Supporting the Golden Bough

[Mutual Redemption] [Playing the Fool While Hiding One's Strength] [The Whole Family's Desperate Regret] [Marriage Before Love]

Jiang Miao is the illegitimate child born to a princess in a sheep pen, scorned and despised by everyone.

Song Mo is a young general who once dazzled the capital. At the height of his success, he suddenly fell from grace and became a miserable cripple.

A marriage contract binds them together.

At first, Jiang Miao sees Song Mo as nothing more than a piece of driftwood to grab hold of as she climbs out of life's sea of suffering, a stepping stone she can use.

She uses him, guards against him, and teases him. But gradually, her heart slips out of her control. The man is far too good to her. After she kills her enemy, he takes her hand, places a dagger in it, and presses it to his heart. His expression is solemn and calm as he says, "I know I'm also someone you want to kill. Use the method I taught you. Stab me."

He is still the cool and aloof bamboo, the snow atop a high mountain. In a panic, all she wants is to run away.

With fourteen years between them, Song Mo initially raises Jiang Miao as if she were his daughter.

He watches her turn on her charm to draw him into her trap. He never calls her out, and even welcomes it.

He gives her status and teaches her how to wield power, partly to ease his loneliness and partly because he wants to see how far she can go.

Even if she fails, he has already left her a house full of property to ensure she lives comfortably for the rest of her life.

If she wants to fly, he will be her wings.

If she wants peace in this world, he will be the sharpest blade in her hand.

If she wants power, he will be the strategist behind her throne.

There are only two things in his life that ever changed his fate. The first cost him years as a cripple. The second was teaching her with his own hands how to kill him.

The dagger falls to the ground.

Song Mo wins his gamble.

How could he be content to remain only her mentor and friend? All he has ever wanted is to be the one she takes to bed.