Chapter 1

Only when my father’s wife had tired of shouting, and my brother-in-law had hit me enough,

did my sister take my hand, her eyes reddening with feigned sorrow.

“Ah Yu, you may be a concubine’s daughter, but I’ve always loved you as my own little sister.

“I’m dying. I haven’t much time left. All I wanted was for you to help look after my son and daughter when I’m gone.

“But you’ve done something so disgraceful. How could you do this to me?

“Now we have no choice but to break off your engagement to your cousin. When I die, you’ll marry into this household as my husband’s second wife.”

My brother-in-law, Lu Zhang, heir to the Marquis of Dingyuan, sneered from beside her.

“A woman with her conduct and her birth thinks she’s fit to be my next wife?

“I wouldn’t have her as a concubine!”

He was still nursing his grudge against me.

Three years earlier,

he had come to our house with betrothal gifts for my sister.

After seeing me,

he had demanded that I accompany her into his household as his concubine.

I refused. I told him there was someone I loved, who would soon come to ask for my hand.

He angrily called me an ungrateful fool.

Then he went to Father and Father’s wife, hoping to settle the matter with them.

Fortunately, Father found the idea shameful and turned him down.

Later, my cousin Song Huai placed first in the imperial examinations and came to propose.

When he brought the betrothal gifts, Lu Zhang made a special trip to mock me.

“Song Huai is lowborn. His family’s made up of farmers. Even if he becomes an official, he’ll only be a poor one.

“Marry him, and you’ll spend your life working yourself to the bone.

“By the time you’ve worn yourself out chasing money and lost your looks, he’ll have made something of himself. There’ll be plenty of people eager to flatter him with pretty young women.

“And you? What will you have left?

“A woman’s beauty takes money and a life of comfort.

“Ah Yu, Ah Yu. Men are all the same. Sooner or later, you’ll learn you’d have been better off as my concubine than as Song Huai’s wife.

“At least my family has both money and power. You wouldn’t have to suffer with me for five years first.”

There was some truth in what he said.

But I still refused to be pleasant to him.

“Try passing an examination yourself first. Without your family’s hereditary privileges, I doubt you could even qualify as a local scholar.”

He lunged at me in a rage.

I dodged and stuck out a foot.

He fell flat on his back, limbs spread, while I doubled over laughing.

He had made an utter spectacle of himself.

He was beside himself with fury.

From then on, we were sworn enemies.

I looked at the contempt and disdain in Lu Zhang’s eyes.

I heard my own voice, very slow and very cold.

“I won’t be your second wife. I certainly won’t be your concubine.”

Father’s wife clenched her handkerchief.

“Do you think you have a choice? Do you think Song Huai will still want you after today?

“Isn’t a marquis’s household better than the Song family? Your sister’s children will be your support for the rest of your life.”

Lu Zhang snorted. “Ungrateful.”

My sister called a servant over with a bowl of medicine that would make me barren.

Her persuasion was gentle.

“Drink this, Ah Yu, and you’ll be the future mistress of this house.

“I’ll forgive you for sleeping with my husband before your wedding.”

I got off the bed and began dressing as though none of them were there.

Lu Zhang couldn’t help looking.

My sister’s face darkened. He instantly turned away.

I felt no discomfort at all between my legs.

How ridiculous.

She wanted to ruin me, to make me slave for her children for the rest of my life.

Yet she was afraid her husband might actually touch me.

Wasn’t she tired?

Once I was dressed, I faced the three of them.

“First, I am the fiancée of a scholar of the Hanlin Academy.

“Second, you brought me here, and it was here that I lost my honor.

“Third, I will beat the imperial grievance drum and accuse Lu Zhang of rape. Even if it kills me, I won’t let any of you get away with this.”

For a moment, their expressions differed, but all three abruptly panicked.

Apparently they hadn’t expected me to be so difficult to control.