The Radiance of Zhaozhao

[A classical setting ➕ an emperor and empress as a married couple ➕ a mix of sweet and angsty moments ➕ love that endures until better days]

Born into a noble family, Li Zhaoyan reads history books, loves horseback riding and archery, and delights in the scenery of the four seasons. She yearns for mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, and lives with carefree abandon. When she was young, she often borrowed her cousin Yan Zhuo’s name, disguised herself as a man, and went to study at Yuntai Academy. On the way there and back, she would help the poor and needy.

Later, an edict came from the palace, ordering her to enter the imperial household as the future empress.

Though she was unwilling, she could not defy imperial authority. She had no choice but to don her wedding robes and enter the imperial city.

She had no love for the title of empress, yet she used the authority it gave her to support female physicians and ensure women’s names would be remembered by future generations. She made careful arrangements to help women from the music register fulfill their wishes. She rebuked the censors, turning a lowly palace maid into an officially registered female court official. With a grand vision in mind, she reformed the palace examinations for its female attendants, giving talented women more opportunities to put their abilities to use.

Before he met her, Li Yubai thought all women were docile. That day, beneath the bright spring sun, she wore a white scholar’s robe and dressed like a young scholar. Slender and fair-skinned, she looked at him coldly and asked, “Your Highness, do you know how hard it is to earn a place at Yuntai Academy?”

In his hot-blooded youth, he believed that if he fell in love with someone, he had to make her his. Even when she kept him at a distance, he loved her wholeheartedly, never knowing when to give ground.

Half a lifetime passed in the blink of an eye. He held the realm in his hands, peace prevailed throughout the land, and the dreams of his youth had long since come true.

He loved her peach-blossom eyes, her radiant smile, her proud and carefree spirit. He loved everything about her.

“May you live for ten thousand years, and may spring greet you every year. May you stay healthy, your radiant beauty lasting like the blossoms above your head.”