This is the story of a helpless young emperor's deep, lifelong attachment to an ordinary palace maid seventeen years his senior.
She was neither a concubine nor an empress.
Her real name was Wan Zhen'er, a palace maid to whom the Ming emperor Zhu Jianshen remained devoted all his life.
The month she died of illness, the emperor suspended court for seven days, and the ministers were ready to bang their heads against the palace walls.
He endured a year without her, then died on his dragon bed, clutching a rough pottery cup with a chipped rim.
She had traded grain to get the cup. He had chipped it when he was young.
How much the emperor wished they could be buried together in Maoling. But the laws of propriety said they could not.
Four li: the closest he could bring himself to her side, measured over the course of his life.
Their bodies were not buried together, but their souls shared a tomb!
History is a young girl anyone can dress up as they please. In the history books, she bears all the blame.
An alternate-history Ming Dynasty! An alternate-history love story between Wan Zhen'er and the young emperor Zhu Jianshen!
Readers with deep historical knowledge who love to nitpick, please set your brains aside. This is the brain deposit area!
