[Historical Female-Led Romance | Intangible Cultural Heritage Incense Craft | Businesswoman of Bianjing | Wounded General | Two Strong Leads, Mutual Devotion | Clearing a Family’s Name and Revenge | Happy Ending]
For twenty strings of cash, my aunt was ready to sell me off.
The night the Cao family was falsely accused and wiped out, I hid under the bed, clutching the incense-making notes my mother left behind.
For three years, I stayed out of sight in an incense shop in Bianjing, scraping by as its lowliest servant.
The night I ran from my arranged marriage, I found a fallen general, covered in blood, in a rain-soaked alley.
He clutched the incense balm I offered him and suddenly asked, “Where did you get this recipe?”
Only later did I learn that he had begun investigating the Cao family’s old case three years before I did.
He refused to let me clear my family’s name alone, and I refused to let him shoulder the storm by himself.
With my mastery of incense-making, I carved out a place in Bianjing’s trade, opening my own workshop and shop;
with his power and influence, he shielded me from guild plots and the court’s layers of intrigue.
I used incense as a blade to rip open the military supply scandal;
I used my heart as proof to clear my family of the wrongful charge that had brought their ruin.
I am a tough businesswoman of Bianjing; he is the quiet general of the rearguard battalion.
We choose each other, and become each other’s armor.
He kept the jar of incense balm that saved his life on that rainy night close to him for a long time.
“I’m here.” “I’ll be waiting right here.” “Thank goodness, I finally found you.”
“Returning to the eaves” means coming home beneath a safe and peaceful roof.
#TwoStrongLeads #IncenseAndRevenge #BusinesswomanRises #HeProtectsMeWhileIFightToClearMyFamily
One burner of gardenia-and-mugwort healing incense, and two people standing side by side.
With incense as witness, we clear the whole army’s name.
