After the Sweet Young Concubine Enters the Manor, Spring Blossoms in the Ruthless Minister's Bedchamber

[Ruthless possession + sinister powerbroker + frail concubine]

Sheng Jinnian, heir to a marquis's estate, wielded immense power over the courts and prisons. Cold and severe by nature, he was known as the "Jade-Faced Demon."

When he first met Fu Ying, she was his younger brother's concubine.

She was frail as a willow in the breeze, her slender frame seemingly unable to withstand even a gust of wind.

Sheng Jinnian looked down on women who relied solely on their beauty to serve men.

After his younger brother died, he assumed she would stay at the estate and enjoy a life of luxury.

Instead, all she asked was permission to leave.

Sheng Jinnian scoffed, "Playing hard to get." But he granted her request all the same.

Later, she changed her mind at the last moment and willingly stayed to pray for the deceased.

No matter how she was mistreated, she remained humble.

Watching her act, Sheng Jinnian mocked her. "You have a devious mind."

Then his thoughts began to take an unsettling turn.

Her waist was so slender, narrower than his palm.

Her skin was so pale. Wouldn't it be lovely to kiss?

He was willing to defy propriety and take her as a concubine, but she fled in the middle of the night.

Sheng Jinnian intercepted her and asked, "Why are you running?"

The woman smiled with scorn and coldness. "I refuse to be a bird in a cage."

The woman who had always been meek and humble knelt upright, her proud spirit unbroken.

He wanted to marry her, but on their wedding day, she set fire to the house and killed herself.

Years later, when he saw her standing beside another man with a child, smiling radiantly, Sheng Jinnian finally understood: it had all been wishful thinking on his part. That cold-hearted woman had only been pretending with him.

It didn't matter. Even if she didn't love him, having her by his side would still be enough...