On their wedding night, the Princess Royal made three demands, and the Number One Scholar rejected every one of them.
Zhao Yushu: "Separate bedrooms."
Song Yan: "I can't accept that."
Zhao Yushu: "Once the court is stable, we'll divorce."
Song Yan: "The Song family has a rule: one spouse for life."
Zhao Yushu: "We'll live our own lives and stay out of each other's business."
Song Yan: "A married couple is one."
Zhao Yushu: "..." Wasn't he forced into this marriage?
Song Yan's motto was: Listen to everything, agree to nothing.
He was not particularly interested in romance and thought one wife for life was enough. Since he had married her, he had never considered divorce. All he asked was that Zhao Yushu keep a peaceful home while he pursued his grand ambitions.
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An imperial decree had arranged their marriage, leaving no room for argument.
The domineering Princess Royal: wild, imperious, and older.
The scheming Number One Scholar: calculating, crafty, and pretending to be gentle.
The Princess Royal had always been willful, but her new husband tripped her up at every turn. No one believed her complaints, and in the end she paid the price for her bad reputation.
The Number One Scholar only helped spread the Princess Royal's unruly reputation far and wide.
When a colleague invited him out late, he told everyone the princess wouldn't let him.
When the prime minister tried to press a pretty concubine into his arms, he claimed the princess was jealous and would break his legs.
Even when a colleague invited him to a birthday banquet, he said that on his day off the princess made him accompany her to pick out jewelry, and wouldn't let him through the door otherwise.
The Number One Scholar pretends to be henpecked, though the Princess Royal couldn't care less what happens to him.
The Princess Royal really is henpecked: the Number One Scholar always makes snide remarks to stop her from attending banquets.
On their wedding day:
The Princess Royal had just sent her male lover away when the Number One Scholar arrived to fetch her. He saw everything and pretended not to notice.
A twice-married woman, a princess, powerful as she might be, was just a pretty ornament once he brought her home. She could amuse herself however she liked.
One day after the wedding:
The Number One Scholar discovered a painting of a handsome man bathing in her vanity chest. Grinding his teeth in fury, he tore the scroll to shreds, but that still wasn't enough. Only after setting it on fire did he regain some composure.
She fled, he pursued.
She retreated, he advanced.
Even when she occasionally attended a banquet, the usually aloof Number One Scholar had to go with her.
At court, someone used the Princess Royal's meddling in politics to attack her, every word polished and every sentence dredging up her scandalous past. The Number One Scholar, usually a kind and modest gentleman, grabbed a jade ornament...
And got into a brawl right there in the main hall.
Reader's Guide:
1. Romance-focused
2. The male lead is love-struck
3. Lots of intimate scenes!
4. The female lead is married for the second time!
Theme: No matter when, strengthen yourself. If you dare rest on a fragile branch, rely not on the branch to hold, but on your own wings.
Is the teacher still taking the detour of Qingshui?