A gloomy but earnest and well-behaved young woman x a cold beauty with a seductive, foxlike streak
The powerful minister Pei Qingyan is as beautiful as a celestial being, upright and restrained, a flower on a high peak untouched by worldly desires.
No one knows that he was once imprisoned for a year by a woman in her back courtyard,
where she had her way with him and humiliated him in every possible way.
Su Lingyao is the daughter of a county deputy. She grew up in comfort, doted on by her parents, and once did something outrageously reckless.
She imprisoned the tutor her father had hired in her own back courtyard, and spent every night with him.
She broke the young gentleman's pride and forced him to give in to desire.
When her misdeed came to light, she had no choice but to let him go.
She left him to her family's disposal.
She never imagined that the tutor she had once abused with her power would assume a new identity and become a minister of immense influence.
Rumor has it that he is now cold and passionless, and utterly ruthless.
Su Lingyao panics.
She knows she can't undo what she did, so all she can do is stay away from Pei Qingyan, making sure he doesn't see her and remember the humiliation he suffered.
Until the day he makes a grand entrance at her wedding feast.
Grinding his teeth, he declares his hatred for her: "Su Lingyao, how dare you humiliate me and then marry someone else?"
Back when Pei Qingyan was staying in a remote county, he fell for a young woman.
Unfortunately, she was far too earnest and dull.
She apologized just for touching his hand, and even wrote a confession of her sins after dreaming about him.
She treated his feelings as nothing, truly believing he was a saint.
Later, after all his schemes, he finally got that silly goose to admit she liked him. But she clung to convention and refused to marry someone from out of town.
So he had to resort to plenty more tricks.
Thankfully, they all worked.
The only problem was that he made one miscalculation and returned to the capital for several months.
When they met again, she was about to marry someone else.
Theme: Striving for progress
