A Bite of Spring

Ruan Ningyu, the Xie family’s cousin, was as lovely as a begonia, soft and delicate as jade. Yet she committed the disgraceful act of eloping with the young Marquis Shen. On the way, her cousin Xie Ling personally caught her and brought her back to the capital. Xie Ling was the eldest legitimate grandson of a distinguished family, a strict adherent to propriety, and a hidebound traditionalist. In his eyes, she was wanton, frivolous, and debauched, the sort of woman a lofty, untouchable man like him despised most. After bringing her back, he punished her according to family law. So the first thing Ruan Ningyu did after becoming empress was to play matchmaker, using imperial authority to force a wife on him. Xie Ling’s wife was a well-bred, accomplished young lady, and they were deeply devoted to each other. Later, she sent a maid to beg Xie, now a powerful chief minister, to spare her life. In exchange, she offered him something he wanted. The man was silent for a long while, then ordered his servants, “Madam likes peace and quiet. Do not disturb her. If anyone unrelated to her ever disrupts her peace again, you will answer for it.” Compared with his wife, who was respected by the people, she was merely an empress who brought ruin to the realm, guilty and deserving of death. She thought she had probably never caught his eye. Reborn as a young cousin, Ruan Ningyu only wanted to stay far away from her powerful cousin and avoid repeating the past. As she fled the Xie residence, the young Marquis Shen, whom she had once seduced and abandoned, relentlessly pursued her. The pitiful Seventh Prince she had raised was, in truth, dark-hearted and plotting to make her his own... And she never imagined that one day she would pluck Xie Ling, that lofty, untouchable flower, and watch him wag his tail and beg at her feet as he slowly descended into madness.