The Cousin Lady Is Marrying Someone Else, and the Cold Heir Finally Breaks

This chapter is absolutely dripping with thematic depth and I'm not even sure the author realizes how much she's layered here. The central metaphor of Zhonggu — a love spell — is doing so much heavy lifting. Xie Yunzheng genuinely believes he's been bewitched rather than accept that he might have real feelings, and this speaks to the novel's broader theme about emotional vulnerability being treated as a disease. His mother went mad from romantic betrayal, so he's decided that all affection is poison. But the irony is that he's the one who can't control his reactions, not Ji Mingzhu. Then there's the theme of performance — the Junzhu's entire existence is acting. She performs affection ('auntie'), she performs concern ('which young lady would be suitable'), she performs kindness to the Old Matriarch. Ji Mingzhu has learned to perform too, but hers is a performance of survival, not manipulation. The repeated imagery of cold versus warmth is also significant — Xie Yunzheng's cold aura, the winter setting, the cold wind he stirs — all contrasted with the warmth of Xie Yunxuan's genuine care. And the Dowry chests the Old Matriarch mentions? That's not generosity, that's a price tag. Ji Mingzhu is being evaluated like merchandise. The novel keeps asking: what is more dehumanizing — being spellbound by love, or being trapped in a world where every relationship is transactional?

I need to talk about Xie Yunxuan because this man is genuinely the sweetest thing in this entire novel and it hurts my heart that he's not the love interest. When he sees Ji Mingzhu and immediately notices she's been crying — 'You've been crying' — with this raw distress in his eyes, and he instinctively reaches out to wipe her tears? I literally squealed. And then Xie Yunzheng shows up and ruins it with his jealousy. The scene where the two brothers are standing in the snow and Ji Mingzhu chooses to walk away with Xie Yunxuan, telling him 'If I trip, so be it. It won't kill me. I'll just get back up!' — this is the most alive she's been in the entire chapter. With Xie Yunxuan she's genuine, she's sarcastic, she's herself. With Xie Yunzheng she's performing, she's guarded, she's the perfect orphan cousin everyone expects her to be. And the most heartbreaking part? Xie Yunzheng is watching her leave with his brother and instead of feeling sad, his 'stagnant heart now beat joyfully' at the sight of her glaring at him. She's finally showing him emotion instead of that blank indifference, and he's interpreting it as progress. Meanwhile Xie Yunxuan is the one who actually cares and gets nothing but polite distance. The CP energy between Ji Mingzhu and Xie Yunxuan is so natural and warm compared to the toxic push-pull with Xie Yunzheng. I'm not even mad about it, I'm just emotionally compromised.

The opening image of this chapter is just *cinematic*. Ji Mingzhu standing at the doorway braving the cold wind, her nose bright red from the chill, eyes slightly reddened — you can literally feel the temperature dropping just reading it. And then Xie Yunzheng strides past her 'stirring a gust of cold wind.' The author doesn't even need to describe the mansion's opulence or the winter landscape explicitly; the cold becomes this atmospheric character itself. It mirrors the emotional temperature of every interaction in this story. Then you have the interior scene — the Old Matriarch's courtyard, the tea service, the list of eligible young ladies being passed around like Ji Mingzhu is an object to be discussed. The contrast between the biting cold outside and the suffocating warmth inside is brilliant. And later, Xie Yunzheng kicking snow after Ji Mingzhu walks away with his brother — this small, almost childish gesture of frustration says everything about his internal state. The author has this incredible ability to use environmental details to externalize what characters can't say. The plum blossoms mentioned at the end, the snow, the cold wind — it's all part of this winter atmosphere that makes the whole Xie household feel like a gilded cage. Every scene is so visually precise I could film it.

Let me talk about the structural genius here. Chapter 10 opens with Xie Yunzheng and Xi Yu having this tense conversation where Xi Yu drops the bomb that Xie Yunzheng has fallen for Ji Mingzhu—and Xie Yunzheng's reaction is to deny it so hard he decides the only solution is to marry her off to someone else. That's a fantastic pivot. Then the scene shifts to Xie Yunxuan escorting Mingzhu back, and the pacing slows down into something more intimate and aching. The author does this really clever thing where they let the emotional beats breathe—Xie Yunxuan following her into the room forgetting to remove his cloak, the silence between them, the way he asks about her marriage plans with this urgency she doesn't notice. Then just when you think the chapter might drag, BAM—Xie Yunxuan gets drunk and murmurs her name, and Xie Yunzheng, who just heard this news, summons Tianshui to invite the young mistress. The chapter ends on this note of impending confrontation. Three acts of emotional escalation in one chapter, and the transitions are seamless. I read all five chapters in one sitting and I don't even usually do that.

There's something really striking about how the author uses cold and warmth as emotional barometers throughout these chapters. Xie Yunxuan doesn't even step into the room because he's afraid of bringing the cold air in with his snow-dusted cloak—he's protecting HER comfort while his own heart is freezing over. That detail alone says everything. Then there's the contrast of the warm chamber inside Xiaoxiangyuan, where Ji Mingzhu retreats to practice calligraphy, a habit from her previous life when Xie Yunzheng neglected her. The physical spaces feel so alive here—the frostbitten eggplant description of Xie Yunxuan after his visit, the tea cups being set down, the wine being poured. The aristocratic setting isn't just backdrop; it's pressing down on these characters at every turn. The Old Matriarch and Junzhu Niangniang orchestrating marriages from above like puppeteers creates this suffocating atmosphere where young people's lives are being decided without their consent. It's a world that feels real and lived-in, and the cold Beijing winter mirrors the emotional temperature of every interaction.

Okay so let me just say this about Xie Yunzheng — the man is a walking contradiction and it is absolutely delicious. He tells himself romantic affection is poison because his mother went mad when his father took a concubine, right? He's built this entire fortress of emotional repression and yet here he is, losing his absolute mind over Ji Mingzhu. The scene where he sees Xie Yunxuan about to touch her face and this wave of pure possessive rage just hits him — 'No other man should touch Ji Mingzhu, not even his own brother!' — and then he has NO IDEA why he feels this way. He literally asks his doctor if someone cast Zhonggu (love spell) on him. BRO. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO GOT SPELLBOUND, NOT HER. The fact that he can't even recognize his own emotions is the best character writing I've seen in ages. And Ji Mingzhu? She's completely different from her past life self. In her previous existence she was obsessed with him, but now? She's cold, composed, and honestly kind of fascinating to watch. She doesn't even flinch when the Old Matriarch and Junzhu publicly humiliate her. She just sits there, calm as a lake, while they try to force her into some narrative of scheming seductress. The only crack in her armor is when Xie Yunzheng sees her eyes glistening — and even then, she's crying from humiliation, not from any lingering feelings for him. That contrast between who she WAS and who she IS now? Chef's kiss.