The Wife They All Want

By a twist of fate, Nan Mei is mistaken for a prized courtesan and sent to the bed of Yuan Zhan, Prince of Dongping.

She is drugged, her body burning, her limbs weak. Her tears and pleas are taken for coy attempts to play hard to get.

When she wakes again, her fair, graceful body is covered in marks he left behind.

Only when Yuan Zhan sees that she's about to take her own life does he seem to believe her claim that she's already married. He promises to cover up what happened and send her home.

He behaves like a courteous, mild-mannered gentleman, and Nan Mei naively believes him.

By the time she realizes the truth, she has been confined in Yuan Zhan's villa. Every time she tries to escape, she is punished even more severely.

In despair, Nan Mei's gaze falls on Li Zhang, Yuan Zhan's most trusted subordinate.

After exhausting every scheme, she finally returns to her husband's side.

Nan Mei tells a huge lie, but fortunately her husband doesn't suspect a thing and continues to cherish her deeply.

She thinks it's all over,

But at a palace banquet, that nightmarish man appears before her again.

-

Xiao Moran knows what happened while his wife was missing.

The Xiao family has strict rules, and to protect his innocent wife, he chooses to endure it in silence.

That is, until he sees with his own eyes his usually shy wife trembling as she willingly wraps her arms around the Prince of Dongping, her voice singing sweetly, her beauty alluring.

From then on, he has only one thought: the Prince of Dongping must die!

-

Li Zhang is a killing machine trained by Yuan Zhan. His emotions have been diluted by bloodshed until he can barely recognize them.

Then he meets Nan Mei, and long-suppressed feelings of fear, longing, and jealousy erupt all at once.

Seduced, used, and abandoned, he knows it's a cup of poison, yet he treasures it and drinks it down.

-

When Yuan Zhan first sees Nan Mei, she is a rose someone else has lovingly tended.

He likes her so much that he plucks her. The rose's thorns pierce his hands until they bleed.

He cannot bear to let go, so he lets the thorns burrow into his flesh, then between his bones.

The rose blooms in his heart. If he leaves it there, he dies. If he plucks it out, he dies too.

He hates that she doesn't love him,

And hates himself even more for being unable to leave her.

[Coercive possession, melodrama, temporary one-on-one pairings, all three men are virgins, and none of the characters are perfect.]

Coming soon: The Beauty of the Prison Warden. A broken relationship mended, please add it to your collection!

In a dark, damp torture chamber, Chun Ning is tied to a rack, blindfolded, numb from repeating her confession again and again.

"My name is Yu Chunning, I'm eighteen. I make my living selling wine at a tavern. My creditor, Master Zhao, tried to rape me. I accidentally killed him, and while fleeing, I knocked over a candlestick and started a fire that burned down South Gate Street. I confess. I accept the law's punishment."

"Is that all?"

"N-no, that's all..."

"It seems you've forgotten something." A hard bamboo whip lands on her chest and slowly moves down.

Chun Ning cannot move and can only let him do as he pleases. On the verge of breaking down, she trembles and cries, "I really can't remember. Please, my lord, tell me."

The blindfold is yanked off. The man before her is expressionless, his black eyes unfathomable, a scar from a blade stark on his temple.

Chun Ning knows him: Pei Shaoyu, her fiancé. Two years ago, for a reward of one hundred taels of silver, she sold his whereabouts to the authorities.

"You didn't think I'd still be alive, did you? Unfortunately for you, my family's case has been overturned." He leans close to her ear and speaks softly, his voice as gentle as ever. "I won't let you die. The game has only just begun."

-

Chun Ning obediently goes along with Pei Shaoyu's every twisted whim, asking only that he not take his anger out on her father and younger sister.

She thinks he'll torment her to death sooner or later,

Never expecting that one day this man, who hates her to the core, would absurdly do whatever it takes just to clear her name.

Theme: Born free, loving without fear