[In the winter of Yongxi’s twenty-first year, Shen Zhao dug a half-dead man out of a snowdrift.
He was Yan Xun, the only son of the Marquis of Zhenbei, the sworn enemy of the Shen family. He was both a cunning, ruthless fox and a playboy who frequented flower-filled courtyards and taverns.
Later, he knelt before the emperor and begged for permission to marry her. The emperor flew into a rage and smashed his teacup on the ground in front of Yan Xun’s knees. “A marriage alliance between the Yan and Shen families? Are you trying to tear my court apart and swallow it whole?”
She stopped him in the pouring rain. “Yan Xun, this ends here.”
His eyes were terrifyingly red, yet he smiled and kissed her.
Rain and tears rolled together between their lips. “A Zhao, teach me... how do I make it stop?”]
