The silence of the night was oppressive. Lu Yan pressed Shen Zhen’s body into the bed, staring at her not unlike a predator preparing to pounce on his prey. This posture of his signaled that he would not let her rest until she spoke. Seeing Shen Zhen remaining silent, the man’s hand on her waist relaxed its death grip, rubbing …

The memories he had pushed back into the darkest recesses of his mind overcame him with a vengeance. “Bai Daonian, are you not reputed to be a doctor who makes miracles happen?! A miracle doctor, indeed! How dare you imply our Young Master cannot be cured?!” “Does anyone dare think I would not save the Lord if I were able …

Well, well. The Flower Girl had some medical skills. Lu Yan had not expected it. After confirming Shen Zhen was comfortable and supervising her taking medicine, he got up and slowly mad his way to Dongliyuan to the north. Ever since Lu Yan had been welcomed as official of the Supreme Court, he had been exposed to Judge Zheng’s constant …

The moonlight peeked through the window, throwing its beams onto the faces of a man and a woman staring into each other’s eyes. She Zhen was standing on the spot, completely at a loss. Her teeth were worrying her lower lip, grinding back and forth. Lu Yan observed the anxiety, the nervous eyes that looked around, as if trying to …

Two days later, early in the morning, a drum resounded and joyful music was played at the entrance of Luyuan. An impressive sedan, covered in big, red flowers stopped in front of the residence. According to the customs of the Jin Dynasty, even a concubine could be directly welcomed into the family by the husband. However, Fu Man and the …

(Translator’s Note: The actual title is “Thin Horse”. The Yangzhou thin horses were poor girls, bought by merchants, trained in the womanly arts and resold on a concubine market. They were called “thin” because they came from the countryside, were underfed and skeletal when they arrived in Yangzhou and “horses” because they would be chosen based more or less on …

The boat slowly docked. As Zhao Chong and Huanniang took their leave, Shen Zhen was left to stagger around, almost smashing to the ground. Before she had the chance to break something of hers, Lu Yan quickly grabbed onto her body. That is when he saw the blood on her sleeve. Foraging through, he retrieved her arm and glanced at …

The moonlight eerily reflected against the tiles of the porch, while inside the courtyard, candlelight swayed and played shadow games against the account booklet. As a gust of air slithered through the cracks around the window, making paper rustle. Lu Yan’s figure gradually approached the woman seated at the table. “Shen Zhen.” His voice was low and deep, rich and …

The next afternoon, under Zhuang Yue’s guidance, Lu Yan and Shen Zhen were taken to one of Wulipu Neighborhood’s residence called Luyuan. As the gates where slowly thrown open, Shen Zhen felt her ears buzzing. She had been born in the lap of luxury. But there were limits to everything! Or so she had thought before she had seen Luyuan. …

The night had been a long one. However, once Shen Zhen had woken up, she had come to realize that the nausea that had gnawed at her stomach had finally subsided. She had survived the ordeal. Tangyue came to attend to Shen Zhen’s ablutions in the morning. Since her mistress was to play the role of a concubine, the clever servant decided …