Li Tingyuan once committed a mistake.
Before leaving the capital, she shared a night of pleasure with Cui Zhuo, the cold and upright older brother of her close friend.
Fortunately, that man had been drugged and his mind was clouded, so he did not know who the person he shared A Night of Passion with was.
Three years later, her family met with misfortune.
Out of necessity, Li Tingyuan returned to the capital and sought out the Cui family.
Mother Cui, pitying her for being all alone, considered the idea of taking her in as a daughter.
After three years of absence, the one in charge of the Cui family had long since become Cui Zhuo.
When his mother mentioned the matter, his expression remained indifferent. Casting a sideways glance at Li Tingyuan with lowered eyelids, he settled the matter nonchalantly:
“The Cui family is a Prominent and Powerful Clan of Generations of Official Nobility. This woman’s status is low and she cannot enter the Clan Genealogy. Mother can simply take her in as an Adopted Daughter.”
Li Tingyuan felt that Cui Zhuo disliked her.
He never looked her in the eye.
When she and her friend were caught sneaking into the kitchen for snacks in the middle of the night, Cui Zhuo leniently let her friend return first but punished her alone, making her grind ink for him in the study until dawn.
When a Top Scholar (Zhuangyuan) came to propose, clearly stating that the person he wished to marry was the Cui family’s Adopted Daughter, Cui Zhuo ignored social standing and married off a sister from the clan to that handsome and promising Top Scholar (Zhuangyuan) first.
Li Tingyuan could not bear the harsh life in the Cui manor for another day.
She waited and waited, finally seizing the chance when Cui Zhuo went south to handle a case to implore Mother Cui to arrange a marriage for her.
Unexpectedly, the night before the betrothal gifts were to be delivered, Cui Zhuo—who was supposed to still be on the road—suddenly appeared in her room.
With cold features, the man approached her step by step and gripped her wrist. His voice, raspy from the travel, was deep as he asked:
“Having had skin-to-skin intimacy with me, you still dare to marry another?”
“Li Tingyuan, if you’ve forgotten what happened three years ago, I don’t mind helping you remember it well tonight.”
