Rong Jiaojiao was only a maid, yet she was born delicate and soft, with skin fairer than snow. With each passing day, she grew more captivating.
Everyone said that with a vixenish beauty like hers, she was bound to become Second Young Master Han's concubine.
Han Weixi thought so too. He gave Rong Jiaojiao two chances to become his concubine.
The first time he asked her to be his concubine, Rong Jiaojiao had not even had time to refuse before someone shoved her into the lake.
Just as she was on the verge of death, Han Weixi happened to pass by and pulled her out.
The mistress of the Han household thought she had tried to kill herself. Unwilling to have the bad luck of her dying at the Han residence, she drove Rong Jiaojiao out.
Han Weixi hired a doctor to save her life and rewarded her with one hundred taels of silver.
The second time he asked her to be his concubine, they had been married for exactly three years.
By then, the Han family had been caught up in the struggle for the throne. Everyone in the family had died except Han Weixi and the eldest young lady of the Han family.
Han Weixi was stripped of his status and sentenced to penal servitude in a distant land.
Clutching a hundred-tael banknote, Rong Jiaojiao followed him all the way to the place of exile. She bought Han Weixi, who had only a breath left in him, and even hired a doctor to bring him back from the brink.
By law, a man with the status of a penal laborer could not marry a respectable woman, but he could marry into her family.
Rong Jiaojiao registered as a female head of household and married Han Weixi into her family.
She put it this way: "At least you're the principal husband, not a concubine. Let's make the best of it."
Rong Jiaojiao opened a little eatery and kept a handsome live-in husband at home. Their days were fairly prosperous.
Three years later, the Han family regained its standing. The eldest young lady of the Han family rose from a convict servant in the Nightshade Court to become a Zhaoyi, then gave birth to the emperor's only son. When the emperor died and the prince ascended the throne, she became the empress dowager.
Han Weixi was suddenly transformed into an imperial uncle.
Empress Dowager Han said Rong Jiaojiao was of low birth and unworthy of being his principal wife. But in view of her unwavering devotion to Han Weixi in his hour of need, she would graciously grant Rong Jiaojiao the title of honored concubine.
Rong Jiaojiao refused. She wrote Han Weixi a letter of divorce, sending away the husband who had married into her family, and prepared to marry someone else.
Just as Rong Jiaojiao was packing her things for her remarriage, Han Weixi rode into the wedding hall, knocked her new husband off his feet with a single thrust of his spear, and seized her by the throat. His eyes bloodshot, he spoke in a harsh voice.
"Xiao Chan, how dare you?" He kicked the corpse beside them, its eyes still open, then leaned close to her ear and smiled. "I've killed your new husband. Shall I make it up to you by finding you another one, my wife?"
Rong Jiaojiao: "..."
2024.3.1
Theme: Work hard to earn money and keep striving to improve.
