On the night of the substitute marriage, Shen Zhaoning discovered that the powerful regent was actually her old lover who was dumped three years ago.
But he no longer "remembers" her.
Until she dug out the old sachet under her pillow. Inside was a strand of her black hair and a yellowed note that read "Xie Duzhi, Shen Xiaoqi." He stayed in hiding for three years.
He clearly remembered, but he was pretending. She clearly recognized it, but couldn't recognize it.
The Queen Mother used "Jiangnan's old lover" to sow discord and wanted her to be an eyeliner. Shen Zhaoning lowered his head and said, "I am feeling miserable," but turned around and quietly handed the evidence of the Queen Mother's conspiracy to his desk.
The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty forced him to abolish the concubine, saying that the concubine was not worthy of being the regent. Lu Yanzhou stood in the court hall and replied calmly: "I am also a concubine."
The whole hall was dead silent.
Later, one hundred and thirty-seven members of the Xie family were exonerated. He knelt in front of the memorial tablet in the ancestral hall, held her hand, and spoke in a voice so hoarse that it was almost inaudible:
"Don't push me away, Shen Xiaoqi."
He defeated everyone except her. From the day the sweet-scented osmanthus fell three years ago, he had lost completely.
