Lin Zhiwei transmigrates to Qingshan Village in the Great Liang Dynasty, where her whole family dotes on her.
Three years ago, she went into the mountains and rescued a poisoned man. Feverish and delirious, he left at dawn, leaving behind a jade pendant.
Then she got pregnant.
She gave birth to a son, Lin Yu'an.
The whole family knows the boy wasn't abandoned. Zhao Shi scolds her with her mouth, but sews him a little jacket more carefully than anyone else. Lin Dashan builds a heated shelter in the back hills. Her eldest brother hunts more game. Her second brother, the newly appointed top scholar, takes one look at the child and says nothing.
No one brings it up.
Until Prince Jing, Xiao Zhi, passes through Qingshan Town and sees a three-and-a-half-year-old boy who looks seven parts like him.
His hands tremble.
"What's his name?"
"Lin Yu'an."
Lin. The surname of her brother.
Xiao Zhi's throat tightens.
Later, the whole world knows that Prince Jing, Xiao Zhi, is searching frantically across the land for that woman.
Only later does the whole world learn that she never ran away. She's been in Qingshan Village all along, raising his son and living very well.
He was the one who came looking for her.
An'an peeks out from behind his mother and looks at him. "Uncle, why are you crying?"
With red eyes, Xiao Zhi says, "An'an, call me Father."
An'an turns to look at his mother.
Lin Zhiwei says nothing.
But that night, she leaves the door open for him.
The princess consort didn't run away.
The prince was the one who came and knelt before her.
