Wang Shenyi was born a noblewoman of an old aristocratic clan. In the eyes of outsiders, she was obedient, kind, honest, and proper. But when her parents looked down on her and tried to hastily marry her off, how could she accept it?
Among all the powerful families in the capital, only Xie Yunzhang, the dignified, jade-like heir to the Duke's estate, held enough power to offer her a way out.
She helped him once. In return, all she asked was to marry him and escape this predicament.
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Xie Yunzhang had never been a gentleman. The world praised him for his clear, noble character, but in truth he was cold, heartless, and full of schemes.
At the time, he had entrusted his adoptive elder sister's daughter to the Wang family, choosing them for their strict family values, peace, and uprightness. Everyone in the household followed the rules, with one exception: the third young lady, whose smile seemed insincere and affected, and whose thoughts ran deep.
He didn't mind seeing what she was up to.
It was only when she came to him, holding him to his promise, that he suddenly understood: she wanted him for herself.
Xie Yunzhang lowered his eyes and studied her, recalling how she had kept appearing as if by chance, making subtle efforts to please him.
She was no different from those who were skilled at scheming.
Still, there seemed to be no harm in marrying her.
After they married, she was gentle and considerate, never clinging to him. She managed the household and observed her proper duties.
Xie Yunzhang thought that even if she had gone to such lengths, he would never fall in love with her.
Yet deep in his heart, a secret thrill quietly stirred.
He believed he had arranged the marriage to perfection, taming this unruly woman into a docile, obedient wife and keeping everything firmly under his control.
Until he discovered that she had secretly tried to arrange a concubine for him;
that a stack of letters lay hidden deep in a trunk, full of tender words that called another man's name again and again;
and that before their wedding, she had already written a divorce agreement for him, explaining that she had only married him to borrow his protection for a while.
So all that tenderness, all that understanding, all that distance, had been because she had never once held him in her heart.
She had assumed he had already seen all of it, that they both understood their unspoken arrangement and were simply getting what they wanted.
Clutching the divorce agreement, Xie Yunzhang felt anger at being deceived before the pain that cut to the bone could even take hold.
He resented his wife for being young and reckless, for giving her affection to another man. He resented her for never having loved him. More than anything, he resented her for vanishing without a trace and avoiding him as if he were a snake or a scorpion!
If she was his wife, how could she keep someone else in her heart?
They were meant to share a bed in life and a tomb in death, never to part until their final breath.
1. The heroine has little regard for morality. If she wants something, she goes after it.
2. The hero has to win his wife back.
Theme: Want it, fight for it, get it.
