Everyone in the capital knew I was in love with Fifth Young Master Xie.
But to refuse the marriage, he would rather shave his head and enter Buddhist cultivation.
Only then did I learn that all his tender warmth toward me had merely been a way to use me to curry favor with the Wang family.
I became the laughingstock of the entire capital.
Later, when the loyal ministers of the Xie family were falsely accused, I set aside the past and helped clear their name.
On the night the Xie family regained its innocence, Buddhist Heir Xie rushed over through the rain and said he would return to secular life to marry me.
I stared in astonishment at his face, so certain of victory.
From behind the curtain, the young courtesan reached out and hooked an arm around my shoulders. “Sister, you were just saying you were devoted to someone like me. How are you suddenly marrying someone else?”
I hurried to coax him. “Of course I’m not marrying him. He’s just talking nonsense.”
Fifth Young Master Xie, always so cool and composed, stood there blankly, so devastated that he snapped the prayer beads around his wrist.
