[Remember to read the author's note for this chapter, as well as the analysis in the book discussion circle.]
She discovered that Fu Wensheng truly loved her older sister, but he was unwilling to give up all his other women.
He had even set his sights on her, whose looks bore a forty-percent resemblance to her sister's.
As Fu Wensheng tested the waters with her, for some reason, an idea began to take shape in her mind. If she could take her sister's place, would her sister be able to escape?
For all these years, the Shang Family had raised her to be a suitable tool for a marriage alliance, so pleasing someone like Fu Wensheng came naturally to her.
But she had never imagined that, to provoke her sister, Fu Wensheng would make her witness the two of them together.
The instant she turned and saw Shang Zelan in the doorway, she felt all the blood in her body freeze.
She did not know how to explain, or whether she could explain at all.
But Shang Zelan merely glanced at them indifferently, then turned and left.
Fu Wensheng was also furious over this. She conceived Fu Shirui that time, too. She had wanted to have a secret abortion, but Fu Wensheng had actually stationed people around her to keep watch.
Fu Wensheng discovered this and ordered her to give birth to the child.
Unable to resist, she could only obey, but a faint thread of hope stirred within her.
If she gave birth to a child, a child of hers and Fu Wensheng's, would he let them go?
But that was not what happened. After giving birth, she wanted to force Fu Wensheng to divorce her sister, but he had no intention of letting her sister go.
Shang Zelan