*Original title: Three Years After Leaving My Adoptive Father*
When Yan Heng first met Ji Mingyi, she was fighting with wild dogs over scraps of food.
He was the celebrated Young Master Jiyue, a powerful minister of Jin. His white robes were immaculate, and he seemed like an immortal sent to save her from a life of misery. He held out his hand and said, "From now on, you'll come with me."
Those words turned her from a beggar into the young lady of the Jin chancellor's household, living in luxury and splendor.
Ji Mingyi treated her wonderfully, like an elder who carefully raised and taught a child, personally instructing her in poetry, books, etiquette, and propriety.
When she came of age, Ji Mingyi chose a husband for her, all of them princes from various states, each a paragon among men.
Yan Heng mustered every ounce of courage she had and refused.
"All the men in the world put together don't have a third of your grace. If I have to marry, it will be you or no one."
He was unmoved. His expression distant, he replied slowly, "I indulged you too much and raised you poorly, and it has led to this grave mistake. You've forgotten the bonds of family."
Not long afterward, envoys from Yan arrived in the Jin capital, claiming the chancellor's young lady was the blood daughter of their late ruler and demanding that Yan Heng return to Jicheng.
Perhaps Ji Mingyi had always despised her. Otherwise, how could he fail to show his face on the day she left the capital?
She thought that once she left, she would never return, and they would never meet again.
*
The King of Yan welcomed his princess home only so he could marry her off to the state of Guo.
At the first sight of her husband, Yan Heng thought of the young man who had held out his hand to her beneath the moonlight years ago.
After three years of a loving marriage, Ji Mingyi had become a beautiful dream long past.
Until the new ruler of Jin marched his army to the city gates. During the negotiations, Ji Mingyi smiled gently.
"I am in need of a queen, so I have come to claim you."
Suppressing the tremble in her hands, she poured him wine herself. "To me, the King of Jin is like a father and an elder brother. I feel nothing but filial affection for you. How could I forget the bonds of family?"
That night, the moon shone like a wheel of ice, and the state of Guo fell.
The candles in the King of Jin's tent burned through the night. In the morning mist, Yan Heng draped herself in a large cloak and tried to slip away quietly, but he caught her by the waist and dragged her back onto the bed.
The man's fingers traced her lower belly, inch by inch. "Once you give birth to my heir, I'll let you reunite with your husband."
Reading Tips:
1. This is a story about a man forcibly claiming a woman.
2. The female lead is not a virgin, while the male lead is.
3. There is an eleven-year age gap.
4. There is no actual adoption relationship between the leads, and the female lead was never entered into the Jin royal family register.
Blurb written on March 27, 2025.
Theme: When scorpions flourish, trees break; when desire burns too fiercely, the body perishes.
