Chapter 1

When Zhang Yanqiao came home from his business trip, I was pouring tea for the young ladies of the Zhang family.

They lounged on the sofa in long silk dresses, eating pastries and ordering me about. I was bending to refill a cup when the door opened and his tall figure appeared in the doorway.

The room fell silent.

My fingers tightened instinctively on the hem of my blouse. I turned my face away, my ears burning. We had been married for six months, yet seeing him again after a separation still made my heart race. With so many people watching, I couldn’t quite bring myself to meet his eyes.

The young ladies scrambled to their feet.

“Brother.”

“Uncle.”

“Cousin…”

Zhang Yanqiao acknowledged none of them. He took off his coat, handed it to a servant, and straightened his cuffs before looking slowly around the room.

“Enjoying the tea?”

The quiet question froze them where they stood.

His expression darkened, his voice lower and steadier still.

“The tea my wife is serving you. Is it good?”

His gaze passed over them one by one. The youngest cousin looked ready to cry.

I hurried over and tugged lightly at his clothes, hoping to smooth things over. Without a word, he turned toward the stairs.

Two steps up, he stopped.

“Everyone out.”

They lowered their heads and left without argument. I was about to follow when his voice sounded behind me.

“Shen Ci. The study.”

I stopped. As his back disappeared up the stairs, something unfamiliar stirred in me, an ache with the faintest trace of sweetness.

Head down, I hurried after him.

The study door stood ajar. When I pushed it open, he was by the window, his tall, lean figure outlined in the sunset. Light rested on his shoulders, and for a moment I could only stare.

Then he turned and came toward me. I recovered enough to step back, but he caught my hand and drew me against him.

The door closed behind us.

I trembled, my palms against his chest, afraid to look up.

“Still shy?” He chuckled and brushed a finger over my ear.

We had been married half a year. Apart from the days I wasn’t feeling well, he had held me almost every night. Yet a few weeks apart made it feel like the first time again: the awkwardness, the blush, my unruly heartbeat.

When he bent to kiss me, I didn’t dare kiss him back. He let it linger until I was breathless, then laughed softly.

“I’ve only been away a few days. Have you forgotten how to kiss?”

I bit my lip, my cheeks aflame.

He lifted me onto the edge of the desk and placed my hand on his belt buckle.

“Xiao Ci. Undo it for me.”

I looked up in alarm.

“Young Master…”

“What did you call me?” His voice dropped, a hint of displeasure in it.

“My… husband,” I corrected in a whisper. “We’re in the study. We can’t.”

“Who says we can’t?”

“Could we go to the bedroom?”

“No.”

He was rarely so firm. I could only turn my burning face aside and do as he asked, my hands shaking.

He leaned close to murmur in my ear. In the shimmering sunset, thought slipped away. There was only his breathing, his tenderness, and the intensity that came with it.

The light outside faded. Deep blue filled the room, leaving our mingled breaths and the rhythm of our hearts.

I looked up at him. The man who had once seemed so cold and distant was impossibly gentle now.

“Xiao Ci,” he whispered.

Then he bent to kiss me again, longer and deeper.

I closed my eyes. It felt as though we were the only two people in the world.

Yet even in his arms, a corner of my heart remained empty. Nothing seemed able to fill it.

***

By the time I woke in the bedroom, it was morning.

Zhang Yanqiao kept a strict routine. He must have left for the office early.

I sat on the bed for a long time, feeling hollow. In the bathroom, the marks on my body brought the heat rushing back to my face.

After showering and changing, I went downstairs to find Madam Zhang waiting in the drawing room.

I hesitated.

“Good morning, Madam.”

She gave a slight nod, her stern face colder than ever.

“Shen Ci. Three months left. You haven’t forgotten?”

I lowered my head and stared at the toes of my shoes. Bitterness rose in my throat.

“No, Madam.”

Her voice was composed, each word sharp.

“Don’t let a man have his way with everything. Be sure to use contraception.”

“We do. Every time.”

“And take the pills.”

“I’m still taking them.”

Only then did she nod in satisfaction.

“I watched you grow up. I know you’re a good girl. Do as you’re told, and the Zhang family won’t treat you badly.”

I clasped my hands tightly. For the first time, I gathered the courage to ask.

“Madam… I’ll do everything you say. But please, don’t make me leave Harbor City. I swear I won’t appear before him again…”

“Enough.”

Her palm struck the table.

“Shen Ci, I chose you because you knew your place. What would you stay here for? To be a thorn in his future fiancée’s heart?”

I bowed my head as tears fell.

Of course. I was only the substitute bride they had chosen to bear his misfortune.

The fortune-teller had said Zhang Yanqiao’s fate was too strong: it would bring disaster upon his wife, especially his first. Without that prediction, how could a housemaid’s granddaughter ever have married into the Zhang family?

“I understand, Madam. I’ll leave.”

“Don’t start entertaining fantasies just because Yanqiao is infatuated with you for the moment. The woman he truly loves is Miss He. They went to the University of Pennsylvania together. She’s the He family’s eldest daughter, the shipping magnate’s eldest granddaughter. They work together. They understand each other perfectly.”

Her voice was ice.

“Think, Shen Ci. With your background and education, even if you kept this position, do you imagine you could stay beside him for the rest of his life? A husband and wife need to be social equals.”

I had no answer.

She was right. Perhaps he wanted my body, but his heart had never belonged to me.

I hadn’t attended a prestigious university. I knew nothing about politics or economics and couldn’t discuss his work. We had played together a few times as children, hardly enough to make us childhood sweethearts.

Miss He was beautiful, accomplished, and well born. In everyone’s eyes, she was the woman who deserved to stand beside him.

I had seen them together at a business reception. Under the lights, handsome and beautiful, they looked made for each other.

Watching them on a screen, I had felt small and pitiful, like someone peering into a world that wasn’t hers.