Yuan Chun, his elder brother, and his troops are surrounded in Xiaoxiang by the 100,000-strong army of the King of Beishuo. Their lives hang by a thread.
Innocent and inexperienced Yuan Ying obeys her widowed mother's orders, accepting a marriage arrangement in exchange for her brother's safe return.
But the King of Beishuo has two sons.
His eldest, Xu Qingyue, is as pure as white jade and writes like the strings of a zither: a gentle, sickly young man.
His second son, Xu Qingye, rides a silver-saddled white horse and draws his bow to shoot the moon: a fierce wolf cub.
Yuan Ying has never met the brothers. But when she goes to Xiaoxiang to bring her brother home, she sees a young man in white tending to him at his bedside, serving him medicine and caring for him with tender attention. This Young Master Xu treats her very well, too. As it happens to be the Lantern Festival, he even gives her a rabbit lantern he made himself.
After the siblings return to the Prince of Jiangdu's manor, Yuan Chun decides that the “Xu Qingyue” who cared for him in Xiaoxiang would make a good husband for his sister. He asks her if she would agree to the marriage while she is playing with the rabbit lantern.
Blushing, Yuan Ying replies, “I’ll listen to you, Brother.”
After the Prince of Jiangdu's manor and the Prince of Beishuo's manor agree on the marriage, Yuan Chun prepares a lavish bridal trousseau for his sister, selects an auspicious wedding date, and personally escorts her to her new home.
On the second day of her marriage, Yuan Ying finally gets a clear look at the face of the man beside her on the pillow. Only then does she realize that she and her brother have both mistaken his identity. The young man in white in Xiaoxiang was actually Xu Qingye.
“Why are you so surprised, A Ying? Now that you’ve seen my face, do you think I’m ugly?”
“You’re not ugly. You’re very handsome.”
She sees him curl his lips into a smile, then adds, “If I told you I married you by mistake, could I still go back to Jiangdu with my brother today?”
“No.” His expression changes abruptly. He presses her back into the hot quilt just as she is about to put on her robe, kissing her over and over, just like last night...
*
The most elaborate act Xu Qingye ever put on was when he cared for his beloved's brother in Xiaoxiang.
He had been secretly in love with Yuan Ying for three whole years. He had schemed to put Yuan Chun in a predicament where he would be surrounded in Xiaoxiang, only for his efforts to end up paving the way for his elder brother's marriage.
He heard that she liked refined gentlemen, as gentle and bright as the moon. So he borrowed his brother's clothes and copied his mannerisms, planning for every possibility. Yet he never imagined she would mistake him for his brother.
It wasn't his fault, nor his brother's, and certainly not hers.
It was Yuan Chun's fault for having only one sister.
Theme: May the same wind blow across a thousand miles, and may peace reign across the four seas.
So Few Springs in This Fleeting Life
Brother! Brother!
Eleven Years of Snow Melt, and Spring Arrives
A Thousand Days Waiting for the Wind
A Little Reunion
Living in Harmony with My Childhood Friend, the Chief Councilor
My Wife Ling Jun
The Empress's Fourth Marriage
Notes from a Six Fan Gate Grunt
When Love Became the Past
A Vassal Who Refuses to Serve
Marrying a Crane