One Laugh Wipes Away Old Grudges

Shen Zhiheng and Su Qingyuan had a marriage agreement when they were young.

Back then, he was the spirited son of a military family, while she was a gentle, refined young lady from the Censorate's household. Beneath the moon, they pledged to admire the moon over Chang'an together one day. But the court was thrown into turmoil, and the Shen family was accused of treason. They were brought down overnight, and the entire family was exiled. To save themselves, the Su family submitted a memorial denouncing them, personally pushing the Shen family further into ruin.

Shen Zhiheng survived by chance and fled to the frontier. He endured ten years of bloodshed and battle, then returned to the capital through his military achievements, commanding a powerful army and holding great authority. His first act upon returning was to settle old scores. The Su family was on the brink of ruin, and their former marriage agreement had become the sharpest blade between them.

Knowing her family was in the wrong, Su Qingyuan offered no defense or plea for mercy. She quietly bore every cruel remark and deliberate slight he dealt her. Everyone thought his hatred ran deep and that he would make the Su family pay in blood. Even Shen Zhiheng himself believed this hatred would stay with him for the rest of his life.

As they clashed again and again, the past gradually came to light. He slowly learned that the Su family had been forced to submit their memorial under someone else's control. To save his life, Su Qingyuan had worked behind the scenes, putting herself in danger time and again and burying countless grievances she could never speak of. All these years, while shouldering her family's guilt, she had quietly protected the few remaining traces of him in the capital, bearing all the blame alone.

Their grievances were tangled together, and love and hate intertwined. He hated the Su family's betrayal, yet he could not ignore the protection and concern she had hidden beneath her cold exterior from the very beginning.

The turmoil came to an end, and the true culprit who had framed the Shen family was brought to justice. At the long pavilion, autumn winds swept past as the two gazed at each other from afar. The injustice that had haunted them for ten years was finally cleared, but the feelings born in their youth had already been left in ruins by hatred.

He no longer needed revenge, and she no longer needed to suffer.

There would be no reconciliation, no renewal of their marriage agreement.

They simply looked at each other from afar and smiled faintly.

A thousand grudges and ten thousand resentments all faded with that smile. But the years they had lost and the feelings they had once held could never return. They could smile and let go of their grievances, but the love could never be reclaimed.

A court scandal severed their youthful marriage agreement. Shen Zhiheng returned after ten years, carrying his hatred and demanding that Su Qingyuan answer for the past at every turn. When the truth finally came out and the injustice was overturned, they met at the long pavilion and smiled as they let go of their old grievances. Their hatred could be put aside, but their lost love could never be recovered.

Ten years of resentment vanished with a smile. Only the feelings they once shared could never be found again.

Theme: Historical romance.