Chapter 1

My husband spent half a year in the south overseeing disaster relief.

When he returned, there was a woman at his side.

She had bold, striking features and carried herself with an uncommon swagger. Right outside the estate, in full view of everyone passing by, she brazenly looped her arm through my husband’s.

She was nothing like an ordinary woman.

Conducting herself this way, she plainly cared nothing for her chastity or reputation.

Without betraying any emotion, I looked her over.

“So you’re the wife Ziyuan was forced to marry without ever knowing?”

Her brows drew together slightly as her gaze traveled over me in return. There was a trace of pity in her eyes, but far more condescension.

Staring at another person so openly, failing to introduce herself, and speaking with such cruelty—

It was behavior utterly devoid of manners or upbringing.

Yet for my husband’s sake,

I held my tongue despite my dislike and spared her a measure of dignity instead of disciplining her for her insolence.

My husband told me that her name was Song Qianqian.

He had rescued her during his journey south. An orphan with no home to return to, she had stayed beside him while he considered what arrangements to make for her. To his surprise, she proved exceptionally insightful. During the relief effort, she had advised him and proposed many ingenious measures he had never heard of before.

Song Qianqian had rendered valuable service, so naturally he could not abandon her. But since she had nowhere to go, he thought he might bring her home. She could keep me company while he decided what to do next.

As my husband explained all this, admiration shone openly in his eyes.

A woman bound by none of the usual rules, utterly unlike every woman he had known since childhood, who could even voice opinions normally reserved for men—of course he found her fascinating.

For six months of disaster relief, this woman had remained at my husband’s side day and night without name or status.

Now he had brought her openly into our estate.

No matter how they explained it, I could never believe there was nothing improper between them.

“So, Husband, do you intend to take her as a concubine?”

I had no interest in how brilliant or quick-witted she might be. I only wanted to know what my husband planned to do with her.

Was she to stay in our home temporarily as an ordinary friend?

That could never be a lasting arrangement.

An unmarried woman openly moving into the home of an unrelated man would ruin her reputation once word spread.

Or would he grant her the formal status of a concubine?

That would be fine as well.

If the former arrangement destroyed her reputation, my husband would either have to throw Song Qianqian out without mercy and leave her to fend for herself,

which he clearly could not bring himself to do,

or silence the inevitable gossip by taking her as a concubine.

Whichever path he chose,

there was only one possible end.

So I asked him plainly. If he meant to take a concubine—especially a woman he cherished—then as mistress of the household, I naturally had to give the matter due attention and observe every proper custom.

At most, she would be a high-ranking concubine.

To my surprise, the instant the words left my mouth, Song Qianqian’s expression changed.

She looked outraged. She even pointed a finger directly at me.

“He Jinyue, what is that supposed to mean? Who wants to be a concubine? That makes me the other woman! I would never be some homewrecker!”

Perhaps she was too agitated.

Her fingertip nearly jabbed me in the face. Nanny Lin, who had cared for me since childhood, immediately stepped in front of me and shot her a displeased look.

“No matter how little breeding you possess, miss, surely you know the most basic courtesy.”

Nanny Lin had barely begun to rebuke her when my husband hurriedly drew Song Qianqian into his arms. Half explaining, half reproaching, he said, “Yueniang, Qianqian is simply forthright. When you speak that way, of course she’ll misunderstand.”

I laughed.

Then I looked at Zhou Ziyuan, the husband with whom I had shared three harmonious years of marriage, and asked, “Surely you don’t mean to make her your principal wife?”

That was naturally impossible.

The laws of our dynasty were clear. In three years, I had borne a son and a daughter, attended faithfully to my parents-in-law every day, and managed every affair in the household without a single mistake.

There was no fault to find in me, and thus no grounds for repudiating me.

If he insisted on having his way and the matter grew into a scandal, he would not merely be flogged. He would be stripped of every official post and exiled nearly a thousand miles away.

His entire career would be ruined.

Zhou Ziyuan had studied the classics and laws since childhood and knew these statutes by heart. He immediately shook his head. “Yueniang, no one can take your place as my principal wife.”