[Manor Intrigue + Sweet Romance + Rising to Power + Age/Height Difference + Slight Redemption] Tan Yin, the third daughter of the Song family, born of a concubine.
At the age of twelve, she mistakenly ate crab roe and broke out in red rashes all over her body.
Coinciding with an epidemic in Jiangnan, everyone feared it was smallpox, so they sent Tan Yin to Puhua Mountain outside the capital to fend for herself.
For five years, no one inquired about her.
Upon her return to the manor, Tan Yin was faced with two choices: marry her legitimate mother’s nephew as a replacement wife, or become the concubine of her legitimate sister’s husband, Zhenbeihou, and bear a child for her legitimate sister.
Between the two paths, Tan Yin chose the latter.
-Entering the Marquis’s manor, her legitimate sister coughed, covering her lips, and weakly grasped her hand, saying: You only need to focus on giving birth to the child. After I die, you will be the most honored mistress of the Marquis’s manor.
Tan Yin knew this was a lie.
To protect herself, Tan Yin tread carefully, step by step, and as she gained the man’s pity and favor, her ambition grew wildly like weeds.
She thought: Rather than being her legitimate sister’s birthing tool, why not replace her?
Not yet strong enough, unwilling to pave the way for others, Tan Yin secretly took contraceptive medicine afterward.
Who knew that one day the truth would come to light, and her legitimate sister would coldly watch her downfall.
However, what awaited Tan Yin was not abandonment, but the position of wife and a lifetime of glory, personally offered by that man.
Because that man’s heart had long been tightly held by her.
-Xie Xun, head of the Xie family, Zhenbeihou, maternal uncle of the new emperor, current Grand Tutor, holding a high position and great power.
Three years ago, during the palace coup, Xie Xun led his men to kill the rebellious prince and supported the new emperor’s ascension to the throne.
He considered himself cold-hearted and indifferent, untouched by love, yet he retreated step by step under her repeated calls of “brother-in-law.”
He knew well her pretense, schemes, coldness, and lack of love for him, yet he was still drawn to her, sinking deeply.
He admitted, he was biased in her favor.
