After I Picked Up a Down-and-Out Minister

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On the first day after being reborn, Song Yuhe picked up a man right outside her tumbledown house.

Amid the shadows of fallen flowers scattered across the ground, the man was covered in wounds and barely breathing, yet his face was dazzlingly handsome.

Though cold and taciturn, he was honest and dependable. He chopped wood and cooked for her, washed clothes and swept the floors, and repaired the roof.

And with his broad shoulders and narrow waist, just standing in the courtyard brought a touch of spring to the ramshackle house.

Song Yuhe took a liking to him. Under cover of night, her cheeks flushed as she gritted her teeth and said, "Stay. I'll take care of you."

Beneath the moonlight, the man said nothing, his face as cold as a jade Buddha.

Song Yuhe: ...All right, there's plenty of time. I'll warm him up sooner or later.

Until one day, she happened to catch sight of the jade pendant he wore close to his body.

Song Yuhe's vision went black, and she nearly fainted on the spot:

The man was Zhao Yuan Yin, the future powerful court official who would commit every manner of evil and eventually vanish without a trace.

In her previous life, he had been an accomplice to the person who killed her!

Song Yuhe swiftly packed up his belongings for him. "Off you go!"

**

Zhao Yuan Yin made a name for himself as a young man. Decisive and ruthless, he was a trusted subordinate of the Rebel Prince.

After falling on hard times, he was picked up by a delicate young woman and put to work as her servant.

He couldn't cook rice properly or wash clothes clean, yet he had the nerve to say he would take care of her.

He scoffed: A great man lives between heaven and earth. How could I remain beneath another's thumb for long?

Later, as he watched her briskly pack his things,

Zhao Yuan Yin looked on coldly, a chill rising all around him. She really wants him to leave that badly?!

He bent down and braced both hands beside her, shrouding her in his shadow.

"It's easy to invite a god in, but hard to send one away. You want me to leave now? Too late!"

1. This is a fictional setting. Please don't overanalyze the historical details.

2. A beautiful, clever, calculating innocent flower heroine versus a possessive, cold, ruthless powerful official.

3. In her previous life, the heroine had only heard of the hero, never met him, but she had seen his jade pendant.

4. The hero had nothing to do with the heroine's death in her previous life.

5. The heroine has a hidden identity and will reclaim it.

6. This is not a chase-your-wife-to-the-crematorium story. The hero falls in love without realizing it at first, then gets his comeuppance and realizes how wonderful she is.

7. Please consider carefully before subscribing to the whole book. If you don't like it, don't force yourself. Cut your losses in time.

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Fu Yao, the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister's household, was beautiful and graceful, the dream woman countless men of Great Xuan longed for but could never have.

Only Prince Liang deeply despised her attention-seeking behavior, and whenever they met, he treated her coldly.

But the good times did not last. The emperor suddenly died, and when the Prime Minister backed Prince Yan's failed bid for the throne, Prince Liang killed him with his own sword.

A bloody storm engulfed the Prime Minister's household. To avoid being violated, Fu Yao hanged herself.

When she awoke, Fu Yao discovered she had been reborn two years earlier, with the Prime Minister's household still riding high.

She quietly thought it over. To prevent the tragedy that awaited her, she had to find a way to win Prince Liang's favor in advance.

But Prince Liang had always been arrogant and aloof. Thinking of the way he treated her, Fu Yao couldn't help sighing.

Her maid heard her sigh and comforted her, saying, "Princess, please stop being angry with His Highness. You should come back to the manor with him."

Princess? Since when had she become a princess?

Fu Yao trembled. "You called me Princess? Then who is the prince?"

The maid was baffled. "Why, His Highness Prince Liang, of course."

**

Prince Liang and his bride were newlyweds, their marriage harmonious as music.

One day, the two quarreled, and the princess stormed back to her family home.

Prince Liang knelt outside Fu Yao's bedchamber for half a day before finally bringing her back to his manor.

But when she returned, his usually tempestuous princess had suddenly become a different person.

One day, Prince Liang happened to find a divorce agreement tucked beneath his wife's pillow.

An old nightmare came to mind for no reason, and he raised the agreement to the red candle.

In the flickering light, the divorce agreement burned to ashes.

Fu Yao was someone he had gone to great lengths to claim. She was going nowhere.

Premise: The most beautiful flowers bloom in the bleakest circumstances