Married Off, But Not Submissive

In the early years of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, the least reliable assignment in the capital landed on the shoulders of the Fifteenth Prince, Yun Luo: investigate the Dagger Society case, which implicated a great many people. The baby-faced prince took the alias Jin Luo and ventured into the martial world, brimming with youthful energy. Before he could even figure out how deep the enemy's ranks ran, he ran into Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu was a wild girl who roamed the martial world. She knew a few amateur moves, but her greatest talent was being unbelievably bold. Thinking Jin Luo was a young nobleman who had lost his way, she picked him up and took him along, teaching him to dodge hidden weapons by day and chew on flatbreads by night. Then, on the night of the Dagger Society's headquarters, the boy suddenly showed his true face, revealing his identity as an imperial prince and scaring the anti-Qing forces gathered there out of their wits. Xiao Liu stood on the outskirts of the crowd, watching the fellow who had been begging her for candy just moments ago turn into a death-dealing devil, blade flashing through the air. Suddenly, she couldn't move.

Later, she became the Fifteenth Prince's consort, but her life proved even more eventful than her days roaming the martial world. While she was recovering after childbirth, her husband was summoned by the emperor to handle a case, so she strapped their baby to her back and chased after him out of the capital. When she tried to cook her husband a nice meal, she ended up in a bandits' den. When she found clues that another woman was involved with her husband, jealousy nearly drove her to turn half the city upside down. Yun Luo would coolly clean up the mess she made, then pull her into his arms late at night and grumble, “Xiao Liu, could you please take it easy for a couple of days?”

Then the day her true identity came to light, even the Yongzheng Emperor was alarmed: she was the daughter of the former Ming Crown Prince. The court wanted her dead, while the anti-Qing forces wanted her alive. Caught between them, only Yun Luo stood by her, kneeling outside Qianqing Palace with his head held high. “This minister's life belongs to her; she saved it. If you want it, take it.”