The Marquis Had a Stablehand Marry the Chancellor's Daughter, and the Whole City Went Mad
He was the worst stablehand in the capital: stinking, drowning in gambling debts, and cursed by everyone. But nobody knew that beneath his coarse hemp clothes was a woman.
At the wedding hall, an imperial marriage was demoted from wife to concubine. The marquis sat in the main seat with his bride, making a stablehand stand in for him and marry the chancellor's legitimate daughter. The chancellor's daughter, Shen Qiuwan, was childlike and foolish. To save her family, she tearfully bowed in the ceremony. Afterward, Gu's mother trampled her maid underfoot and ordered the stablehand to humiliate Shen Qiuwan. Then she sat outside the door, waiting for the bloodstained wedding handkerchief.
The whole city cursed the stablehand as a brute. But no one knew that she was risking her life to protect those clear, innocent eyes.
By day, they acted like a loving married couple, fooling the emperor's secret guards, the Eastern Depot's spies, and the watchers next door. By night, she tended her wounds while the other woman burned letters. The two of them depended on each other for survival, their hearts as close as lives balanced on a knife's edge.
The city's rumors took a shocking turn: Shen Qiuwan wasn't a fool, but had been tormented into becoming one; Lu Jia wasn't cruel, but had been forced to do cruel things.
The Princess Royal petitions to return to the capital. The Eastern Depot's chief seeks medicine for the scholar he has secretly pined for. Palace intrigues, hidden networks along the salt routes, and the balance of imperial power all converge on a run-down house.
She carries her on her back beneath the moonlight. "I won't let go. Just stay on my back, and I'll carry you."
The one she protects is the only goddess in the world. This grand performance is for the eyes that remain.
Recommended for ages 16+.
