Everyone in Chang'an knows that the Qu and Wei families have an agreement: their children will marry across three generations.
Qu Qingwu has known since she was old enough to understand that one day she would marry Wei Yunsui.
She loves Wei Yunsui deeply.
She cooks for him with her own hands, makes his shoes and sews him sachets, giving him all the tenderness in her heart.
But she also hates him with all her might.
As the Qu family fell into decline, her parents feared he would be displeased and call off the marriage. They forced her to cater to his every preference to win his favor. She could only eat what he liked and wear what he liked. Whenever he wanted to see her, she had to come at once.
Controlled like a puppet on strings, she had long forgotten who she was. She had become a second version of him.
On the night of the full moon, after her confinement ended, she did the most outrageous thing of her life in a fit of anger.
She decided to elope with another man.
But before she reached the city gates, Wei Yunsui caught her and dragged her back.
The incident left him humiliated.
After we married, I, Wei Yunsui, hated her to the bone. I treated the things she gave me like trash, and casually overturned the food she cooked.
I never once showed her tenderness in our bedchamber, nor did I ever spare her dignity in front of others.
On my birthday, she made me a bowl of longevity noodles. I flung it to the ground and smashed it to pieces.
I cornered her against the wall, sneering, "The way you dress up to please me makes me sick!"
Her heart ached. She bit her lip, lowered her head, and let a tear fall.
At the birthday banquet, she hid behind the flowers and heard someone ask when I would divorce her.
I gave only one answer: "She owes me. I'll make her pay until one of us is dead."
She collapsed to the ground, her whole body going cold.
On another full-moon night, Qu Qingwu made her way alone to the city gates.
This time, she finally escaped.
From now on, she would be herself again.
Wei Yunsui had been looking forward to marrying Qu Qingwu.
He had hoped they would live together in harmony and spend the rest of their lives side by side.
He had known all along that she felt nothing for him, and was only playing along to obey her parents and please him.
But as long as she was willing to keep up the act, he would respect and cherish her, give her his whole heart, and protect her so she could live a peaceful, happy life.
But he never imagined that Qu Qingwu, always so obedient, would dare to elope with another man!
Furious beyond measure, he used their marriage contract to keep her captive in his home.
After they married, she was respectful, docile, and meticulous in everything, yet every action reminded him that her heart belonged to someone else.
He was jealous. He was furious. He wanted her to love him.
If she couldn't love him, then they would torment each other until one of them was dead.
But he didn't get his wish.
She escaped, and this time he couldn't find her.
Later, he heard the people chatting over tea.
Wei Yunsui had gone mad. Every day, he stood at the city gates, weeping and begging his wife to come home.
Reader's Guide:
1. This is a one-couple story with a happy ending. Read with caution if that's not your thing.
2. The male lead must suffer later in the story!!!
3. Set in an imaginary dynasty modeled on the Tang, with a focus on romance.
Theme: Be myself.
