Shen Tong'an was the girl with the “hardest fate” in Qinghe Village. After a marriage arrangement fell through, she became the talk of the village whenever people gathered for a chat.
She was used to it and wanted nothing more than to stay in her little courtyard, grow vegetables, feed chickens, and live a quiet life.
Then a young gentleman from the capital moved in next door. Gu was handsome, refined, and frail. He read her poetry beneath the old locust tree, awkwardly helped her feed the chickens and carry water, and told her tenderly that he wanted to write her into a book.
The village gossip started up again, but Shen Tong'an only wanted to avoid this dazzling nuisance.
But she couldn't get away.
When a group of men in black suddenly appeared and dropped to their knees in the muddy fields, crying, “Greetings, Your Highness!” Shen Tong'an finally understood: what she could not escape was fate.
