Spring Lanterns Illuminate Our Old Vow

Eight years ago, the Sheng dynasty’s “Yongning Canal Military Grain Case” rocked the capital. Shen Zhaowei’s father was accused of embezzlement and causing a levee breach, then died in prison. Xie Linyuan’s elder brother was silenced while investigating the truth. From then on, the Shen and Xie families each mistook a part of the other for their enemy. Years later, while protecting her grandmother and younger siblings and secretly investigating the old case, Shen Zhaowei crossed paths with “Jade-Faced Yama” Xie Linyuan while fighting over a page from an account book at the lantern fair. Xie Linyuan, meanwhile, was convinced she had ulterior motives for approaching him. As fate would have it, the political situation left them both facing marriages they could not refuse. To protect themselves and clear their families’ names, they signed a contract for a “fake marriage lasting six months, with each getting what they need,” becoming the capital’s most loveless-looking couple.

After marriage, they undermine each other, are forced to act like a loving couple, and investigate the truth together. Through repeated brushes with death and tests of trust, they finally discover that their true enemy was never each other, but the power and greed hidden behind the old case. Once their misunderstandings are cleared up, they must join forces against not only deadly schemes at court, but also the feelings they have been too afraid to admit.