Fishermen and Woodcutters by the River, Green Mountains and Endless Streams

In the thirty-seventh year of the Dajing era, the Jiang family was framed and condemned to exile, with only Jiang Yuqiao spared because she had been raised by another family far away. Determined to uncover the truth, she concealed her identity and went to the capital, where a twist of fate led her to save Gu Changchuan, the seventh prince of the ruling dynasty.

He was the late emperor’s least favored son. Though he seemed carefree and uninterested in power, he was actually a shrewd and calculating man, maneuvering carefully through the treacherous court. When they first met, she wore coarse homespun clothes, yet her eyes shone as if lit by stars. He teased her, “Miss, your eyes outshine every jewel in the capital.”

She used his influence to investigate the case, while he relied on her wits to break through each impasse. From waterside pavilions in Jiangnan to the palace walls of the imperial city, she shielded him from hidden arrows, and he sheltered her from every storm. Amid the whirlpool of political schemes, he promised her, “Once the turmoil has settled, I’ll take you to see every green mountain and mighty river.” She replied, “Ten thousand miles of empire are no match for the warmth of a lamp beside your desk.”

When the Jiang family’s old case was finally cleared and the court’s turmoil began to subside, he held power in his hands, yet was willing to hide his sharp edge for her sake. The world called the seventh prince coldhearted, but Jiang Yuqiao alone knew that all his tenderness was hidden in his eyes. More clear than the waters where fishermen plied their trade, more enduring than green mountains and long rivers, it was a devotion meant for her alone.