After Giving Up on My Coldhearted Ex-Husband

[A gentle, clear-headed, self-interested beauty vs. a powerful, devoted, obsessive governor; height difference]

[Second male lead takes the lead + face-slapping pursuit of his wife + the broken mirror will not be mended]

Shen Lizhi was born gentle and mild-mannered, with beauty that could topple a city. As soon as she came of age, she obeyed her father's orders and married Lu Wangzhou.

But after three years of making herself small in the Lu household, she still couldn't win her in-laws' favor.

One day, quite by chance, her mother-in-law summoned her and introduced her to a woman.

She told Shen Lizhi that the woman was the true daughter of the Shen family, a noblewoman, while Shen Lizhi, who had been raised by the Shens for over a decade, had an unknown background and improper bloodline. She would have to be demoted from wife to concubine.

Shen Lizhi didn't know what to do. She could only place her hopes in the husband who had been by her side for three years.

If she could win his sympathy, she thought, there might still be a chance to change things.

So she bathed and changed, perfumed herself and tended to her skin, then put on the snow-white mandarin-duck bellyband he liked best during their intimate moments. She hoped to please him in bed that night and beg him to shelter her beneath his wing.

But Shen Lizhi didn't know that it was all wishful thinking.

Even Lu Wangzhou abandoned her, choosing the true daughter, who schemed at every turn.

With no other choice, Shen Lizhi took off her hairpins and finery, dressed in plain clothes, and left the place of luxurious food and music.

When Lu Wangzhou found out, he assumed she was just being petulant. Now that she was alone and had nowhere to turn, he thought she'd come back and beg his forgiveness once she'd come to her senses in a few days.

Instead, he waited in vain. The lovely woman never returned to him. The only thing he saw was the powerful Grand Governor, famed for his military achievements, bowing before her in public to paint her eyebrows.

*

Chunyu Shu was born proud, cold, and aloof, a man of singular distinction. He was renowned as the Grim Reaper of Great Wei and a fierce general on the battlefield.

But even a man as exceptional as him had an obsession he could not let go. Watching the woman he loved spend her days beneath another man, pleasing and accommodating him, Chunyu Shu couldn't help but start scheming.

When Shen Lizhi finally left the Lu household with no one by her side, he strode up without hesitation and took her into his arms in front of everyone from the Lu family.

--------Coming next: "My Beloved Becomes My Sister-in-Law"--------

[A delicate yet resilient beauty x an obsessive, mad, tragic beauty]

Shen Siyun and Lu Shiyu had known each other since childhood. They were childhood sweethearts.

Lu Shiyu promised that when Shen Siyun's birthday came, he would send a matchmaker to ask for her hand.

But when the day arrived, Shen Siyun and her father waited at home all day without seeing even a glimpse of Lu Shiyu.

Only later did Shen Siyun learn that Lu Shiyu had slipped away in secret.

Before leaving, he left her a letter, saying that after a night of deep thought, he had finally understood his feelings.

He had no romantic feelings for her and did not want his sincerity to be misplaced.

He also hoped she would conduct herself properly from now on and not be so frivolous and wanton as she had been before.

Shen Siyun was furious as she read the letter.

To him, the affection they'd shared since childhood was just her deliberately clinging to him.

If that was how it was, then she would marry someone else and show him that she had never cared for him, either.

Wei Tingxu, the eldest son of the Grand Tutor, was gentle and refined, with an air of purity and detachment.

He knew he had an arranged marriage with a daughter of the Shen family of Jiangzhe.

Yet even though he was already twenty-two, he had never thought of bringing up the marriage himself.

It was for one reason only: he had been in poor health since childhood, needed to take medicine year-round, and might not even live past twenty-five.

So Wei Tingxu thought that if the other family didn't mention the marriage, he would pretend it didn't exist, rather than take the initiative and ruin the young lady's life.

But just as he thought the marriage was about to come to nothing, a servant suddenly reported that a young lady named Shen was outside the residence, carrying their marriage contract and token, ready to marry him.

Ever since Lu Shiyu hurt her, Shen Siyun had made up her mind: she would forget the man from her past, marry into the Wei household, and be a good Madam Wei.

So even though the eldest son of the Wei family tried to dissuade her several times, she insisted on honoring their engagement and becoming a Wei bride.

She would keep him company by lamplight and grow old by his side.

She had finally persuaded her fiancé to agree, but on their wedding day, his long-missing younger brother suddenly returned home.

It should have been a joyous occasion, but when Shen Siyun lifted her veil, she discovered that her newly returned brother-in-law looked exactly like that bastard Lu Shiyu.

A short scene:

On their wedding night, Lu Shiyu, drunk out of his mind, watched maidservants carry basin after basin of water from his elder brother's room. His sinewy hands clenched tighter and tighter, and his quiet eyes gradually reddened.

After his brother took his medicine and fell asleep, Lu Shiyu sneaked into the bridal chamber and, eyes red, pinned Shen Siyun deep into the bed. "My brother is frail. How could he possibly satisfy your longing, sister-in-law?"

Theme: Love life, and be kind to yourself!