Yun Chuwan was the eldest daughter of a scholarly family, quiet and reserved, and always mindful of propriety.
During the Qiqiao Festival, she fell into a river while trying to escape a lecher. After she was rescued, the lecher and her stepmother joined forces to pressure her into marriage.
She shrank into the sturdy chest of the man beside her and looked at her stepmother, her voice trembling. "This gentleman saved me. I must repay him by marrying him."
Her stepmother readily changed her tune, agreed, and pressured the man to marry her on the grounds that he had held her.
Only later did she learn that he was Zhuang Chuan, the notoriously vicious butcher from West Street.
After Yun Wanchu and Zhuang Chuan married, they treated each other like ice, until he saved her again in an accident.
That night, she went to his room to thank him, only to find him sitting at the Eight Immortals table, carefully writing something.
She quietly drew closer. The same word was repeated from beginning to end across the page. She whispered, "Wanwan?"
Zhuang Chuan, utterly absorbed, jerked his hand, leaving a pool of ink beneath his pen.
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Next book: The Loveless Prince Keeps Teasing Me
When Lan Xiang injured her leg and began using a wheelchair, her husband, Prince Yu Xiao Moyan, had just earned great merit by quelling a rebellion and helping the Crown Prince ascend the throne.
Everyone said she was pitiful. She had been married to Xiao Moyan for four years without having a child, and now she was disabled. Surely he would cast her aside.
Unexpectedly, in April of the second year after the new emperor's coronation, with spring breezes pleasant, the powerful Xiao Moyan withdrew from public life at the height of his success and took his wife Lan Xiang into seclusion.
At their new home, the Xiao residence, Lan Xiang and Xiao Moyan had little to say to each other and barely knew each other outside the bedchamber. She knew her disability was an eyesore, so she avoided him as much as she could.
Unfortunately, the place was too small. They could hardly go anywhere without running into each other.
On a clear day, she quietly watched from the shade beneath the eaves as ripe yellow loquats hung high on a distant branch. Xiao Moyan silently lifted her up and carried her through the air on the breeze so she could pick the fruit.
On a rainy day, the bodyguards were going to take an umbrella to Xiao Moyan, who was away from home. By mistake, she grabbed the oil-paper umbrella she had made while practicing.
The cold, aloof man came home drenched, holding an oil-paper umbrella that had been thoroughly ruined by the rain. He silently stared at her.
Embarrassed, she wheeled herself over and used a plain handkerchief to dry his narrow, firm waist. "Your Highness, I'm sorry."
She accidentally touched him somewhere she shouldn't have. As she pulled her hand back, he suddenly caught her wrist. "Make it up to me properly."
Xiao Moyan was never as cold and harsh with her as he was with outsiders. He was also young, handsome, and skilled in martial arts. But she didn't dare fall for him. He had been forced to marry her, and to him she was just a way to pass the time. All she could do was keep her feelings under control, clear-eyed as she enjoyed and looked forward to his unpredictable teasing.
Until one day, a young scholar from the village walked her home, just as Xiao Moyan came down from the mountain after hunting.
The scholar greeted him respectfully. "This junior pays his respects to Uncle."
Xiao Moyan, his face hidden beneath a bamboo hat, looked up coldly and fixed his gaze on her. "Uncle? Second Miss Lan, are you planning to make your poor old husband your new father and choose another groom?"
She was horrified and urged her maid to wheel her after him. "I didn't! I haven't! Husband, Your Highness, please let me explain!"
Xiao Moyan really was angry. He stopped lifting her up when she wanted to pick flowers, stopped using his inner energy to dry her wet hair, and wouldn't even look at her.
The bodyguards noticed that their gentle, quiet princess consort had changed. Whenever she saw Prince Yu, she would awkwardly act spoiled and try to win him over.
Lan Xiang pretended to cry and fall, then truly acted spoiled, calling him "Husband" and "Your Highness" in a soft voice over and over, until Xiao Moyan finally let go of his anger.
That night, when she was "bullied" until she felt wronged and buried herself in his broad chest, she truly cursed the scholar for running his mouth.
Xiao Moyan rubbed her sore, aching waist with one hand and lifted her chin with the other, forcing her to look up. "Second Miss Lan, am I your new father, or your husband?"
Note: One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins, and the heroine's leg will recover.
Theme: Do not fear the future, and do not weep over the past.
