Graceful and Elegant

Chu Shengyao had always been well-behaved since childhood, but her alluring beauty and bewitching figure led the elders in her family to keep her confined at home, where she rarely saw anyone.

The servants of the household got drunk and gossiped about how scholars and poets sang of her seductive reputation. Every gesture of hers was said to be flirtatious, and she had inexplicably earned a reputation for being frivolous.

To keep her from getting in the way of her sisters, her family arranged a marriage for her early. She only had to wait until she came of age to be sent off to her husband’s home.

The Heir of Prince Qi was as radiant as the moon on a clear night. After placing first in all six examinations, he received an imperial betrothal decree, much to His Majesty’s delight. But a Hanlin Academy compiler, carrying a personal grudge, deliberately changed the bride named in the decree to Chu Shengyao, whose scandalous reputation was well known, hoping to humiliate the Qi family.

Once the news got out, everyone was jealous and lamented that the Heir of Prince Qi, a man of spotless virtue, had suddenly become entangled with someone like Chu Shengyao. Others said she was clinging to the powerful and had no shame at all.

The Heir of Prince Qi was displeased with her, but could only accept the marriage.

After they wed, she became even more careful and did her best to fulfill her duties as the Qi family’s wife in the presence of this heaven’s favored son.

But he was always stern, rigid, and cold as ice. He was forever telling her to walk more properly and speak more seriously, and he loved to use rules to find fault with her and make her copy them as punishment.

Chu Shengyao rubbed her aching wrist and angrily twisted her handkerchief.

She thought, if she couldn’t keep living like this, then she might as well stop!

In the Heir of Prince Qi’s eyes, his wife’s alluring figure and her constantly improper behavior displeased him. But she was his lawful wife, after all. If she was willing to change, he could still accept her.

Until one night, after a banquet, he was a little drunk. In bed, his wife’s face was flushed and her damp hair clung to her cheeks. He tenderly brushed it aside, and she murmured the words “divorce” in her sleep.

Early the next morning, his wife, who had always treated him warmly, changed too. She began finding fault with him, her private remarks dripping with sarcasm and growing downright insulting. “Like him? He’s stiff and stuffy, an old pedant. Even a donkey turning a mill knows when to change direction! The noble ladies out there must be blind. What on earth do they see in him?”

The pig-faced heir’s expression turned livid. Hearing his wife’s complaints, he began to observe her in secret and realized that his wife had not a trace of affection for him.

Her eyes held respect, ingratiation, and distance, but no love.

Later, he even found a divorce agreement hidden in her pillow.

Did she really want to leave him that badly? Dream on!

Content warning: 1v1, both leads are virgins.

1. The heroine’s family treats her poorly. She is timid at first, but later her attitude is: if you treat me well, I’ll treat you well. If you don’t, I’ll kick you to the curb.

2. The hero is a pedantic scholar. At first, he keeps telling her she’s improper and needs to be more refined. Later, he’s all, “Kiss me, darling. Give me a smooch.”

3. Imperial edicts really were altered in history, for example, by Zhang Juhan. There are other reasons behind it here, which will be explained later.

Theme: A thousand flowers bloom, each beautiful in its own way