The year Zhao Run came of age, she bought a little slave off the street. He was thin and frail, yet had a fierce air about him. Zhao Run sent a letter to her father and had the boy taken to serve in his army.
Several years later, Zhao Run received an imperial decree to marry the Marquis of Dingyuan. A noise came from the camphorwood chest holding her dowry. When it was opened, the little slave she had bought years ago was inside. He had heard that the Marquis of Dingyuan ate human flesh and drank human blood, and that six wives had died in the past ten years. If Zhao Run married him, her chances of survival were slim.
The little slave had grown into a lean, muscular young man, his eyes bright as a wildfire. Zhao Run took him with her to her husband's household, presenting him as her younger brother.
After the wedding, Zhao Run only wanted to stay alive, so she avoided her husband whenever she saw him. Rumors spread through the manor: shadows moved in Madam Run's room, and a man could be heard panting heavily. Perhaps she was cheating on her husband.
When busybodies tried to catch them in the act, the little slave hefted a huge blade. Anyone who wasn't afraid to die could come right over.
When word reached the Marquis of Dingyuan, he prepared a pig cage, a white silk noose, and poison. With a dagger hidden on her, Zhao Run took off her golden bracelets and told the little slave that if she slipped up, he should leave the marquis's manor and make a life for himself.
The little slave took off his clothes, revealing a body covered in marks from their lovemaking. "Are you abandoning me?"
The next day, Marquis of Dingyuan Zhu Zhongxian died suddenly in bed...
Reader advisory:
1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced.
2. The heroine is the daughter of a military family, sweet on the outside and calculating beneath. The hero is a wolfish young man who was sold as a stable hand.
3. The author loves this dynamic, so of course it's going to be intense.
4. This is a mystery story with no nonconsensual content. Any relevant details will be explained in the story.
Theme: I will never tolerate evil.
