When Jian Ru was young, a fire took both his parents and half his face. Though he survived, one of his legs was left crippled, and the scar running across his ruined features made him the subject of fear, pity, and quiet disgust for years.

Still, he endured.

Then the floods came to Changshou Village.

Fields were destroyed, homes swallowed by water, and the villagers decided the River God needed a sacrifice. But the one they chose was not Jian Ru.

It was Zhang Jiao, the village’s gentle and beautiful ger.

Jian Ru rushed forward, ready to fight for his life, but instead, he was the one tied up, gagged, and forced beneath a red bridal veil.

“Don’t blame us,” someone whispered beside his ear. “Jiao Jiao is timid. He’d be afraid. You’re already crippled anyway.”

“Better to help the two of us.”

That night, Jian Ru fell into the river, prepared to die. But when he woke again beneath the red veil, the River God before him was not a monster at all. The man had long black hair, startling beauty, and skin pale with illness, but after taking one look at Jian Ru’s scarred face…

…the River God was so shocked he fainted on the spot.

With no firewood in the cave and the man burning with fever, Jian Ru had no choice but to hold him through the night to keep him warm.

Only afterward did he discover…

The man was no River God.

He was Li Jintong, the frail second young master of the town physician’s family.

Jian Ru thought Li Jintong married him only to take responsibility for that night.

Instead, their days together slowly became warmer and fuller than he had ever imagined.

Latest Release