A blood feud is the trap; deep love is the bait. In this game played in the name of marriage, who is the real hunter?
In the third year of Yongning under the Great Zhou, the fighting on the northern frontier abruptly ceases. An imperial decree betroths Pei Yan, the eldest daughter of the Pei family, to Wei Jue, heir to the Marquis of Zhenbei. One is the cherished jewel of Jiangnan's foremost clan, gentle as water yet hiding a sharp edge; the other is a battle-hardened God of War from the northern frontier, cold as a blade and harboring an old grudge. Ten years ago, in the Burning City battle, the Pei family broke their word, leading to the deaths of every adult man in the Wei family. The blood feud runs deep. Ten years later, is this marriage forced upon them an attempt by the emperor to soothe old wounds, or the beginning of another scheme?
**She advances cautiously, overcoming strength with gentleness.**
Pei Yan knows she has been sent into the tiger's den as a “hostage,” yet she is determined to carve out a way to survive in this dangerous place. Qiwuyuan is as cold as a prison, but she breaks the ice with tea; Songhe Hall is rife with hidden dangers, but she plants clues through her knowledge of medicine. She even wins over the guileless maid A Man and the orphan girl A Ruo, weaving them into a hidden network. Everyone thinks the Pei family's daughter is weak and easy to bully. Little do they know that she conceals a blade in her sleeve, and with a gentle smile has already uncovered Madam Su's hidden illness, Wei Jue's inner turmoil, and even the whereabouts of the “Ember Jade,” a relic tied to the fate of the northern frontier.
**He watches coldly, using patience to draw her in.**
The iron walnuts roll and crush between Wei Jue's fingers, then come together again, just like his conflicted feelings. He married his enemy's daughter to lull the Pei family into complacency, but why does this woman keep catching him off guard? The tea she brews eases his grandmother's headaches; the plum blossoms she arranges seem to carry the spring of Jiangnan. Even the foolish maid at his side, who can trip over counting bricks, somehow manages to crack a sliver in his hardened heart. Until one night, he sees the cold gleam of a silver needle between her fingers
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