Take Her

Xu Baodai, the legitimate daughter of the prime minister's family, knows she has lost her memory.

The man she has entered into a sham marriage with also has two troublesome younger brothers.

To protect herself, she tells lies to everyone outside the household and plays the devoted wife and mother at home.

But why has this country bumpkin, who has started caring about his appearance, begun looking at her so strangely?

Shen Shan was raised among foreign peoples and taught their ways. He can't read Chinese characters and can only speak Chinese.

Saving her was an impulsive act, but protecting her is instinct.

He can tell she is someone of noble status, yet he can't bear to let her go.

He has fallen in love with every part of her, to the very marrow of his bones, keeping a lamp burning night after night.

He is willing to let go of his hatred and change his bad habits to become an ordinary married couple with her.

The nightmare will come eventually. She says, “I have to go.”

She's become her old self again, Shen Shan thinks as he sits by the stove.

The lies she once told are like flames leaping across the page, leaving his heart full of searing wounds.

She says she likes men who can compose poems and match verses, and he says he'll learn.

She says they must part for three years, and if she doesn't return, he shouldn't expect her to. He says he'll wait.

The next day, he shaves off his head of curls and, under an assumed name, joins her in the army to protect her from the shadows, only to discover that she is going to marry someone else.

The midnight bell tolls. A man's voice breaks hers apart, and she cries out pitifully, “Husband.”

Shen Shan leans toward her, unmistakable ruthlessness in his eyes. “Which one of us is your husband?”

Reading Guide

The story is set in a fictional era after the Ming dynasty and before the Qing.

Theme: One man can hold the pass against ten thousand