Entrusting the Rest of My Life to You

The blurb for the upcoming novel Regret Marrying is at the very bottom

After her father died, Ji Ru's eye condition returned, leaving her blind. Her stepmother seized the chance to have her sold to a brothel, waiting for her to be trampled by countless men and left broken.

Stubborn by nature, Ji Ru would rather die than submit. The madam simply forced a bowl of drugged medicine down her throat and pushed her into a nobleman's room.

Ji Ru intended to take the man down with her. Fortunately, a fire broke out at the brothel, and the young peddler who often delivered her cosmetics rescued her in the chaos. As they fled, the drug took effect, and the two spent the night tangled together.

Afterward, the peddler promised to take her to trustworthy relatives. With no other choice, Ji Ru could only endure things for the time being.

As her eyesight gradually returned, her aunt finally came to find her. Then news arrived that the young peddler had been killed by bandits, his body left in pieces.

Her aunt breathed a sigh of relief. "Perhaps that's for the best. We'll leave this place, and the filthy things that happened here won't count anymore."

People said that Liu Guiting was cold-blooded, bloodthirsty, savage, and merciless. The Lianzhen Bureau under his command answered directly to the emperor, keeping watch over every official. The entire court fell silent in fear before him.

Few knew that, as a boy, Liu Guiting had watched his family die before his eyes, and that the culprit was Ji Ru's father.

The day he met Ji Ru, she was wielding a shard of porcelain and fighting a man to the death. Her foolishness amused him. On a whim, the man who had come seeking revenge decided to toy with her, so he lied and said he was a young peddler.

Later, through countless nights, he more than once wanted to wring her neck. Then, one day, after he was ambushed and returned home wounded, he discovered that she had already vanished without a trace.

"Never mind. I simply don't want to play anymore." He gazed at the empty room, forcing a smile.

Xie Xingzhou, a promising young Vice Minister of Justice, was handsome and distinguished. Everyone said he and his fiancée, Ji Ru, were a perfect match, and their wedding was drawing near. When he came in person to thank Liu Guiting for his promotion, just one wall away, in the side chamber, Ji Ru's back was pressed against the wall as Liu Guiting held her and moved with her. His face buried against her neck, he said darkly, "I'm the one you should marry. Go ahead and try marrying him!"

Both leads are virgins.

Regret Marrying

In Wen Shu's third year as a widow, an elder of her clan took it upon himself to marry her off to his trusted aide, Zhou Shen.

Anyone could see that she was being used as a favor. They expected her to resist, but to their surprise, she agreed.

People gossiped that she was an easy target, but even Zhou Shen himself didn't know that he had been Wen Shu's first love before she married.

Though they spent little time together after their wedding, it was only after reuniting with Zhou Shen that Wen Shu, who had endured a turbulent life, felt that Heaven had finally shown her some kindness.

Until the day she waited in vain for Zhou Shen to return from an outing. Instead, soldiers arrived to confiscate her family's property. Only when she was being escorted away with the others did she learn the truth: there was no Zhou Shen. He was Zhou Shiqin, heir to Prince Huai, who had infiltrated the clan to investigate the powerful family's collusion with officials and its monopoly on illegal salt.

He had married her to uncover the truth. The tender words whispered on those intimate nights were lies, and so was his promise of a life together.

In Zhou Shiqin's eyes, Wen Shu was nothing more than an accomplice on the list of those sentenced to exile.

But when word reached the capital that Wen Shu had died on the road to exile, the heir, who had always been so meticulous and careful never to make a mistake, remained silent in the court for a long time. The emperor called him twice, but he didn't hear.

*

Wen Shu was lucky enough to crawl out of a pile of corpses and was taken in by a noblewoman from a powerful family. Only later did Wen Shu learn that this noblewoman was about to become Zhou Shiqin's legitimate wife.

Swallowing her bitter smile, Wen Shu no longer had the heart to mock herself. Realizing the mansion's gates were heavily guarded, she could only wait until their wedding day to slip away amid the confusion.

But when the city gate was already within sight, a troop of riders suddenly blocked her path. Zhou Shiqin, still on horseback, hadn't even had time to change out of his wedding clothes.

He reined in his horse, blocking her way. His expression dark, he threatened, "Take one more step, and not only will you die. I'll have your former husband's bones dug up and ground to dust, too."

*

Zhou Shiqin had once been utterly certain that he could never fall for that widow. He never expected her to become the one weakness he couldn't control.

Content warnings: melodrama, old-school tropes, the female lead is not a virgin but the male lead is.

An alternate-history setting with original details. The plot serves the main couple.

The leads are five years apart in age. Possessive, coercive romance. The blurb does not represent the entire plot.

Theme: Live with integrity, and may you have a peaceful life.