His Rui

Before her marriage, Li Rong was actually Ci Rong, a lady from the Ci clan.

The Ci clan…although it was not as great as Li Clan in Xin, it still had its own value in the Imperial City.

It was Ci Rong's grandfather who had actually cleared the Imperial examination and made a good name for himself in the Imperial City as well as Imperial Court.

Slowly and slowly, the Ci Clan was started to be recognized but for such a recognition to get continued and become high with time …the coming generations should be more hardworking or at least not lazy compared to their ancestors.

Unfortunately, the same didn't happen with Ci Clan.

Ci Rong's grandfather had three sons, two born from concubines and one from his main wife. The two sons died somehow and only one remained that was born by a concubine.

And perhaps it was the fate's play the son was the child, Elder Ci had paid least attention to.

Although Ci Rong's grandfather somehow made his son enter the Imperial Court as a small minister, at the time of his death, he still knew that this son was not capable of taking his clan to the level where he wanted to see.

However, he didn't have any other way. So he gave the responsibility of Ci Clan in his only concubine-born son's hands.

And from that day started Ci Clan's doom.

Till the time Ci Rong can remember, she had seen her father taking one after another concubine inside the Ci Manor.

As long as he saw a woman with soft skin and knew that he could get her…he would use his every means to get that woman.

Ci Rong's mother was also one of those women. Her mother was actually a dancer but at the same time, she was very ambitious.

Ci Rong has heard that when she had entered Ci Manor, her father had not left her mother's courtyard for a week. It took her a long time to understand what it meant but when she did, she also started to understand everything in Ci Manor.

That is why her mother despised her so much.

In her mother's eyes, it was Ci Rong because of whom she could not win the favor of her husband.

First, she damaged her body after giving birth to a child with hopes that it would be a son …but what came out was a girl.

And that was something her mother could not accept.

So her mother disliked her…very much.

Ci Rong was very afraid of her mother …as well as her father. She would rarely step out of her courtyard because of these two people in the manor.

One rare day, she had gone out of Ci Manor and somehow saved a middle-aged noblewoman from falling down the stairs of the temple. She had just done it without any hope of getting anything.

But Ci Rong had never thought that her one good and unintentional deed would change her whole life for good.

The woman was none other than the madam of Li Clan at that time… the Mother of Li Qiang.

It was her good fate that earned her a marriage with Li Qiang.   

She was very happy when she had got to know that the Li family had a tradition of having only the main wife in their manor. She could finally leave hell and free herself from this scary life.

However, she had never thought that just before the night of her marriage, she would have to face another terror.

That night, her drunk father entered her courtyard.

Ci Rong didn't know whether he really recognized her or not but she would have accepted the latter only.

Because when those eyes filled with lust had fallen on her, she had been terrified out of her wits.

The maiden heart inside her at least knew that this was not the way a father would look at her daughter. And she collapsed.

She didn't know what happened next but when she woke up she found herself sitting on a horse in the embrace of a man.

'From today on, you are not Ci Rong but Li Rong.'

A manly voice had told her and Li Rong silently accepted those words.

Because she didn't want to be Ci Rong.

After that, happiness filled her life. Marriage with Li Qiang made her feel that her life just started.

With time, she had her own children also. And since she had lacked love in her childhood, she never wanted her children to be like her.

She showered all the motherly love on them.

So much so that…she didn't come to know that excess love also sometimes gives bitter results.   

The money earned by Elder Ci was not less but it was not much also. So it was not long that she heard that Ci Clan collapsed.

Now sitting inside Plum Courtyard, as Li Rong looked around her eyes flickered.

After having lived in Ci Manor for so long how could she not understand what an isolated courtyard in a Manor of nobles actually meant?

Li Rong suddenly looked at Li Rui with scrutinizing eyes.

Rui actually rarely visited Li Manor in the four years or she should say never visited. She used to just send a letter to Li Manor every few days.

However, she never talked much about her married life. Even if she did, she would just say that she was living well in Xi Manor.     

However now looking at the isolated courtyard, Li Rong suddenly didn't think so. 

She suddenly remembered what Li Caihong had used to say in those four years.

Lord Xi despised Li Rui because of that incident four years ago. He doesn't let Li Rui even meet her son.     

Could it be that all of that was true?

All of that during the banquet…it could be a pretense also. After all, A reputed man like Prime Minister Xi would not like to reveal his family matters in front of everyone. 

Her hold around her daughter's hand tightened and Li Rong didn't even notice that she was actually very happy with all of her thoughts.

She was happy that Li Rui was suffering in Xi Manor…that Lord Xi despised Li Rui. 

Because it only increased the chances of her daughter living a very good life in Xi Manor.

The excess of motherly love and desire for her daughter to have a comfortable and joyful life had made Li Rong's heart very selfish.

She was not getting to know that she was also becoming like those women of Ci Manor …the women she hated somewhere in her past.