After Flirting with the Aloof Beauty, I Can’t Get Away

A greedy, flirtatious maid x a cold, aloof nobleman with a hidden dark side |

# Shameless, unabashed husband-flirting every day (not on purpose, it's just how I breathe) #

Jingyuan Marquis Manor had just taken on a new batch of maids.

Cen Xu gave them a casual glance and immediately recognized the most unruly one: the woman who had sung an out-of-tune Jiangnan folk song at Zuiyue Tower a few days ago, then coquettishly tried to charm him.

As the heir to the marquisate, Cen Xu had been dignified and reserved since childhood, and never showed interest in women.

So when he realized she was approaching him with ulterior motives, he coldly ordered someone to step forward and lift her chin.

He hadn't yet spoken his warning when the shameless little maid suddenly dropped to her knees, looking mortified beyond words.

"Young master, I've already left that life behind. I would never take a job that involves selling myself!"

Cen Xu's face darkened in an instant.

-

Yuan Xi was the daughter of a minor official. She was beautiful and alluring, and greedy for both money and men. Then disaster struck, her family fell into ruin, and she was sent to Zuiyue Tower, where she became a delicate flower anyone could bully.

By chance, the old madam of the Cen household found her and offered her a hefty sum to enter the manor and provide an heir for the Jingyuan Marquis household.

Yuan Xi loved money, so she agreed at once.

But when the old madam suggested giving her a formal title, Yuan Xi shook her head and refused.

It wasn't out of any lofty ambition. Clutching the banknotes, she thought happily: A wife is no match for a concubine, and a concubine is no match for a secret lover. But better still than being a secret lover is being a maid, right there in his sight every day, where he can look but not touch.

-

Cen Xu watched coldly as the little maid made her clumsy attempts to seduce him.

The glimpse of her fair, delicate forearm as she tended the flowers, the graceful sway of her waist as she deliberately passed in front of him, the way she put on a tearful voice and trembled as she called him young master: all of it made her rather endearing.

Cen Xu kept her by his side, and she grew more and more temperamental. The slightest displeasure brought tears to her eyes. Fortunately, the little maid was easily won over and loved money more than life itself. She'd be clutching banknotes, tears barely dry, and then come kiss him.

As she kissed him, she'd say how much she liked him and ask if he could take her to Zui Xian Ju for a banquet the next day.

Cen Xu thought she was hopeless, but also felt that beneath all her pretense, there must be at least a little genuine affection.

And yet she ran away.

She abandoned her husband and child, vanishing without a trace.

At last, he found out where the liar had gone.

Beneath the hibiscus-patterned bed curtains,

Cen Xu gripped her waist, at the end of his patience.

"The imperial edict betrothing us has already been issued, and our child can already call you Mother. Where are you planning to run off to now?"

It seemed she would never learn to be gentle and obedient in this lifetime.

Theme: Treat others with sincerity