A story about having a child
The gloomy, illegitimate son of a kept woman, beautiful and aggressive: Zhou Xuzhi x the handsome, solemn, traditional groom brought in to ward off misfortune: Ji Changyin
Ji Changyin was the legitimate son of a fallen gentry family. Tall and handsome, he usually wore a long gown and was the very picture of propriety and restraint.
The day he married into the Zhou family, he wore a phoenix crown and bridal robes of vivid red, and became the laughingstock of Jiangzhou City.
The Zhou family's eldest son was gravely ill and had been bedridden for more than three months. The Old Master heeded the advice of a supposedly wise man, who said that the only cure was to marry someone with an exceptionally auspicious birth chart. In all of Jiangzhou City, Ji Changyin's chart was the best match.
The Ji family had fallen on hard times and owed the Zhou family a debt of gratitude they could never repay.
So Ji Changyin was carried into the Zhou household in a red bridal sedan. He became the Zhou family's formally wedded husband, and everyone lowered their heads and called him "Madam Zhou."
Not long after the wedding, the eldest Zhou son miraculously recovered. But once he was well, he began spending every night away from home.
Ji Changyin knew that the eldest Zhou son had already taken a lover outside the home before their marriage.
Still, the Zhou household's rightful wife's place had been given to him, along with all the respect that came with it. He ought to pretend he knew nothing.
Until one winter, several years later, the Zhou family brought home a young man dressed in a suit.
His name was Zhou Xuzhi.
He was the son of the eldest Zhou son and his kept woman.
Incense curled through the ancestral hall as the clan elders sat in their places of honor. The eldest Zhou son nodded slightly and said to Zhou Xuzhi, "This is Changyin. From now on, he will be your mother."
Zhou Xuzhi slowly knelt before Ji Changyin's black long gown and took the tea handed to him by a servant.
In the utter silence, he raised his eyes and stared at Ji Changyin with a deep, unfathomable gaze for a long moment. Then he said quietly, "Mother, please have some tea."
Theme: Love can break free of its cage
