At the Lantern Festival banquet, after drinking far too much, the spoiled and incomparable Ninth Princess Jiang Jinyue meets Xie Ji, the newly crowned top scholar. Beneath the glow of lanterns and moonlight, his bearing is so striking that the moment he steadies her, she is certain fate has sent her a perfect match. An imperial decree arranges their marriage, and she enters the Xie household full of hope, only to learn on her wedding night that her scholar husband already loves someone else: a childhood friend who died young.
Even more bewildering, the household also has a cool, moonlike “older sister,” Yan Wujiu, the first wife. Xie Ji treats Jiang Jinyue with icy courtesy, yet holds Yan Wujiu in high regard. Jiang Jinyue is indignant and sulks, but the “older sister’s” quiet care and astonishing talent gradually shift her feelings. She notices that Yan Wujiu fears both cold and heat, has calluses on her fingertips, and possesses a breadth of knowledge and bearing utterly unlike that of a sheltered young lady.
When danger strikes, Yan Wujiu reveals her martial skill, and her calm, decisive demeanor instantly captures Jiang Jinyue’s heart. In alarm, Jiang Jinyue realizes that the person she truly admires is this enigmatic “bedfellow,” whose gender is a mystery. But just as their feelings begin to stir, Xie Ji’s political enemies start watching them, and hidden dangers in the household emerge one after another. When Yan Wujiu is forced to strip off her hairpins and skirts in the great hall to protect Jiang Jinyue, revealing that she is a man, everything is turned upside down.
The crime of deceiving the emperor sparks an uproar. Jiang Jinyue is not facing a romantic rival, but the conventions of society itself. What past and promises lie behind the secret Xie Ji has silently protected? This farcical case of mistaken marriage has trapped three people. Who is knowingly falling into ruin? Who is pretending to be in love? And where can a heart that beats purely for someone, regardless of identity or gender, find a home?
