I spun and wove cloth to pay for his education, and he promised to marry me properly after passing the highest imperial examination.
But on the day he passed the provincial exam, he rode a tall horse to wed the county magistrate’s daughter.
Pregnant, I went to his door. I wanted no title and shed no tears. All I asked for was a bowl of abortion medicine and a written declaration of freedom.
As she personally snuffed out the life in her womb, she smiled gently: “Lin Shuyan, now we owe each other nothing.”
From an abandoned village woman to the wife of the dynasty’s chief minister, she climbed to the peak of power by stepping on the sincere love of three men:
Lin Shuyan, the faithless first love, knelt outside her residence and begged her to take him back;
Xie Yuzhang, the gentle mentor, asked her before his exile whether she had ever loved him;
Shen Canglan, the ruthless powerbroker, asked only for one sincere tear from her as he took a fatal blow in her place.
Gu Wuxin, born A Ping, was a woman crushed into the mud by fate.
She used everyone, and everyone used her in turn.
She thought she had lost the ability to love long ago, never realizing that she was the one trapped deepest in hatred.
Once she held power and her enemies bowed their heads, she sat above a bottomless abyss and finally realized she had long since lost everything.
