She Died in the Second Year of Her Marriage

The third daughter of the Qu family lost her life in the second year of her marriage.

Outsiders speculated that her husband, the heir to Prince Pingnan, had killed her. After all, the heir doted far too much on his concubine. Everyone in the capital knew she was the apple of his eye. Less than three months after marrying his primary wife, the heir had eagerly taken the concubine into his household. She became pregnant that very year and gave birth to his eldest son the next.

Strangely enough, the third daughter had been gone for several years, and the concubine's son was already old enough to begin his studies, yet the heir had made no move. He had neither remarried nor elevated his beloved concubine to the position of wife. No one knew what he was planning.

Meanwhile, Yu Yanhuai, who had once been that concubine's fiancé and a poor candidate in the imperial examinations, had risen to become the youngest third-rank assistant minister in the court, earning the emperor's favor. A talented young man like him was naturally a hot prospect among the capital's matchmakers. But he had no interest in marrying, leading some to wonder if he still longed for his former fiancée, the concubine of Prince Pingnan's heir, and that was why he refused to wed. Yet for some reason, news suddenly broke that Assistant Minister Yu was going to marry...

A rebellious noblewoman, gentle on the outside but strong within, vs. a brilliant, tea-loving top-scoring scholar

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New novel: The Scion of a Noble House

Blurb: Yu Zhan, eldest grandson of the Yu clan, was a distinguished young gentleman raised by a venerable family with a century of history. Upright as a pine and clear as the moon, he nevertheless took a concubine in his youth, marring his otherwise flawless reputation.

Shao Xin, an orphan who should have died long ago, clawed her way through life covered in mud. Even her name was not her own. When he called out to her by chance amid the bustle of the world, she remembered the name she'd had as a child: Qiao Man. She remembered that she had a twin sister named Qiao Wei, who had been raised in comfort by the Qiao family and was destined to become the concubine of this jade-like gentleman.

When he called her "Qiao Wei," she answered.

Later, the eldest young master of the Yu family tried to elevate his concubine to wife and received a hundred lashes in the ancestral hall. As his consciousness faded, he heard her whisper in his ear, "Young Master Yu, you've mistaken me for someone else."

Theme: Cut your losses in time. A good horse never returns to eat old grass.