The fifteenth day of the month arrived before I knew it. I dutifully made my way back to the Jiang estate early in the morning.

The moment I stepped inside, the head butler bowed deferentially. “Young Mistress, your new wardrobe has been washed and hung in your dressing room.”

I offered a strained smile and bolted upstairs. Having a mother-in-law whose personal hobby was buying scandalous lingerie for her daughter-in-law brought a special kind of invisible psychological torture. I genuinely just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

After showering, I stepped into the dressing room, pulled open the closet, and instantly froze.

You’re calling this a nightgown? Going completely stark naked would’ve been less scandalous! In the end, I picked out the absolute “most conservative” set available, threw an oversized white button-down shirt over it, and marched off to the private sanctuary like a soldier heading to the front lines.

Jiang Yufan practically lived in the shrine, but on the fifteenth of every month, he locked himself inside for twenty-four hours straight. His father had cheated on his mother on the fifteenth, leaving Yufan deeply traumatized. His grandmother had sent him into the “comfort of the Buddha” to heal, but she’d overdone it—by the time my mother-in-law realized what was happening, her son had already achieved a state of complete, unbothered enlightenment.

And so, I was the lucky bride chosen to “drag” him back down into the realm of mortal desires.

Inside the sanctuary, Jiang Yufan remained on his knees, slowly turning his prayer beads like a sculpted marble statue. I quietly dropped to my knees beside him.

“Hubby…” I whispered. “Are we really doing a kneeling contest again tonight?”

No response.

“How about… you open your eyes just a tiny bit? If you keep them closed like this, the Buddha might think you’re napping.”

Still not a twitch.

A sudden gust of wind snuck through the shrine, making me shiver violently. I slunk closer to him, using his tall, broad frame as a windbreak, and continued my silent vigil.

Sometime during the endless night… I drifted off.

When I opened my eyes, Jiang Yufan was gone. A heavy black coat slid off my shoulders and tumbled onto the floor. His? Well, look at that—my mother-in-law’s sheer nightgown scheme wasn’t entirely useless after all.

Then again, even with all that effort, he’d just draped a coat over me and walked away. Was this man seriously planning on becoming an actual monk?

The next morning, I had to head straight to a commercial shoot wearing a traditional, high-slit qipao. The side slit went practically all the way up to my collarbone.

Lam Shuofan took one look at my unsteady, wobbly gait—courtesy of kneeling on stone all night—and let out a cold, contemptuous scoff, looking down his nose at me.

When the director finally called cut, my legs were so utterly numb that the second I tried to stand, I pitched forward and collapsed directly into Lam Shuofan’s chest.

His face darkened instantly as he shoved me off. “Are you serious right now? Can you not even stand on your own two feet without throwing yourself at a man?”

Camera flashes blinded us in rapid succession. I’m dead. Zhang Lan’s planted paparazzi had been lying in wait.

In less than an hour, the scandal blew up all over Weibo. My agency even used my official account to tag Lam Shuofan directly. Wasn’t this essentially forcing a glowing green cuckold hat onto Jiang Yufan’s head in front of the entire country?!

Before I could even leave the agency building to figure out a damage-control strategy, a fleet of black SUVs pulled up, and a dozen suit-clad bodyguards swarmed out. This time, the car didn’t stop at the main entrance of the Jiang estate—it drove straight to the steps of the shrine.

I was trembling by the time they escorted me inside. “Listen to me, I can explain! It’s really not what—”

“My lady.”

Jiang Yufan cut me off, his voice flat. His dark eyes were so intensely deep they made my heart skip a beat out of sheer panic.

“Since you married me, you shouldn’t be entangling yourself with other men.”

“It’s not like that! I was kneeling for so long last night that my knees gave out, and I—”

His icy fingers suddenly brushed against my exposed knee. I flinched, pulling back slightly, and that was when I noticed the string of prayer beads in his hand had snapped. Jet-black wooden beads were scattering like dark rain, clattering against the icy stone floor.

He stared at me, his deep voice dropping into dangerous, velvety territory. “My lady was the one who dragged me into the mortal realm… are you planning to use your body to take responsibility?”

The remaining beads hit the floor with a series of sharp, crisp sounds. The distant, untouchable coldness in Jiang Yufan’s eyes suddenly flared into something terrifyingly hot.

“What do you mean ‘dragged you into the mortal realm’?” I stammered, trying to hold my ground. “It’s not like you actually shaved your head and took vows! Besides…” I quickly corrected my tone, “…aren’t you already married to me?”

Jiang Yufan didn’t answer. His gaze dropped lower, fixing on my bruised knees. “Have you applied medicine?”

Only then did I realize my dress was still hitched up. I hastily smoothed the silk fabric down and rushed to explain. “Lam Shuofan and I are completely innocent. The agency forced the entire scandal on us to build hype. I’m going to—”

“No need.”

Before I could even process his words, Jiang Yufan scooped me up into a bridal carry. Carrying me effortlessly out of the shrine, he issued a cold, clipped order to his chief assistant: “Transfer my lady to a new agency.”

My brain short-circuited completely. I hung limp in his arms like a salted fish being hauled out of the ocean, carried all the way from the solemn sanctuary into the main living room.

It wasn’t until he carefully set me down on the sofa that I began a frantic internal self-audit: Why am I reacting like a wooden block? I’m an actress! I should be delicately leaning into his chest and playing the damsel in distress!

The old butler hurried over with a first-aid kit, offering a deeply meaningful smile. “The Young Mistress’s skin is so delicate, Young Master. Make sure to massage the ointment in thoroughly to clear those bruises.”

Me: …Delicate? Butler Wang, what kind of choice words are those?!

“Young Master, where are your prayer beads?” the butler added innocently.

“They snapped,” Yufan replied evenly. “Please have Uncle Wang sweep them up.”

The corners of the butler’s mouth twitched upward. He turned and slipped out of the room, immediately dialing his phone as he walked. “Madam! Just now, in the shrine… the Young Master and Young Mistress were so passionate that the Young Master’s prayer beads snapped…”

Me: ??? Butler Wang, if you don’t quit and go write for the tabloid tabloids, your talents are being completely wasted!

The living room fell into a heavy, charged silence. Jiang Yufan gently lifted the hem of my dress, his warm palms spreading the soothing ointment over my bruised knees.

I instinctively tried to pull my leg back, but his grip tightened, holding me firmly in place.

“About changing agencies…” I ventured softly, breaking the silence. “Can I bring my assistant with me?”

“Yes.”

I scrambled to find more conversation topics. “Honestly, you can handle the scandal however you like, just… don’t drag Lam Shuofan into it. He really didn’t know anything…”

Jiang Yufan pulled his hand back and looked up, his dark eyes locking onto mine. “It is only natural that a woman as exceptional as my lady would have suitors. I only hope… you keep your married status in mind.”

“Wow, you sure are talkative today!” I blurted out in genuine shock. Usually, this volume of words would take him a whole calendar year to burn through.

His hand reached up out of habit to touch his wrist, only to find empty air where his prayer beads usually rested.

I took a cautious breath and tested the waters. “How about… I string them back together for you?”

Right on cue, the butler breezed back into the room, beaming. “Oh, what an unbelievable coincidence! We seem to be completely out of heavy thread in the house. Why don’t you take the beads back with you, Young Mistress, and return them once you’ve re-strung them?”

A sprawling, billionaire estate like the Jiang mansion is out of thread? Is he acting right now, or am I?