My Sister Is So Bewitching, She Has Every Powerful Noble Wrapped Around Her Finger

[Caged Songbird vs. Aloof Marquis + Brooding, Flirtatious Chief Minister + Sweet on the Outside, Dark Within]

At seventeen, Ming Xi went from being the Shen family's cherished daughter to a fake heiress who had usurped the real one's place.

On the day the true heiress returned to the family estate, all the old relatives watched coldly from the sidelines.

She turned to flee, only to collide with two chests at once.

On her left was Shen Yanci, the Marquis of Zhenbei. On her right was Shen Jiyun, the chief minister of the court.

Shen Yanci had just returned from battle. He gripped her wrist, a sudden dark fire in his eyes. “The second branch doesn't want this little cat? Then I'll take her.”

Shen Jiyun, a high-ranking cabinet official who had made a name for himself while still young, gently stroked her hair and smiled warmly. “What are you afraid of? My home will always be Ming'er's refuge.”

From then on, she was trapped in a gilded cage, the unspoken object of a contest between two powerful men.

A pawn was still a pawn.

And she had no intention of being a caged bird.

Three years later, in a misty Jiangnan alley, a woman in plain clothes stepped out of an apothecary, a baby in her arms.

Two oil-paper umbrellas opened over her head at the same time.

The umbrella on her left tilted up, revealing Shen Yanci's bloodshot eyes.

“Come home with me.”

The bamboo-ribbed umbrella on her right turned gently, and the smile beneath Shen Jiyun's jade crown froze bit by bit.

“Who... is the child's father?”

Then footsteps sounded from deep in the rain, and someone came to shield her, his gaze unreadable.

“My lady, are they your friends too?”