Never to Find Her Again

Since childhood, I had known that I was destined to become the wife of the Xie family’s third son. Xie Shen Zhi was devoted to Buddhism, so while other girls flew kites and played on swings, I spent my days in the Buddhist hall chanting scriptures. Xie Shen Zhi practiced martial arts and admired women with steadfast, resilient spirits, so I learned to ride horses for him. Even when I fell and broke my leg, I didn’t shed a single tear. I gave everything I had to become the kind of woman he liked. Yet, he fell in love with someone entirely different from me. The engagement could not be annulled, so I ended up marrying his elder brother, Xie Wang Zhi, who was renowned for his ruthlessness. After the wedding, Xie Wang Zhi was just as the rumors described—indifferent to women. Only once, when Xie Shen Zhi, in a drunken stupor, blocked my door, Xie Wang Zhi shielded me behind him and cast an indifferent glance at his younger brother before speaking coldly: “She is now the Eldest Madam of the Xie family. What business do you have seeking out your sister-in-law in the middle of the night?”