Jiang Yunqi and Xie Hengzhi loved each other.
They married in the third month of spring, vowing to stay together until their hair turned white.
On their wedding night, Jiang Yunqi fell asleep before Xie Hengzhi arrived. When she opened her eyes again, she had become a white-haired old woman, surrounded by unfamiliar men and women celebrating her seventieth birthday.
With her aging eyes dimmed, she asked in a trembling voice again and again where Xie Hengzhi was.
The hall fell silent.
A young child pointed to the memorial tablet beside her.
"Grandfather is here."
The dates of his birth and death were deeply carved into the tablet.
It turned out Xie Hengzhi had died just three years after marrying her.
*
One day, a strange male ghost entered Withered Tears Lane in Fengdu.
The male ghost wore a brilliantly colored wedding robe and had the face of a refined gentleman. Though he was clearly no human, his entire body radiated pure yang energy.
The ghosts of Withered Tears Lane drooled with hunger. They swarmed him while he rested with his eyes closed, only to be soundly beaten before long.
The male ghost smiled amiably and bowed to them.
"My name is Xie Hengzhi. I came from the fourteenth year of the Yuansui era to find my wife."
At the age of twenty, Xie Hengzhi had passed the highest imperial exam and then married. Life could hardly get better than that. But just before entering the bridal chamber, he suddenly fainted. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a place that had never been mentioned in any book.
The ghosts asked who his wife was. The man lifted his chin and launched into a nonstop speech, from "My wife is gentle, adorable, clever, and kind" to "I love my wife as deeply as the sea and as steadfastly as the moon. In life and in death, I will never leave her."
The ghosts: ...
Before he could finish, Xie Hengzhi suddenly felt a tug at his sleeve. He looked down and saw a five-year-old girl hanging onto it.
The little girl was filthy, but she wore a bright green peacock-feather skirt and had a pair of shining eyes exactly like his wife's.
She gripped Xie Hengzhi's sleeve tightly and spoke in a tiny voice.
"Sir, could you let me come with you to find your wife?"
Xie Hengzhi lowered his eyes slightly and smiled. He carried the girl on his back and, following the ghosts' directions, left Withered Tears Lane and returned to the familiar Xie residence.
From a distance, he could see the longevity character and peach blossoms at the Xie residence, both dating from the same year. In the courtyard, a white-haired old woman with a stern, fierce expression was beating her little grandson's bottom with a cane.
The little boy wailed, "Grandfather's already dead. I didn't say anything wrong."
The old woman narrowed her eyes and hit him even harder.
The little girl trembled on Xie Hengzhi's back. "Sir, I don't think that's the gentle wife you're looking for."
But Xie Hengzhi smiled brightly and walked toward her with determination.
"No mistake. That's her."
"My wife, Yunqi."
[Blurb written on 2025.12.16. The leads were created before 2017.]
P.S.
1. They love each other wholeheartedly, and the leads will transmigrate back.
2. This is one of a trilogy. The other two books are A Banquet Through the Ages and The Dragon Collection.
Theme: Why need pale green or deep red? She is naturally the finest flower of all.
