[Historical Setting + Court Intrigue + Careful Scheming + Push and Pull + Sweet on the Outside, Dark-Hearted Within]
Clever, cunning young lady vs. scheming, gloomy, suspicious young prince.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, a newborn’s cry rang out in a nondescript side room tucked into an obscure corner of the Du Gu family’s back courtyard. A frail, premature baby had been born, and the beads in the hands of the old woman praying in the Buddhist hall scattered across the floor.
“Quick, go fetch the eldest!”
“Yes, Madam.”
Du Gu Bowen hurried to the Buddhist hall through the rain. “Mother, A Li has given birth to a girl.”
“Send that child back to Grand Tutor Yu. Don’t let anyone find out.”
The man’s eyes flickered. He lowered his head and agreed.
On the sickbed, the woman gazed weakly at the man. She lifted a hand, trying to touch the baby, but it fell helplessly back down. A tear slid from the corner of her eye, and she stopped breathing.
The man glanced at the infant in the swaddling cloth. They were never meant to be father and daughter. The Yu family was no longer what it had been, and leaving the child with Grand Tutor Yu might earn him a good reputation in the future.
Sixteen years later,
Yu Dai lived with her maternal grandfather and was engaged to a fine match: the legitimate grandson of the Chief Physician of the Imperial Academy, Chen.
On New Year’s Eve, her grandfather suddenly died of illness. Chen Ziyu’s mother had always disliked Yu Dai, and she seized the opportunity to call off the engagement.
Then Prince Yan appeared out of nowhere, and everything began to change.
Yu Dai watched the man come to pay his respects at the mourning hall. Ambition and calculation lurked in his eyes.
Their story of loving and fighting, using each other, had only just begun…
Note: Love is a carefully staged performance, and deep affection is a mask concealing ambition.
As the layers of conspiracy are peeled back, how will these two, having misplaced their trust, sever the tangled bond of love and hate amid the game of political intrigue?
