The Mourning Bride

Fang Wan was born exceptionally beautiful, but her father, a scholar, had kept her secluded in the inner chambers, so few outsiders had ever seen her. When her father fell gravely ill and died, she knelt before his spirit tablet and took charge of the funeral arrangements, handling every detail herself without showing the slightest weakness. With only their widowed mother and the two siblings left, the family had no one to rely on, Fang Wan had to marry before the hundred-day mourning period ended if she wanted to protect her younger brother and preserve the family estate. When the village headman/chief came to propose a match, she accepted. Her fiancé, Song Shi, worked as a clerk at a silk shop in the city. At first, he was strongly opposed to the match and had his heart set on marrying a girl from the city But the moment he saw Fang Wan, he changed his mind on the spot. What city girl? What young lady? None of them could hold a candle to the woman before him.. From then on, Song Shi showered her with attention, while Fang Wan remained unmoved. She wasn’t looking for love. What she needed was a great tree that could shelter the Fang family from wind and rain But she never expected that, on a trip to the city to deliver her embroidery, she would happen to cross paths with Lu Yan, the young master of the silk shop. He stepped into her path, toying with her hair ribbon with a quiet chuckle. “Young lady, your fiancé is nothing more than a dog serving in one of my Lu family’s shops. Don’t you think it would be a pity to marry him?” Red candles flickered. The man caught her chin between his fingers, a dark gleam of determination in his eyes. “Fang Wan, you are mine.” Marrying already before the hundred-day mourning period ended. Taken by force as another man’s wife. She thought marriage would bring her stability, never realizing that she had already stepped into someone else’s cage. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Mourning Bride — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠