Within a Hollow Heart - Chapter 83: Volume 2, : "Veil’s Edge"

When she agrees to help her friend out in a blind date, she never imagined it would lead her to the one man she'd hoped never to encounter again—her child's father.Her first instinct? Run. But life has other plans, and she finds herself inescapably drawn back into his orbit as his company's legal advisor.Just as she's poised to resign, escaping the tangled web of personal and professional ties, she's cornered in his office by the man who is as relentless in business as he is in pursuit of her heart.In a game of cat and mouse, she is faced with a choice: succumb to the undeniable chemistry that still sizzles between them or risk it all to maintain the distance she's fought so hard to keep.

The journey of a generation’s male empress started because of four words.

“Send a dowry escort.”

During the 19th year of Yuanqing, Qi Yunruo boarded a carriage and entered through a corner door of the second prince’s estate. Then, across the watery corridor, he gazed at the prince from afar.

Notes:

For aristocratic women in imperial China to marry into a family part of the upper nobility, they must be of the legitimate line and must also have an escort/dowry maid that married into that family. That escort would be a “ying” (媵) and could be considered a concubine.

- Description from Novelupdates

At twenty, she had a child in secret.At twenty-two, she was discreetly married into a wealthy family.Qin Mu lost her mother at the age of seven and was sent abroad by her unscrupulous father when she was only eight. Little did she expect her future to be so bright, she decided to climb up on Mu General's shoulders with great strides.Mu Yichen went from being Rongcheng's top heartthrob to its youngest tycoon—arrogant and wise, unfathomable, yet he somehow fell into the hands of a little lass.——About marriage.“Mu Yichen, we are just—friends!”“That can't be the reason you reject me!”Qin Mu was scared stiff, as Mu General rudely carried her off to the marriage registration office, to sign, to stamp, to get the certificate!——Hidden marriage for too long.“If you say our daughter is adopted from the orphanage, I won't argue with you, but when will you make me public?” In broad daylight, Mu General pinned Mrs. Mu against the corner wall, threatening her with a devilish charm.“Depends on your performance!” Mrs. Mu smirked, and the next moment, she counterattacked Mu General.“Quick, cover your eyes!” Mu Baby, who had been ignored on the side, immediately covered her eyes.

“For a long time, we humans have been like the chosen race, without any natural enemies, and have long been at the top of the food chain. Unfortunately, I have to tell you...” “When there is only one bird in a forest, then the forest is basically fake, and the bird was put there by someone...” “No matter how a fish swims, it can never meet any of its kind, which only means that the fish is kept in a fish tank...” “Yes, we are the birds in the forest and the fish in the tank.” “Yes, the world we live in is virtual!”