Lin Yang was a kitchen maid working for a low-ranking official, her little face smudged black with soot.
She suddenly looked up, and a shining imperial edict came crashing down on her head. She had saved the emperor? And was being granted in marriage to the heir of the Marquis of Yongning?
Lin Yang was dumbfounded. Saved the emperor? All she'd done was grill a fish for an old man with nowhere to go. How did that count as saving the emperor? And what kind of monkey was the Marquis of Yongning? Some giant macaque from Mount Emei?
By the time she came to her senses, she was wearing a wedding gown with a phoenix crown on her head, and one foot was already over the threshold of the marquis's residence.
There were no giant macaques in the mansion, only Gu Zehuan, the heir to the Marquis of Yongning, whose face was as white as if he'd fallen into a pile of flour.
"Now that we are husband and wife, I hope we can treat each other with respect and grow old together," said Gu Zehuan, standing tall and holding two cups of wine, with a refined and elegant air.
"All right!" Lin Yang replied heartily, though she hadn't quite understood. She reached past the nuptial cup, grabbed the wine jug, and downed it in one go. She hadn't had a drink of water all day. She was parched!
Gu Zehuan stared wide-eyed at his new wife. In silence, he drank both cups of nuptial wine by himself.
Who could have guessed that years later, Gu Zehuan would go shirtless in the courtyard and practice several sets of punches before Lin Yang finally woke up and joined him?
"My lady, what do you think of my moves?" he asked, demonstrating with several more punches. His well-built muscles gleamed in the bright sun.
"It's broad daylight. It's truly improper for a civil official like you to go around bare-chested~" Lin Yang said as she ambled over, engrossed in a copy of the Classic of Poetry and paying no attention at all to her husband, who was attracting every woman's eye.
Blurb dated 2026.2.9
Theme: Where there's a will, there's a way
