The Beloved Slave Girl: The Powerful Official’s Heart’s Desire

[Traditional historical romance + age gap + stealing someone’s love + an austere minister brought down from his pedestal + a scoundrel chasing his wife in regret + the whole family gets their comeuppance, with no forgiveness] Her husband passed the imperial exams, but Sui He was left behind as his discarded first wife. When his new bride entered the household, Sui He was reduced to the lowest-ranking maid. Her mother-in-law bullied her, her husband’s mother made things difficult, her husband treated her with cold indifference, and her sister-in-law was always stirring up trouble. Just as everyone thought Sui He wouldn’t survive, she knocked on the door of her husband’s powerful uncle, her eyes brimming with tears. “Please, Uncle, help me get justice.” Pei Yanzhi could turn the clouds with one hand and the rain with the other. He was a fearsome figure whom everyone revered, yet aloof and otherworldly, keeping his distance from women, like an ascetic Buddha seated on a lotus throne. At the sight of the delicate beauty standing outside, her raven hair framing snow-white skin and tears glistening in her eyes, the Buddha’s heart faltered. His long-fingered hand drew her slender waist into his arms, dark currents swirling in his deep eyes. His cool lips brushed the tear at the corner of her eye, and he murmured coaxingly by her ear, “You’ve come to pray to Buddha. Have you decided what you’ll offer as sacrifice?”