The Hongwu era is rife with turmoil, and the Jingnan campaign has set the land ablaze. The founding-era aristocratic Tang family is caught in the maelstrom of imperial purges, with danger and death at every turn.
Meng Chuxia, the daughter of a poor Confucian physician, carries a debt of gratitude from her father’s generation. By imperial decree, she marries into the Tang household and becomes the wife of Tang Ming’an, the family’s second son. She is strikingly beautiful, gentle, and radiant, a peerless beauty who can capture a heart at first sight. Yet beneath that appearance lies a composed and perceptive nature, with a quiet strength and a keen sense of restraint. He is tall and graceful, with a face like warm jade and the bearing of a refined young nobleman. His eyes hold the distance and restraint of someone who sees through the currents of the age. For half his life, all he has wanted is to keep the Tang family safe.
A marriage of convenience, begun as a matter of mutual calculation, binds their fates together. Trouble brews in the inner household, the clan watches with covetous eyes, and deadly political schemes abound at court. One after another, the Tang family’s five sons fall into peril. The once-prosperous ducal mansion is suddenly left battered by the storm.
She sheds the restraint she wore upon first entering the household, taking charge of the family’s affairs as a woman. She steadies the household, settles disputes, and holds fast to her principles, sustaining the Tang family through an age of chaos. He puts aside his desire to withdraw from the world and transforms from a cool, self-contained young nobleman into the pillar of his family. Working behind the scenes and advancing step by step, he ensures she will always be safe and protected.
From the distance of a courteous marriage to deep, mutual devotion, they remain true to their hearts through a lifetime of storms and the joys and sorrows of an entire family. Amid the rise and fall of a chaotic age, power and wealth are fleeting. Only companionship and kindness can break through the bitter cold of winter. In the end, spring warmth returns to their home, and the whole family enjoys peace year after year.
