The First Year of a Highborn Marriage

When Mu Xueying fled to the capital, she was supposed to marry Han Yuan, the second son of the Han family.

Later, she married Han Yuan’s elder brother, Han Zhan, the powerful and authoritative eldest legitimate son of the Han family.

The Han family was a great clan of high standing, and Han Zhan held an exalted position.

She was an orphan from a fallen family, suddenly thrust into the role of mistress of the household.

Naturally, countless eyes watched her, with countless people waiting to find fault.

Mu Xueying was careful and cautious. She served her parents-in-law and drew close to her husband, finally establishing her place in the Han family.

Until the day the secret she had hidden for so long was exposed in court.

The presiding judge was Han Zhan.

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The young woman his younger brother had met in the countryside demanded that he honor their betrothal on the basis of a verbal promise.

His brother was deeply displeased and insisted on breaking it off.

Out of a sense of honor, Han Zhan spoke up to stop him.

When he awoke the next morning, she was lying beside him, her clothes in disarray.

Once he had touched something, he would never let another man lay a finger on it, even if it meant ruining it.

And so Han Zhan married Mu Xueying.

A wife’s duties were to manage the household and bear children.

As long as she behaved herself, he would regard her as no more than another ornament in his home.

Later, the wedding candles flickered in the bridal chamber, and the contraceptive medicine spilled across the floor.

She lowered her lashes and, in the same tender tone she always used, asked him for a divorce.

Her intoxicating, bone-deep sweetness still lingered between his lips and teeth. Han Zhan laughed in fury.

Her heart belonged to someone else, and all she wanted was to escape. But in this life, the next, and every life after, she could only be his wife.

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The bride his elder brother married was his former fiancée.

At first, Han Yuan felt relieved. Gradually, he began to feel dejected.

Later, night after night, he knelt outside his elder brother’s window,

listening to the intimate sounds within, which went on and on without pause.

He wanted to kill his elder brother and take his place.

Marriage first, love later. One-on-one romance, with household intrigue.

Coming next: "Stealing a Wife"

After her husband died, Zhou Yun found a beautiful young man covered in wounds.

He said his name was Bai Er and that he had run into river bandits while traveling for business. He begged her to take him in and let him recover.

Zhou Yun let him stay, intending to send him on his way once he had healed.

But even after he recovered, he refused to leave.

He took care of everything, both inside and outside the home, from the fields to all the dirty, exhausting work, making life much easier for her.

When the villagers spread rumors and talked behind her back, his iron fists and sharp tongue soon gave her some peace and quiet.

Especially on lonely, silent nights, when she missed her husband,

he would rest his head on her lap and whisper shameless words in her ear, one after another.

Her face flushed and her heart raced as she reached out to hit him.

He held her finger between his lips, his voice muffled as he begged her to marry him.

On their wedding night, her supposedly dead husband burst in, knife in hand and murderous fury in his eyes.

The two men fought for their lives, and only then did Zhou Yun learn that Bai Er’s name and identity were both false.

His real name was Gu Yibai, a noble young master from the marquis’s household. He had come to her to capture her husband.

But he insisted that every tender, intimate moment between them had been real.

He refused to leave, either. Clutching their marriage contract, he kept insisting that he was her husband.

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When Gu Yibai first went undercover by Zhou Yun’s side, he thought she was crude and cunning, hated her deliberate attempts to make things difficult for him, and resented being treated like a donkey every day.

Later, he came to think she was brilliant and pure-hearted.

If she went a single day without treating him like a donkey, he felt out of sorts.

He knew his origins were questionable, and that once his identity was exposed, she would surely abandon him.

He did everything he could to persuade her to marry him.

But then her husband came back, and she actually wanted to go back on her word.

How could he allow that?

He had given her his virtue. Even if he turned into a ghost, he would haunt her.

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Zhao Ji risked his life and traveled a thousand miles to return home and bring his wife back.

His home was decked in red, with wedding candles burning brightly.

His wife had married his enemy.

His wife was young and innocent, deceived by that man.

He would tear the bastard limb from limb.

The author's completed works:

"Folding Cherry Blossoms": possessive pursuit and a groveling redemption arc

"How to Humiliate a Cold, Aloof Official": possessive pursuit, with a male substitute

"A Friend's Wife": One must never covet a friend's wife

"Scheming for a Wife": Male lead is a virgin, heroine is not; possessive pursuit

"The Chancellor Regrets It After Their Divorce": classic groveling redemption arc

"The Beauty in His Palm": possessive pursuit and a groveling redemption arc

Theme: Refuse to be consumed by inner turmoil.