(The husband’s arduous pursuit + Second chance at love + Deep, heartbreaking romance + Devoted to each other and only each other)
One-line premise: The orphan girl who loved me enough to risk her life was the best role I ever played.
The thing Xie Lin was most smug about in his life was believing that his cousin Jiang Xuening, whom he had kept hidden away, loved him more than anything. Then, on the eve of their wedding, a fire burned Tingyu Pavilion to the ground. She left behind a single line, “Stay or go, it’s up to you,” and vanished without a trace. In that moment, Xie, the powerful chief minister, went mad.
Three years later, they meet again in Jiangnan. She is now the gentle “Madam Shen,” living in perfect harmony with a poor scholar. He is consumed by jealousy. He casts aside his pride and kneels in the rain, begging her to come back, but all he gets is her cold laugh through the door: “Show some self-respect, Lord Xie. My husband’s funeral rites aren’t even over.”
He thinks he lost to the dead man’s devotion, never realizing he was beaten by a scheme. The gentle, refined “dead husband” is actually a remnant of the previous dynasty, with a map to restore the kingdom tattooed on her back and plans to use her as a living sacrifice!
On the day the truth comes out, a wind rises over the hunting grounds. Dressed in red, she draws her bow and aims at her former lover. “Xie Lin, kill my husband for me so I can attain the Dao!” He laughs with wild abandon, gladly becoming a demon. “As you command, my wife.”
A very nice book!
Well enough…
Not a good story