Chapter 1

Chu Yan slammed the door and left again.

Before he went, he coldly warned me to give up any ideas I had no right to entertain.

Then he threw on his outer robe and left the estate under cover of night.

I knew he was going to the separate residence south of the city.

The woman he had kept hidden for two years lived there.

But I had no time to be sad.

As soon as he left, I hurried to Qiwu Courtyard, where my mother-in-law lived.

I tapped lightly on her door.

Clutching my hand, red from the scalding soup,

I let my tears tumble down.

“Mother, my husband has gone again. I’m so useless.”

Her eyes filled with distress at the blisters on my hand.

She immediately sent for a physician.

“Oh, this is my fault.”

“If I hadn’t insisted on this marriage, you wouldn’t be spending every night alone.”

“My poor child.”

I shook my head in alarm. “Mother, how could it be your fault?”

“If you hadn’t stood up for me at that flower-viewing banquet, would I even be alive today?”

“I was greedy. I wanted the chance to have you as my mother.”

I paused deliberately, then raised my tear-reddened eyes.

“Mother, if I never win my husband’s heart and can’t give the Chu family an heir, could I… could I still be part of your family?”

Meeting my gaze,

she grew visibly moved.

“Silly child, what nonsense is this?”

“I chose you. Of course we’re family.”

With the answer I wanted,

I threw myself gratefully into her arms.

Equally moved, she ordered her servants to use the finest medicine on me.

She even sent her trusted attendant, Nanny Qian, to fetch a set of glass goblets from the storeroom for me.

Back in my room, with the medicine applied,

I gazed at those priceless glass goblets.

At last, I dried my tears and smiled without a sound.

Just as I’d thought.

My mother-in-law was much better.

Charming her brought in money.

I would charm my mother-in-law for the rest of my life.

It was my mother-in-law who had arranged my marriage to Chu Yan.

She was Grand Princess Hengyang, the reigning emperor’s full sister.

People said a woman’s marriage was like being born all over again.

With a good mother-in-law, you could enjoy the rest of your life in peace.

So, at that flower-viewing banquet two years ago, when I was accused of drugging the crown prince and she spoke up for me,

I knew at once that I wanted her for my mother-in-law.

I had almond-shaped eyes and slender, willow-leaf brows.

A very likable face.

And a sweet tongue. I knew what to say.

Older people were exceedingly fond of me.

The grand princess was no exception.

Out of all the prospective daughters-in-law, she chose me.

Back then, Chu Yan didn’t hate me the way he did now.

The grand princess asked him, “What do you think of Miss Wen?”

“Virtuous and dignified,” he said. “I could ask for nothing more.”

He invited me out on the lake and gave me a jade bracelet.

Only then did the grand princess send someone to my home to propose the match.

But an uninvited guest arrived at the estate on our wedding day.

She wore a plain dress and stood silently at the entrance.

Chu Yan’s expression changed at once.

Before we had even exchanged our wedding bows, he abandoned a hall full of guests and ran after her.

Only afterward did I learn

that her name was Shen Chenbi. He had loved her for years.

But my mother-in-law disliked her.

Not merely because she was a widow.

Her mother, Lady Lin, had also had an affair with Chu Yan’s father, the Marquis of Lu’an, while my mother-in-law was pregnant.

In her fury, my mother-in-law had miscarried and lost the ability to bear more children. She had regarded Lady Lin and her daughter as enemies ever since.

Yet after disappearing for the whole night of our wedding, Chu Yan returned

and abruptly announced that he and Shen Chenbi had slept together. He wanted an amicable divorce so he could marry her.

How could my mother-in-law agree?

They had a tremendous row.

So Chu Yan bought a house south of the city and installed Shen Chenbi there.

The truth was, it didn’t upset me at all that Chu Yan loved someone else and visited that house every day.

After all, the more he loved Shen Chenbi, the angrier my mother-in-law became, and the more she felt I was being wronged.

The guiltier she felt, too. And the more expensive gifts she gave me.

I was only missing a husband.

It wasn’t as though I were missing money.

Or as though I couldn’t secretly keep a lover of my own.

Why would I be sad?