A Splendid Letter to You

Since ancient times, historical records have had very little to say about women. And when they do appear, it is rarely because of their own achievements. Those few lines of ink usually tie them to the men in their families. Can women ever make a name for themselves in the history books? Before returning to the Central Plains, Zhou Shaojin was a noblewoman raised in the Western Regions. Her father died when she was thirteen, her mother when she was fifteen, and her husband when she was twenty-three. She had no children. An imperial edict from the Empress Dowager summoned her to the capital, where she unexpectedly became a teacher at a girls’ school. But everyone said a perpetually unlucky woman like Zhou Shaojin would never see her fortunes turn. With her eldest brother stationed at the border, they said she had only come to Bianjing to replace her dead sister as a hostage. Yet once Zhou Shaojin arrived, she discovered that the women here were just as unfortunate as she was. The young Empress Dowager rules from behind the curtain, with a young son and all the power in her hands. Is she truly doomed to be executed? The daughter of a chancellor has been a neglected wife for seven years without even seeing her husband. Is divorce truly out of reach? A princess married off to a foreign land cannot return to court. Does that mean she really has no say over the rest of her life? Zhou Shaojin goes from being a hostage mocked by everyone for her bad luck to becoming the first woman in the history of the Great Liang Dynasty to teach at the Imperial College. She nurtures talent for the state, writes biographies of women, and guards the realm for her sovereign. Behind the shattering of those shackles stand countless women like Zhou Shaojin, striving onward. An alternate historical romance, with no transmigration or rebirth. This book is dedicated to the women who have shone throughout the long river of history. A book written for women of ancient times, woven into a splendid tale for you. Please read it with me.