In her previous life, Xie Zhaoyu never brought Ye Xu into her household before she died, keeping the man who depended on her, admired her, and couldn't live without her as a mistress in the shadows for his entire life.
She honored her promise to the late lord of Tan Fort, ensuring the fort would not pass into another family's hands. Only those of the Tan bloodline could inherit it. Tan Ru's elder brother was her only husband in name, and after her death, she would return her authority to Tan Ru's daughter.
She had done right by her conscience and repaid Lord Tan's life-saving kindness.
The only person she had wronged was the man who had loved her all his life.
He was nothing like the man she had once loved: timid, compliant, and never vying for anything. That was good. Someone like him was reassuring, after all. She only needed someone to satisfy her physical needs, not someone to take the place in her heart held by the mother and son of the Tan family.
While he was alive, she never thought he mattered. Only after he died did she realize that this timid, compliant man had quietly made his way into her heart. She regretted it. If she could have another life, if she could start over from the moment she first met him after her husband's death, then so what if she brought him into her household?
The Tan family fort had expanded more than a hundredfold under her leadership. She had long since repaid the kindness of the Tan mother and son. She wasn't the sort of person who would forget her late husband and eldest daughter just because she had a lover.
She awoke with a start. She had truly been reborn, and her long-dead husband stood beside her. Without hesitation, she shielded him from the hidden arrow that had once killed him.
But now her betrothed was still alive and well, and she was about to become the live-in wife of Tan Stronghold. How could she repay her debt without being ungrateful, while also giving the man she loved the honor and respect he deserved?
Please note:
1. The female lead is unfaithful; there are male leads one and two.
2. The ending is one-on-one, but the process is not guaranteed.
Theme: Kindness and love cannot both be fully repaid
