On the battlefield, Nie Yuanzheng grew reckless in his pursuit of glory and fell into an enemy trap, his life hanging by a thread.
To save him, I was forced to give myself to a Chu general for three days and three nights, enduring endless humiliation.
After I was rescued, he swore through tear-filled eyes that he would marry me with a lavish procession and ten miles of wedding gifts.
But as soon as we returned to the capital, he turned around and asked to marry Qu Yunniang, the orphan girl he had brought back from the battlefield.
He said, “A woman’s virtue is her most precious possession. You’re nothing but a ruined woman. What right do you have to enter the Nie family?”
“Yunniang may be lowborn, but she’s pure and innocent, and she saved my life.”
“If you insist on marrying me, you can come in as a bed-warming maid. For old times’ sake, I’ll even give you a child or two, so you won’t be left alone and helpless in your old age.”
I cut our ties with my sword and accepted the decree arranging my marriage to another state.
On my wedding day, my phoenix sedan swayed along the road, and I happened to cross paths with Nie Yuanzheng’s wedding procession.
He frowned and barked, “You wretch, don’t you know the rules? You’re not even a concubine. How dare you enter ahead of the principal wife?”
“Guards, strip off that immodest wedding dress!”
I tried to explain and begged him desperately, but he wouldn’t listen.
He seized my dowry, accused me of colluding with the enemy and betraying my country, and even stripped and humiliated me in public.
Only when King Chu’s grand wedding procession arrived did Nie Yuanzheng approach obsequiously to report to him.
“King Chu, you’ve arrived just in time. This wretch dared to impersonate your queen. I’ve already dealt with her for you!”
