At eighteen, Wen Lingyuan finally found the courage to confess her feelings. Her object of affection was her grandfather’s adopted son—her uncle by name, ten years her senior.
In a dimly lit private room, surrounded by a crowd of admirers, the man’s deep eyes flickered with surprise. Casually setting down his wine glass, he walked over to her, gently prying her clenched hands from the hem of her dress and placing them warmly in his palm.
Her heart thundered in her chest. When he smiled and said, “Alright,” tears of joy welled up in her eyes, and she fell for him completely.
But on the night her fever finally broke, she stumbled upon a scene that froze her to the core. She saw Gu Yanze, the man she loved, holding her dance teacher Su Wantang in a passionate embrace.
Su Wantang, her shoulder half-exposed, asked in a mix of grievance and coyness, “When will you tell Lingyuan about us? It’s been years—don’t tell me you’ve really fallen for her?”
Gu Yanze, face buried in Su Wantang’s neck, chuckled as if amused. “How could I? She’s just a child playing house. I’ll tell her after her birthday.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he inadvertently looked up—only to meet Lingyuan’s tear-streaked face at the door.
Ignoring the shouts behind her, Lingyuan ran as fast as she could, her heart feeling as if it were being shredded by a thousand knives.
“Lingyuan!!”
A car horn blared. Just as she snapped back to reality, a familiar pair of arms pulled her into an embrace. The next moment, a tremendous impact sent them both flying.
After rolling several times, she opened her eyes to see Gu Yanze’s bloodied face close to hers. She held him and sobbed uncontrollably. Outside the operating room, Su Wantang slapped her repeatedly, and all she got from the doctor was, “There’s nothing more we can do.”
No! There’s still hope!
Like someone possessed, Lingyuan rushed home to the family’s herb garden. Without hesitation, she slashed her wrist, letting her blood drip onto a nondescript medicinal plant. Her face grew paler and paler, but the plant showed no reaction. Gritting her teeth, thinking of Gu Yanze’s face, she cut herself again.
Finally, the brilliant red Swallowflower bloomed.
This was her father’s precious spiritual medicine—capable of snatching someone back from death itself. But her father had warned her: the medicine had a side effect—the revived would develop a dependency on the person who watered the flower.
But at such a critical moment, she couldn’t care less.
She personally fed the Swallowflower to Gu Yanze. Gradually, his heartbeat returned.
When he woke, Lingyuan intended to leave, but he seized her wrist, driven by a strange instinct, and kissed her greedily.
Outside the ward, Su Wantang witnessed everything. In utter despair, she ran out and jumped from the hospital rooftop.
Gu Yanze chased after her, collapsing in agony as he cradled her lifeless body, his cries tearing through the night.
Lingyuan realized that although she had saved him, she had lost him forever.
Despite his grandfather’s objections, Gu Yanze married Lingyuan. On their wedding night, drunk and violent, he took her by force, staining the sheets with blood. He replaced her face with Su Wantang’s in their wedding photos, forced her to dance Su Wantang’s routines until her ankles bled, and dragged her up again and again.
His dependency kept him tied to Lingyuan, but his hatred drove him to torment her. Eventually, she could bear it no longer and revealed the truth of the Swallowflower.
On that day, Gu Yanze personally cut her wrist, trying to make the Swallowflower bloom again to revive his frozen beloved.
“How dare you use such a despicable trick to seduce your uncle!”
“If your mother didn’t teach you, I will!”
As her blood drained away, so did her love. Lingyuan finally understood: loving Gu Yanze had been a terrible mistake.
In her final moments, she saw his twisted, hateful face.
Then, when she opened her eyes again, Gu Yanze was still lying on the operating table, barely clinging to life.
From the playboy heir of the Gu family, he was now a frail patient, his once sharp brows softened by pain.
In her previous life, all the girls flocked to him, but for Lingyuan, all it took was a coquettish plea or a minor injury to be spoiled outrageously. That’s why she risked everything—her mother, her brother, her uncle—for him, even slashing her wrist to water the Swallowflower.
But she never imagined that what she thought was mutual affection was just a cruel joke. Behind her back, Gu Yanze was entangled with Su Wantang again and again.
Let them laugh at her as a fool—she didn’t care.
As memories flooded back, Lingyuan clenched her fists.
This time, she would save Gu Yanze’s life, but on her own terms.