Du Ruo was just a maid who swept the outer courtyard of the Chancellor’s residence. She ate a lot, was strong, and her life was worth nothing.
When the Chancellor’s daughter refused to marry Prince Heng, Xiao Jiming, who was crippled and suffering from a deadly poison, Du Ruo was pushed into the bridal sedan to take her place in this deadly match.
On their wedding night, Xiao Jiming saw through her identity at a glance but didn’t expose her. He only asked, “Can you cook?”
She could.
So the two people everyone had given up on struck a bargain to keep each other alive.
She would keep the prince fed and breathing, while he would shield her from trouble at the Chancellor’s residence and in the imperial capital. But then an imperial edict sent them off to a desolate estate on the frontier.
The ramshackle house leaked, the food was almost gone, they had only two servants left, and they didn’t even have a cooking pot.
Du Ruo pulled apart a door, built a stove, and cleared the wasteland. Starting with a pot of thin porridge, she slowly turned the estate everyone despised into a home.
She also discovered that she could understand the mutterings of cats, dogs, rats, and birds. Understand them, yes, but control them? Not a chance.
While Xiao Jiming quietly planned a way out for her, he also quietly erased himself from her future.
Until the bloodline of a former dynasty, questions of true and false daughters, a poisoning conspiracy in the palace, and war on the frontier all came knocking.
This time, they weren’t just trying to survive.
They wanted to protect a roof over their heads, a patch of land, and the person who saved them a meal every day.
