In Republican-era Jinling, ten miles of wedding finery herald her marriage. She is a noblewoman from the capital, ready to cook and care for him; he is a newly promoted major general who promises her a lifetime of exclusive devotion. Barely settled into married life, he receives a military summons and rushes off to the battlefield, leaving her alone in their empty chambers. She waits three years. The peonies bloom and fade; she turns her longing into daily life and engraves his promise in her heart, hoping he will return victorious and let them finish the wedding they never got to celebrate. But when the sound of hooves finally shatters her long vigil, he brings back not the long-awaited love she yearned for, but a woman who fought by his side, along with the absurd declaration, “There is no distinction between first and second wives. Both are wives.” Three years of waiting become a joke; a promise is shattered beyond repair. The legitimate daughter of the Zhao family in the capital has never been one to settle for less. When her love burns out, she turns away without hesitation. “Huang Xian, from now on, you and I owe each other nothing!” A mistaken marriage, a life full of twists and turns. See how this noblewoman of the Republican era wakes up amid betrayal and lives with her own dazzling brilliance.
