The Mistress of the House Wants a Divorce

The twentieth year of her marriage.

Ming Zhi looks at her husband, still impossibly handsome as he sleeps beside her. She thinks of the son and daughter who will come pay their respects after she wakes, then of her mother-in-law finding fault with her, the jabs from her sisters-in-law, and the same old breakfast and chores.

Once again, the thought of divorcing her husband comes to mind, stronger than ever.

If other people knew she wanted a divorce, they'd probably tap her on the forehead and call her a fool who didn't know how lucky she was.

After all, her husband is a Grand Tutor, handsome and refined. He keeps no concubines and visits no brothels. Their children are dutiful, and even her mother-in-law only makes the occasional cutting remark.

But she can't go on like this.

If she had to name one reason,

it would probably be that her husband has someone else in his heart, his white moonlight. Even her own children were raised by someone else, and they treat that person far better than they treat her. She has always felt like an outsider, drifting through someone else's home.

First she was her parents' daughter, then a man's wife, then her children's mother, but not once in her life has she been herself.

She doesn't want to spend the rest of her life trapped behind these high, enclosing walls, living a life whose end she can already see.

She wants to see the smoke of war in the northern frontier, flowers in the desert, and the misty rain of Jiangnan.

Note: The heroine is thirty-five, and the hero is forty.

Coming up next: The Heir's Wife's Plan to Break Off the Engagement

Blurb: Banban has had a fiance chosen for her since she was in the womb. Once she comes of age, the two are to be formally married.

But she's never met him. She doesn't even know if he's ugly or handsome, tall or short, thin or fat. He's a complete stranger to her.

With the wedding date fast approaching and no other options, Banban writes to her pen pal to pour out her troubles.

In her letter, she asks how to break off her engagement to someone she doesn't love.

A reply arrives soon:

I have three excellent plans:

First, ruin your reputation. Say you're willful and unruly, as strong as an ox, as ugly as a yaksha, and extremely jealous.

Second, tactfully tell him you already have someone in your heart, and ask him not to separate a pair of lovers.

Third, find a beautiful woman to seduce him until he's utterly besotted and swears he'd rather die than marry anyone else.

If none of these plans work, you can always elope.

Her pen pal adds: We've known each other for a long time. If you have nowhere to go, come find me.

What Banban doesn't know is that her pen pal is the very fiance she's been trying to break off her engagement with, the man she's never met.

Theme: Become yourself before becoming a mother