He Takes Her Into His Arms: The Mad, Powerful Official Imprisons His Darling

Brothers vying for one woman + love turning to hate + female lead, not male lead + excruciating tension

Cold, obsessive powerful official x sweet, scheming beauty

A war robbed Song Xiangyi of her parents and twin sister. Starving and freezing as she fled, she had no choice but to sell the young book attendant who had long followed her, in exchange for some steamed cornbread to fill her stomach.

Later, she sought refuge with her fiancé, Qi Zhili. Once he passed the imperial exams, the two could marry and live a peaceful, comfortable life. But then a nobleman from the capital suddenly arrived and threw everything into disarray. After a misunderstanding in the plum garden, he clung to her like a ghost. Before others, he was a dignified and upright powerful official; in private, he was frivolous and brazen.

At the time, the Qi family offered up their younger daughter, Qi Yueyan, to curry favor with the powerful. Everyone said Gu Jinchao doted on this concubine so much that if she furrowed her brow, the whole of Qizhou would tremble. Only Song Xiangyi knew who was really beneath that veiled hat!

Song Xiangyi accidentally discovered that the guard by Gu Jinchao's side looked just like the mute boy who had served her in childhood. Seeing how hard the boy had it serving that man, she resolved to help him escape the den of evil. It was only after a twist of fate led him to clutch her waist and tumble with her onto the bed, their silken clothes slipping away, that she felt a familiar mark and realized the real mute boy had been watching her from the shadows all along, as she made a fool of herself.

With tears in her eyes, she asked, "My lord, what is it you want?"

He answered with a cold laugh, "I only wish for you to live in fear and torment, for everything you love to be beyond your reach, and for all your wishes to come to nothing."