The old dynasty faded as the realm was remade.
Zhao Yuqin had once been the widely revered Lady of Xinguo. She had cared for her frail husband until his early death, managed the vast family estate in Yangzhou, and raised a young child.
With the dynasty’s fall, her once-imperially bestowed title was no longer worth a thing. To protect the Zhao family, she gave away half her fortune, hoping it would buy peace for them all. Instead, a decree from the emperor arrived, ordering her to marry.
Her match was Zhou Yue, Marquis of Zhongyi.
He had risen from the mud. A beggar in his youth, he had fought for his life on the battlefield and helped the new emperor conquer a vast empire, becoming a powerful noble of the new dynasty. And yet he was six years younger than her.
A widow with an old court title paired with a new-dynasty marquis, a noblewoman paired with a man of humble origins: the whole city buzzed with gossip.
A single marriage contract from the new dynasty bound together two people who had once brushed past each other amid the snow and wind of Yangzhou, tying them fast to the same fate.
Good-looking, good-looking, good-looking! The relationship between brother and sister is well described. The feeling of Sisi conquering the heroine is so sweet. Come soon. There will be more to come.