She Knows How to Flirt and Put on an Act

[A calculating, flirtatious beauty x a seemingly proper, lustful powerbroker]

[Marriage first, love later + the husband chases his wife to win her back]

Qin Yimian spent three years carefully plotting to marry Pei Xu, only to gladly accept a divorce letter in the third month of their marriage and turn to leave.

"Qin Yimian, you're really leaving just like that?"

"What else?"

"If you can explain your relationship with them...

I can... let the past go."

"I don't care."

For three months, she'd been the one to humble herself. At last, she could stand tall for once.

From now on, she would never have to pretend to be gentle and virtuous again.

*

During the first month of their marriage, Qin Yimian had a miserable time. Her mother-in-law tormented her, and her husband treated her coldly. The noblewomen who envied her would never have guessed that the refined and elegant Young Master Pei, in the prime of his youth, insisted on keeping to an ascetic code. He would rather bathe in cold water than touch her one more time, leaving her lonely and unsatisfied while her mother-in-law scolded her and demanded she find a concubine for her husband.

That wouldn't do. The man she had set her sights on could only be hers. After studying romance stories with great care, she came to understand one thing: if she wanted to keep a man's heart, she first had to seduce his body.

So in the second month of their marriage, she did her utmost to put the seduction techniques from those stories into practice.

"Husband, let me help you bathe."

"No need... Mm... Don't do it again."

"Husband, let me give you a massage."

"You mustn't... Fine... Don't do it again."

She hadn't expected Pei, the cold and self-possessed chief councilor who never got close to women, to break his vows so easily. He was the one who kept saying, "Don't do it again," yet he was also the one who couldn't get enough. His ascetic rules and busy schedule were all forgotten when he couldn't bring himself to stop.

He became more and more devoted to her. In the first month, he was cold and distant, keeping everyone at arm's length. In the second, he was alternately hot and cold, giving her a slap and then a sweet. By the third, he was attentive and doted on her without restraint. But just as she gave up on the idea of divorce and fell into the river of love, he handed her a divorce letter.

"From now on, we are strangers. We will never meet again, in life or in death."

The final line of the divorce letter was cold and decisive, leaving no room for doubt.

That suited her just fine. She wanted the same thing.

Yet less than half a month later, he burst into her bridal chamber and pinned her to the bed. He didn't fight back when she hit him, or complain when she cursed him. He only silenced her with his lips, pouring out all his longing.

"Lord Pei, I've married someone else. Why are you still clinging to me like this?"

"Are you trying to become my kept man?"

"Mm."

"Hah. I don't need another man. I need a dog. Will you be one?"

"All right."

*

In the second month after divorcing her, Pei Xu knelt on his left knee and reached for a handkerchief to wipe the mud from Qin Yimian's bare foot. She ignored the cloth in his hand and rubbed her dirty foot back and forth against his right leg, slowly smearing mud across his crimson official robes. This time, he steadied her and let her tease him as she pleased.

Qin Yimian found it ironic. Once, he had left her unable to walk after wearing her out, yet wouldn't even hold her when she asked. He said it wasn't proper to hug and cuddle in official robes, told her to "bear with it," and walked away...

*The blurb is from the heroine's point of view. Some things are misunderstood, which makes the hero seem like a jerk.

Theme: Love yourself before loving someone else