She was forced into an absurd marriage meant to bring good fortune, promised to a man who had “died” on the battlefield.
Everyone waited for her in-laws to torment her to death and turn her into the village joke.
But A Tao refused to believe in fate, especially when it meant her life would end in a flimsy coffin.
With bowl after bowl of steaming rice water and the faint warmth of her body, she somehow wrested the supposedly dead man back from the King of Hell.
He became her shelter, shielding her from every cruelty and scheme.
She became the medicine for his heart, soothing the unfathomable wounds within him.
Cast aside by fate, the two of them joined forces in these chaotic times, determined to demand justice from an unfair world. From schemes and intrigues in the countryside to a homeland engulfed in war, they became each other’s only salvation and the one place they could call home.
“Before I met you, I lived in hatred. After I met you, I began to want to live.”
