The Yin and Ning families, two great clans, had arranged a marriage generations ago. The match was between the eldest daughter of the Yin family and the eldest son of the Ning family.
The Ning family was a distinguished clan with considerable influence at court, making the marriage an excellent match for the Yin family.
However, shortly before the betrothal gifts were to be presented, the eldest Yin daughter mysteriously disappeared.
Just as everyone thought the Ning family would be furious, the pampered second daughter of the Yin family was married into the Ning household in her sister's place.
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Her elder sister eloped for love. Yin Qingxiao thought the marriage between the two families would be called off, but the Ning family stated plainly that the marriage would go ahead as planned. They didn't care who the bride was, as long as she was a daughter of the Yin family.
Apart from her sister, she was the only daughter of the family.
Seeing her parents hang their heads in despair day after day, Yin Qingxiao slapped the table and declared, "I'll marry him. Other families would beg for a match like this, so why shouldn't I?"
It wasn't as if she couldn't divorce him!
The elder Yin couple wanted to make it up to their younger daughter, offering to put all their deeds for farms, restaurants, and shops in her name. Yin Qingxiao stopped them. "Give them to me after I divorce him."
By law, after a divorce, the wife's property had to be divided equally with her husband's family. She wasn't about to suffer such a loss.
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Ning Jing had long heard of Yin Qingxiao. She'd been pampered since childhood, couldn't lift a thing, and spent her days with her close friends looking for handsome men to draw into a collection, supposedly for the benefit of women everywhere.
His family insisted that a Yin daughter marry into their household, and he didn't object.
After Yin Qingxiao entered the household, true to her pampered nature, she complained that this was uncomfortable and that was wrong.
In that huge residence, nothing suited her.
She changed this one day and that the next, and finally set her sights on him.
After a while, she stopped pretending. Whenever they met, she asked, "Husband, when can we get divorced?"
- A heroine who plays dumb to catch her prey vs. a refined, self-possessed male lead
- First draft of blurb: 2025.7.2. Archived
Theme: After the substitute marriage
