Everyone says Gu Lingwei is lucky. How else could a merchant’s daughter marry Zhang Jingchuan, the eldest son of the prestigious Zhang family, and become its young madam?
Only Gu Lingwei knows how much she has suffered in a marriage that looks so enviable from the outside.
“You’re the eldest daughter-in-law, so you should set an example for the women of the family. Your younger sister-in-law is a widow. Surely you can make allowances for her?”
Those words became Zhang Jingchuan’s catchphrase. His heart always belonged to his widowed younger brother’s wife, Qin Yunxiu, and his niece.
Even when Gu Lingwei proved unable to bear children, he could accept it, and even took the initiative to adopt a child from a collateral branch of the clan for her to raise.
So Gu Lingwei poured everything into the family: she used up her dowry, managed the household, raised the child, and constantly made allowances for the mother and daughter of the second branch.
It was only after their adopted son passed the highest imperial examination and sought an official title for Qin Yunxiu that Gu Lingwei finally realized they were the ones who truly belonged together as a family.
She uncovered the truth, only to be poisoned to death by the man who shared her bed. Only then did she understand how miserable her life had been.
Reborn, Gu Lingwei wants no part of that marriage. Instead, she wants them to pay for their crimes. She sets her sights on Zhang Jingchuan’s second uncle, a stern, dignified man of great power. If this is to be a political marriage, why not marry the most powerful man of all?
But the stern, taciturn man she imagined was only putting on an act. After they marry, Zhang Huaiyuan surprises her again and again with his uniquely devoted affection. It turns out married life can be this sweet.
Later, the second young master of the Zhang family, whom Gu Lingwei once saved, returns. She watches coolly as the brothers turn against each other and the household descends into chaos, finding fresh amusement every day, while one certain someone lovingly reminds her, “Wife, don’t upset the baby!”
She was killed by a scumbag boyfriend, and after being reborn, she didn't seek revenge; she simply changed her marriage partner and became engaged to the scumbag's second uncle. That was the end of her story.