The Wrong Groom
Author: Ling Xuan Rong Er
On the night of her substitute wedding, the red candles flickering, Shen Qinghuan reaches beneath her veil and takes the hand of the “High Mountain and Flowing Water” whose letters have filled her heart and occupied her dreams for three years.
Two brides are switched in a double substitution, leaving two couples wrongly matched. One fleeting glance on their wedding night becomes a secret neither dares to reveal. She is an orphan forced to take her younger sister’s place at the altar; he is the legitimate heir of a distinguished family, pretending to be ill to escape danger. She recognizes his handwriting, and he guesses who she is, yet they both waver amid suspicion and testing.
They meet again at a poetry gathering, with old letters as proof. When “Moon Over the River” meets “High Mountain and Flowing Water,” and “Lotus in the Snow” encounters the one she loves, their mismatched fates must finally fall into place. But Shen Qingyin returns pregnant, collateral branches of the family covet their inheritance, and a hidden mastermind has been laying plans for twenty years. Mysteries of their origins and the fate of their country soon follow.
From struggles between legitimate and secondary heirs in a great household to shifting storms at court, from standing shoulder to shoulder amid border fires to retiring together in Jiangnan, they hold on to their trust through plots and schemes, and their love takes root through trials of life and death.
One mistaken marriage contract, half a lifetime weathering storms side by side. When the dust finally settles, they learn that fate’s cruel tricks were all meant to bring the right people together at last.
The heartache of a substitute bride is something only those who have witnessed it truly understand. It's like the saying, "A man fears choosing the wrong career, a woman fears marrying the wrong man." 😳
Men fear choosing the wrong career, women fear marrying the wrong man. But those who do manage to make it work are generally hoped for.