Blurb captured on 012824--------------------------

Theme: A prodigal who reforms is worth more than gold