(A sharp-tongued, sickly heroine; her luckless, doting ex-husband and her domineering, patriarchal current husband.)
When the emperor marched on Goguryeo, commoners starved to death in droves. The Tatars razed Liu Guyi's village, killing all six members of her family, and the village official conscripting men took away her fiance. From then on, she was alone in the world. With nowhere else to turn, she was deceived and forced into prostitution.
On the eve of battle, a group of officers with death at their heels came looking for entertainment and demanded that she perform. Her fingers flew over the pipa strings, and tears streamed down her face. The men shoved aside their cups and tried to assault her right there at the banquet table. Their commander, the Ninth-Rank Deputy Commandant Yuchi Shao, kicked the door open, gave each man ten strokes with the military rod, and sent them all packing.
At last, Liu Guyi remembered: he was her betrothed.
The young officer had no money, but he was skilled in martial arts. He fought and smashed his way into buying her freedom, and eventually they really did become husband and wife. Liu Guyi was chronically ill and ill-tempered, constantly hitting and berating him. After the fighting stopped, the young officer had even less money. He worked like an ox, doing whatever it took to pay for her treatment.
Liu Guyi raised her hand and slapped him across the face, scolding furiously, "You worthless fool! I can't stand the sight of you, and you still won't leave? Fine, let's see if I can beat you to death!"
Yuchi Shao still wouldn't leave.
Then war broke out again, and he died on the battlefield.
Liu Guyi finally learned to cherish the person beside her and to be gentle with the one she loved. But this time, she gave that tenderness to another man!
Once again, she ended up on the streets, becoming a little slave bought by someone else. This time, the man who bought her was Prince Wei, Li Ping. She gave him all the tenderness and affection she owed someone else. He spent a fortune curing her illness. Later, when he was demoted and imprisoned, Liu Guyi stayed by his side without complaint. She kept him company through those lightless years, through his vindication, and through his return to Chang'an and ascension to the throne.
Li Ping overruled all objections and, defying the rigid class system of Great Wei, made her empress.
At the grand banquet celebrating her coronation, amid the clinking cups, she saw Yuchi Shao, now a General of the Agile Cavalry.
Yuchi Shao: "I survived nine brushes with death, all for one more chance to see my beloved wife."
Liu Guyi: "I was too young to know how to cherish you. Now I want to make it up to you. Your Majesty, please strip me of my title and let me spend the rest of my life with the general."
Li Ping: "I refuse."
Theme: Cherish the person beside you
