1.
Li Bi was born into the illustrious Zhao Commandery Li clan, a family of great standing.
He had been engaged to two brides in succession, and both died violent deaths before their weddings. He invited eminent monks from White Horse Temple to divine his fortune, and they declared that he was fated to have no wife. After several years passed in vain, he finally took a secondary wife.
That was Jing Xiang.
Li Bi believed he did not love Jing Xiang.
His newly-wedded young wife had eyes as clear and limpid as autumn waters, and seemed so fragile and easy to bully. She was neither noble enough nor elegant enough, like a frail little flower on a mountain cliff, ready to breathe her last at any moment.
He was the head of a powerful aristocratic family, a man of high rank and authority, and he regarded this woman as an ant.
He could not even be bothered to crush her.
Jing Xiang believed in both gods and fate. She was timid, and wished she could burn herbs to ward off evil every day, keeping her distance for fear her husband would bring her death.
She knew Li Bi was cold and proud. Even when they lay together beneath warm red wedding curtains until dawn, his gaze upon her remained indifferent.
He was like a false idol, still as a dead well.
2.
On a bitterly cold night, a sudden upheaval in the palace set the entire royal capital on edge with its strange and treacherous turn of events.
Not long afterward, word arrived from Luoyang: the head of the family was dead.
Yan Cui was the family head's adopted son, tasked with protecting Madam Xiang.
In these chaotic times, famine and sorrowful calamities were all too common.
In their urgency, the young man and woman shared a horse; in the wind and rain, they sheltered beneath the same eaves. Yan Cui was mischievous and always loved teasing her. Amid their laughter, arguments, and banter, feelings quietly took root. They also had moments when they relied on each other for survival, their lives hanging by a thread as they swore eternal vows.
He was young, reckless, and wanton, provoking her like a cat toying with a mouse. He deliberately called her
