The Ling Residence Observation Handbook

Taciturn, formidable, and almost machine-like bodyguard X sharp-tongued, scheming, talkative young nobleman

As Ling Xiao's personal shadow guard, Feng Yue did her duty faithfully, yet Ling Xiao was never satisfied with her.

When he taught her poetry and how to distinguish characters, he disliked it when her attention wandered now and then.

When he couldn't find her, he disliked that she didn't report the day's events to him as soon as she returned.

After she warmed him when they were stranded in the snowy mountains,

he was unhappy that Feng Yue ignored his request to do it one more time, then went off on her own to look for a way out, leaving him alone in the carriage to catch a chill.

He was even more unhappy that Feng Yue couldn't understand a joke.

When his sisters asked which young lady would suit him, she pointed to the woman in the first portrait.

Everyone around them stopped laughing and fell silent, watching Ling Yu.

It was the first time he had ever looked at Feng Yue with anger in his eyes.

Just as Feng Yue was considering what a competent shadow guard should do in this situation,

Young Master Ling pulled out the second portrait, which bore some resemblance to her, and placed it on top. He glanced at Feng Yue again, his gaze turning plaintive. Without a word, he rose and left the room.

Everyone in the family teased Ling Yu. For all his eloquence, he had spent every day dropping hints, both subtle and obvious, yet still hadn't won the heart of Yue Feng, who had followed him since childhood and only ever wanted to be a shadow guard.

By contrast, his eldest brother, a skilled martial artist, could easily draw Yue Feng's gaze with a single gesture.

They said they'd thought she was a stubborn stone that would never bloom, but it turned out the person watering her wasn't the one meant for her.

Ling Yu said nothing. He only kept urging his mother to arrange a marriage for his elder brother.

Later, his brother married, too. Then, when he and Yue Feng were stranded in the snowy mountains, he finally persuaded her to share a brief moment of passion with him.

Afterward, the ironclad defenses of the Ling estate were breached without warning.

In the seventh year of her infiltration of the Ling clan in the Northern Lin Kingdom,

on the eve of her wedding to Ling Yu, Feng Yue successfully rescued the Ninth Prince and fled from the marriage.

Ling Yu never forgot it.

Preview: After the Pure-Hearted Widower Kicked Me Out

Xiao Liu squatted by the roadside. Her heartfelt, simple wish was not to starve to death today.

She was in luck that day. Her broken bowl had barely hit the ground when a nasty servant kicked it away.

The youngest son of the notorious chancellor of the capital had come out to play, and they were clearing the street for him.

Those with nothing to lose have no reason to fear the well-off. If a rich man thinks you're too much trouble, one beckoning finger could change your whole life!

Xiao Liu immediately threw herself to the ground, ready to make a scene.

But when she looked up, a bright-eyed, handsome young master in fine clothes happened to glance her way.

Their eyes met. He narrowed his phoenix eyes and, sure enough, beckoned her over with one finger... Then his nasty servant hauled her back to the Zhao estate.

A beggar had become a nasty servant.

She became the lackey of the spoiled and willful Young Master Zhao.

By day, she joined him in his mischief and laughter, following him around as he threw his weight about wherever he went.

At night, she had to work hard at perfecting her skills in the bed of Young Master Zhao's sworn enemy.

Every day, she acted out the part of a loyal servant in Cao's camp whose heart belonged to Han.

At Young Master Zhao's bidding, she toyed with his cold, scheming enemy's body and heart.

Xiao Liu thought the job was a terrible deal. After just a few months caught between the two men, she felt as though they had drained her vitality, and all she wanted was to sleep.

Besides, the chancellor's name was hated by everyone. Even his immense wealth probably wouldn't last.

Xiao Liu ran to the neighboring town overnight and went back to her old trade, squatting by the street and waiting for someone fate might send her way.

She was in luck that day, too. Her bowl had barely hit the ground when the stick in a beautiful blind man's hand prodded its way into it.

A blind man was perfect. He couldn't see, looked too frail to manage on his own, and dressed like a rich man.

She'd get enough money from him to live comfortably for the rest of her life, then call it quits.

But he was blind in heart as well as eye, and more unreasonable than anyone. He wouldn't listen to a word she said.

Whenever someone bullied him, he clung to her and dragged her home, telling his mother he insisted on marrying her.

His mother was