Three Years After the Wedding

Duan Yanchuan spent three years fighting on the frontier before returning to court by imperial decree. On the night he arrived home, an assassin broke into the residence and fled in panic to its most secluded courtyard, where he seized a ger who was making medicinal pills beneath the moonlight. Duan Yanchuan glanced at the ger. Even with a dagger pressed to his throat, he showed no fear at all. Convinced he was an accomplice, Duan Yanchuan ordered, "Take him down."

The guards in the residence turned pale. "General, you can't! This is your wife!"

Duan Yanchuan looked closely, but he couldn't reconcile Zhuang Ning's face with the blurry one he'd seen on their wedding night three years ago. He waved his hand, and his personal guards seized the assassin as the household guards looked on in dismay.

The group had arrived and left in a flash, leaving only a vegetable patch trampled into a mess. Zhuang Ning wiped the blood from the cut on his neck and looked at the garden he'd tended himself, gritting his teeth in distress.

When Duan Yanchuan was a child, a ger who cared for him had tried to molest him. Ever since, he had never let a ger near him. The emperor's most favored ger consort resented him, and three years ago, after seducing the emperor, he had arranged for Zhuang Ning to be married to Duan Yanchuan. On their wedding night, Duan Yanchuan lifted Zhuang Ning's veil and immediately left for the frontier. Now that he was back, in addition to attending to official business, he planned to ask the emperor for permission to divorce Zhuang Ning.

Everyone in the residence knew Duan Yanchuan had no affection for Zhuang Ning. Duan's mother had even ordered him to move to the most remote courtyard, where she wouldn't have to see him. The servants in the household paid him little mind, too. Zhuang Ning and an old nanny and maid lived on his meager monthly allowance. Fortunately, he was skilled in medicine and could make pills to sell.

Holding the divorce papers, Duan Yanchuan went to the side courtyard to find Zhuang Ning. As he reached the entrance, he heard the old nanny say, "Ning, the general has finally come home. You need to seize the chance and make more of an effort to get close to him. You're good at making medicinal dishes. Why not bring him some?"

Zhuang Ning: "For him? I'd be better off giving them to Dahuang."

The old nanny: "Oh, my dear, you can't say things like that. How can you compare the general to a dog?"

Having trained in martial arts since childhood, Duan Yanchuan had excellent hearing. He heard every word Zhuang Ning and the old nanny said.

Zhuang Ning: "Nanny, I don't want to curry favor with him."

The old nanny asked anxiously, "Do you plan to spend the rest of your life alone in this courtyard?"

Zhuang Ning: "Nanny, if I didn't get married, they would use my brother to force me to marry another man. Life in another household would definitely be a hundred times worse than it is now. I don't have to swallow my disgust and serve a man with three wives and four concubines. I don't have to follow the rules set by a mean mother-in-law, or scheme against a whole group of sisters-in-law. I can stay in this courtyard and focus on studying medicine. Isn't that good?"

The old nanny said, "My foolish boy, the general has earned great merit on the frontier these past few years. He can use that to ask for a divorce. Once you leave the Duan residence, the Zhuang family won't take you in, and you'll have nowhere to go. What will you do?"

Zhuang Ning: "The Duan family cares about its reputation. They won't treat me unfairly if we divorce. I'll be free again, and I'll have money to support myself. That's good enough!"

The old nanny asked, "The general is handsome and talented. He's the kind of husband everyone dreams of. You're right here with him. Doesn't your heart stir?"

Zhuang Ning: "He abandoned me on our wedding night and made me a laughingstock. In three years, he hasn't sent me a single word. What's there to love about someone so cold and heartless?"

Duan Yanchuan: "..."

When he next left the capital to return to the frontier, Duan Yanchuan specifically ordered Zhuang Ning to go with him.

Zhuang Ning: "..."

P.S. Set in a fictional dynasty. Marriage first, love later. Happy ending.

Theme: Only sincerity can earn sincerity