Chapter 1

Not long after our wedding, Chu Cảnh Hoài mentioned me while chatting with someone.

“If I can’t marry the woman I love, I might as well marry an obedient one.”

So that was why he never touched me. He already loved someone else.

Cornered, I turned my attention to the man staying with the Chu family.

He kept to himself, spending his days bent over sutras, copying them by hand. He seemed untouched by worldly desires and had nothing to do with women.

I tempted him into breaking his vows.

Three months later, I got what I wanted: I was pregnant.

Chu Cảnh Hoài lost his mind.

“Hứa Trăn, which fucking bastard touched you?”

Later, I signed the divorce papers and went to the hospital alone for an abortion.

Yet not a single doctor in the city dared perform it.

And the man I had thought was living on the Chu family’s charity stepped out of a car worth a fortune and blocked my way.

“Hứa Trăn, you don’t want me, and you don’t even want my child. There can’t be a more heartless woman in the world!”

1

Just after breakfast, Mrs. Chu summoned Chu Cảnh Hoài and me to the study.

“Trăn Trăn, you’ve been married into this family for three months. It’s time you thought about having a child.”

She regarded me coldly, finding more to dislike the longer she looked.

I wasn’t the daughter-in-law she had chosen.

I had only been allowed into the family because our birth charts were compatible and his grandmother liked my temperament.

Naturally, his mother had no kindness to spare for me.

But having a child wasn’t something I could do by myself.

Chu Cảnh Hoài loved someone else and refused to touch me.

Who would believe I was still a virgin after three months of marriage?

“The Hứa family accepted a hundred million yuan from us as a betrothal payment. Since you married in, we’ve kept you in luxury.”

“And yet there’s still no sign of anything happening in that belly of yours.”

Mrs. Chu’s words grew uglier by the minute.

Unable to sit through any more, I turned an aggrieved look on Chu Cảnh Hoài.

He ignored me, rose with a faint smile, and said, “If you can’t get pregnant, go see a traditional Chinese doctor.”

Only then did he glance at me.

“What use is coming to me? Her womb isn’t doing its job. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“If you can’t have a child, find a way yourself. Isn’t that what the Hứa family does best—underhanded little tricks?”

With that, he left me alone in the study.

“Hứa Trăn!”

Mrs. Chu flew into another rage and subjected me to a fresh torrent of abuse.

“If you’re still not pregnant in six months, divorce Cảnh Hoài.”

“You can’t keep his heart, and you can’t produce a child. We have no use for a daughter-in-law like you.”

“Return half the betrothal money. That’s more than generous of us.”

2

I had no way to explain my predicament.

Of that hundred million, only one million had reached me.

The rest had probably long since vanished into the Hứa family’s financial losses.

No one would help me repay fifty million.

The Hứa family wouldn’t take me back or clean up the mess either.

They were plainly determined to leave me no way out.

But why should I let them have their way?

Grandmother Chu had arranged this marriage. I hadn’t begged and pleaded for it.

It wasn’t my fault Chu Cảnh Hoài loved someone else and wouldn’t touch me.

And the Hứa family’s failing business had even less to do with me, a daughter of the household.

Yet somehow every last responsibility had landed on my shoulders.

I was miserable, with no one I could tell.

Ever since my mother died a few years ago, there had been no place for me in the Hứa home.

Without realizing it, I wandered into the garden behind the Chu house.

The sun was sinking, staining the entire sky bloodred.

I stared into the distance. The future looked so bleak that tears spilled down my face.

3

The gate to a small courtyard nearby opened.

A young man in plain gray clothes walked toward me through the gathering darkness. For a moment, I thought he might be some spirit stepped out of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

Then I remembered the Chu family had a distant relative staying with them.

He had apparently come to Beijing from Hong Kong for medical treatment and was lodging in that courtyard.

This must be him.

I simply hadn’t expected him to be so handsome.

His soft, slightly worn clothes hung loosely, making his tall, slender figure seem all the more graceful.

In the deep blue dusk, his thin face was pale, with the gentle luster of jade.

The hand offering me a handkerchief was beautiful too, its long fingers as finely shaped as carved stone.

Around his narrow wrist was a string of bloodred coral beads.

For some reason, I blurted out, “Are you feeling any better?”

4

His cool, quiet gaze met mine.

I had been crying hard. My nose was red, and a tear clung to my lashes, ready to fall.

To my surprise, he raised his hand and gently wiped it away.

“Better.”

His Mandarin was a little awkward, with the distinctive inflection of someone from Hong Kong.

I paused, then nodded.

“That’s good. Beijing gets very cold in winter. You probably aren’t used to it.”

“It’s all right. Just a little dry. I haven’t adjusted yet.”

“You should use a humidifier.”

He gave a slight nod.

“Thank you.”

I wiped my eyes, took one more long look at him, and stood.

“It’s getting late. I should go back.”

5

Trần Tông Nguyệt said nothing more. He watched her walk away, step by step, until she disappeared into the dark.

She looked so slight from behind that the sight alone carried a chill of loneliness.

He had heard a few things from the Chu family’s servants.

Young Master Chu’s new wife was gentle and obedient, a proper young lady.

Unfortunately, her husband didn’t like her.

Neither did any of the elders, apart from the old lady who was gravely ill and not expected to live much longer.

He found himself remembering the way she had cried.

She hadn’t dared make a sound, only broken little sobs, held down so tightly they seemed all the more painful.

The gentlemanly upbringing instilled in him since childhood left him unable to understand it. Why was no one willing to cherish such a sweet girl?

6

I lay awake all night.

Only as dawn approached, when an idea had finally taken root, did I drift into sleep.

Chu Cảnh Hoài had told me to find my own way to have a child. I was full of underhanded tricks, wasn’t I?

Then perhaps I really would try one.

I only had a million yuan.

If I gave it to the man staying in that courtyard and asked him to give me a child, we could both get what we wanted.

He would probably agree. Wouldn’t he?

Just before sleep took me, I seemed to feel the warmth of his fingers again.

He had been so gentle when he wiped away my tears.