Since the great upheaval seven years ago, the Ji family's fortune had grown, but the large mansion had become decidedly more desolate.
The old matriarch and Mrs. Ji had passed away one after another. Mr. Ji had become a carefree idler, and now it was Ji Shijun who was in charge of the Ji family.
Ji Shijun only had Zhao Luoyu as his wife, and she had been quite fertile. In seven years, she had given birth to two sons, which revitalized the eldest branch of the Ji family.
The matchmakers who had originally planned to find concubines for Ji Shijun saw the deep affection between the couple and didn't dare to bring it up again. So they set their sights on the youngest young master of the Ji family, Ji Shihuan.
As soon as Ji Shihuan reached the age for marriage, matchmakers came to propose several times, but unexpectedly, he drove them all away.
As time went on, the rumor that Ji Shihuan had no interest in women gradually spread.
Although the Ji family was a wealthy and prestigious family, which family didn't dote on their daughters like treasures?
With such a rumor going around, no one dared to send their daughters into the Ji mansion to live as lonely wives.
However, recently, there had been a very strange rumor about Ji Shihuan.
It was rumored that the woman - averse Ji Shihuan had already kept a woman outside and provided her with delicious food and a comfortable life.
Actually, this rumor wasn't completely baseless.
It was something that several elders of the Ji family suspected.
There was only one reason.
Since Ji Shihuan had started helping the family with business, his personal account had gradually filled up with a lot of income. But he didn't hand over a single cent.
No one knew where that money had gone.
Ji Shijun had tried several times to find out the truth, but every time the trail ended with Ji Shihuan, and the matter was always left unresolved.
No one in the entire Ji mansion knew where Ji Shihuan had learned his skills, but it was certain that no one could outwit him.
Since there were doubts, all kinds of rumors spread. Among them, the rumor that he had kept a woman outside was the most well - known.
This time, those gossiping aunts and grandmas had guessed right.
Ji Shihuan's money was indeed given to a woman. But while he was determined to marry no one but her, the girl didn't necessarily want to marry only him.
Or rather, she had never thought about getting married in her life.
Moreover, she didn't really want to be the 'tender beauty' kept by Ji Shihuan.
It was just that her fate was no longer in her own hands.
As the heroine at the center of the scandal, Ji Jianxue was also very helpless.
She couldn't choose her birth and had to be born into such a family out of desperation.
Although Jian Wen had a hard life, at least he was his father's biological son and was doted on like a real son because of his good looks.
But since her father had moved in with her mother, her biological mother had been driven out of the family.
Those old and dusty stories had gradually been dug out.
Within just two years, the fact that she was her mother's illegitimate daughter had been exposed.
Although she had never asked her mother or father for the truth, she was also a human being with eyes and a heart.
Her mother hated her, and her father didn't like her.
Except for the eldest aunt and Shihuan, everyone in the Ji mansion kept a distance from her.
She saw all this clearly.
But constantly accompanying the Buddha statues and chanting scriptures, there were many things she didn't want to care about and didn't have the energy to care about.
She just wanted to live her life in peace.
Worship the Buddha and live a plain life.
But God had already arranged all the hardships in life.
Once the wheel of fate started turning, there was nothing one could do.
Perhaps her fate had been destined to be restless since she met Ji Shihuan.
Ji Jianxue originally wanted Ji Shihuan to send her back to the nunnery where she had once become a nun.
Although her uncle and eldest aunt treated her no worse than their own daughter.
And the younger siblings in the Bai mansion really regarded her as an elder sister.
But just thinking about her birth, Ji Jianxue felt extremely ashamed and uncomfortable.
Even if they didn't say anything, she knew that her existence was a disgrace to the Ji mansion.
To her father, she was a lie and an insult.
So Ji Jianxue wanted to leave.
Only when she left could everyone live in peace.
Her mother, her father, and even she herself could live a stable and peaceful life.
She wouldn't have to bear the guilt every day when facing her parents, Zhao Mo, Zhao Yan, Zhao Qi, and the soft and sweet Zhao Shu who called her 'elder sister'.
But Ji Jianxue didn't expect that this decision would land her in the jaws of a wolf.
Ji Shihuan had calculated everything perfectly.
Ji Shihuan knew her temper and knew that one day, after she found out the truth about her birth, she wouldn't be able to stay by her parents' side.
Ji Shihuan had long known that she didn't have many confidants, and the only one she could consult and rely on was him.
She wouldn't guard against him.
So when Ji Jianxue asked him for help, he sent her to this villa that he had prepared for God - knows - how - long.
He named it - Dream Garden.
Dream Garden, a dream come true.
This was his dream.
His dream had come true, but what about hers?
Thinking of this, Ji Jianxue suddenly realized that she had no dreams.
She was like a floating duckweed, always drifting with the current.
Wherever her parents arranged for her to go, she would go.
Whatever kind of life others wanted her to live, she would live.
Even if she wanted to leave, the nunnery was the only place she could go, and Shihuan and the master were the only two people she could rely on.
Did she really have a dream?
The master had taught her to be indifferent to fame and wealth and to seek inner peace.
She had achieved being without desires and cravings, but she was still trapped in a difficult situation.
Fate always liked to play tricks on people. Ji Jianxue never thought that one day she would be imprisoned like this.
Kept in a golden cage like a beloved beauty.
Even more absurdly, this person was Ji Shihuan, her uncle.
Although they had no blood relation, he had been her uncle for seventeen years.
Even if she didn't understand the rules of propriety very well, she knew that they couldn't be together.
Even if he was determined, what good would it do?
The Ji family would never allow her to enter the family.
Not to mention that he was her nominal uncle.
Just because she was a stain on the glorious Ji family, Mr. Ji would never accept her.
Ji Jianxue had never expected to get their love, but she also never thought that they would hate her.
In Ji Jianxue's heart, even if only nominally, the Ji family members were her relatives.
But... but...
What Ji Shihuan was doing was pushing her to a dead end!
Ji Jianxue had advised Ji Shihuan more than once.
"You're my uncle. What we're doing is incest!"
But his domineering attitude was chilling.
"You clearly know that we're not real uncle and niece. I like you, and you like me too. Why are you running away?"
"Ji Shihuan, we have no future."
"I don't want the future. I just want you."