(Draft in progress)
The day Ji Fuyun first met Fang Yanci, she was about to commit a capital offense:
escaping from the palace.
Dressed as a palace maid and holding a fake pass, she'd just tried to climb over the palace wall when the Imperial Guards caught her red-handed.
Unexpectedly, this stern, impartial guard didn't punish her.
His gaze passed over Ji Fuyun's frightened face, and he teased her softly, "Who knew the palace had a maid this beautiful?"
That night, Ji Fuyun got out of the palace as she'd hoped.
But whenever she tried to escape in the days that followed, she always ran into that guard.
He took her out drinking and celebrating, and they rode horses and sang at the top of their lungs.
She always thought he treated her like a plaything, until one night he cornered her beneath a tree and their lips met.
"My darling, I've asked His Majesty to grant us permission to marry. I want you to be my wife."
She jolted awake and pushed him away.
*
They met again at a banquet for foreign envoys held at the palace.
Fang Yanci performed a sword dance while she played the qin at the Emperor's command.
Through the screen, the Emperor's concern for Fang Yanci was plain to see.
Only then did she learn:
He wasn't some low-ranking Imperial Guard. He was Fang Yanci, the Emperor's trusted confidant and a great general.
His gaze turned toward her, and she quickly lowered her head.
When he came to offer her a drink, she hid behind the Emperor.
At last, the banquet ended. She hurried away, only to slip.
A strong arm caught her steadily around the waist from behind.
In full view of everyone, he held her with decorous restraint and immediately let go, as if it were nothing more than a minister's duty.
Yet his breath brushed her ear, and Fang Yanci's voice was as cool as it had been at their first meeting. His low tone carried a teasing edge.
"You made it over a palace wall that high without a scratch. How come you can't keep your balance on level ground, Your Highness?"
Bonus Scene:
At the hunting festival, Ji Fuyun stood beside the Emperor in her palace attire.
The great general Fang Yanci hunted a rare snow fox and presented its pelt to the Emperor.
All the concubines vied with one another for it, except for one woman, whose expression remained calm as she paid it no mind.
The Emperor was at a loss, so he asked the general who should receive it.
He smiled, then walked forward in full view of the crowd and knelt to present the snow fox pelt to the person beside the Emperor.
"Your Highness is as beautiful as an immortal. This little fox pelt is barely worthy of you."
At those words, the Emperor's expression suddenly changed.
P.S.:
1. The Emperor is the second male lead and has a good relationship with the hero. The setting is a fictional Tang dynasty.
2. Both leads have had no other partners.
3. The hero falls in love with the heroine at first sight.
Theme: Keep working hard.
