[The fiery tavern owner, orphaned daughter of a loyal minister of the previous dynasty, x the dissolute crown prince, a bad scholar pretending to be blind]
*Updates according to ranking; when not on the rankings, three chapters a week. No abandoned story.
Zhu Yihong was a hot-tempered tavern owner, and her Zhu Family Tavern was always packed.
Outsiders called her a shrewish, fiery woman with no parents or relatives. A girl raised wild, with no one knowing where she came from, yet somehow able to build such a successful business. She was clearly no ordinary person, and best left alone.
One day, a blind beggar showed up outside the tavern.
He was dressed in rags, his eyes vacant, but he was so handsome and dashing he could have stepped straight out of a romance tale...
Zhu Yihong had a keen eye for talent, so she took him in as a handsome face to greet customers.
He straightened his rough hemp robe and convinced himself: "Fine. As of today, I'm a beggar."
Her little errand boy made him bathe naked in a rotten wooden tub. He put up with it.
Her young friends came by and demanded that he serve them tea. He put up with it.
She told him to kneel and apologize, and somehow he put up with that, too.
The good times didn't last. An old acquaintance found him and smiled at him for no apparent reason in the dark. "Your Highness, how have you been enjoying life in Xiangxi? You've been living it up for long enough. Isn't it time to go back?"
From Zhu Yihong's perspective, the blind man had just argued with her and brazenly declared he would seek work elsewhere. So she let him go.
But early the next morning, he was back at the tavern, refusing to leave.
He even wanted to marry her.
She wiped her hands with a rag and sized him up. "You're so broke you can hear the coins rattling. You have nothing. Why should I marry you?"
He didn't even blink. "I have my good looks."
"..."
"Can good looks put food on the table?" Zhu Yihong narrowed her eyes. "Get lost."
"Mine can."
"..."
On their wedding night, he lifted her red bridal veil, only to find a face full of despair beneath it. She said to him, "I'm just an ordinary citizen who sells wine and meat. Please show some mercy, Your Highness."
Furious, he laughed recklessly, failing to notice the tears beneath her raised brows, though her voice was cold.
He approached her step by step, no longer the dissolute rascal he had once been. "My hands aren't precious... But are you really the daughter of some impoverished household? Tell me, was it you who led them here?"
"Duan Yuan, over the past year, you've seen an impoverished girl's every joy and sorrow. You've watched her make a fool of herself and seen her suffer. Did you enjoy this tour of the south, observing the lives of the people?"
Duan Yuan often thought back to his time at the Zhu Family Tavern. He stubbornly reminded himself: You don't miss her. Not one bit.
He used a tour of the south as an excuse to visit the tavern again. But as she moved among the guests and sensed his presence, she only paused for a moment before putting on the "obsequious" smile he hated and going to welcome customers. She didn't spare him a glance.
Even when she brought him wine, all he got was a breeze from her passing skirts.
Duan Yuan watched her retreating back and laughed in anger. "Fine! From now on, we won't speak to each other! I'm the Crown Prince. Do I really have to humble myself like this before a tavern owner?!"
He had lived at the tavern for more than a year and knew her routine by heart. Still, Duan Yuan couldn't help blocking her at a corner. "On our wedding day, you said those things... Were your feelings for me real, Yiyi?"
"Who are you?" Zhu Yihong looked at him coldly. "I don't believe I know you."
Duan Yuan had no idea how to win her back. She pulled her hand away so easily, like a spring breeze that would never return.
At that moment, he also unearthed an old notice, a missing-person poster from more than a decade ago. The name on it was Zhu Yihong. Below it was another notice: The Zhu family had met a violent end, and their daughter, Zhu Yihong...
Zhu Yihong, Zhu Yihong...
But just then, his mother, the Consort, died suddenly for no reason. Duan Yuan did not keep vigil that night, and the Emperor was so furious that he banished him. Duan Yuan rode off alone on a fast horse, toppled headfirst into a haystack, and slept off his drunkenness.
In his dream, he murmured, "Yiyi, am I still worthy of wearing the robes of the Eastern Palace?"
She picked him up out of the haystack. "Duan Yuan, take responsibility for your duties."
🧸 Reader note:
I'll think about it...
Theme: Different paths lead to the same destination
