As the legitimate daughter of Duke Heng and the Empress Dowager's own niece, Gu Ziyi was young in years but senior in rank. The princes and princesses all had to address her as their grandaunt.
She had been raised at the Empress Dowager's side from childhood, growing up alongside the princes and princesses. They got along well enough, except for the cold, sinister Crown Prince, with whom she never saw eye to eye.
She had never offended the Crown Prince. It was only because, as a child, she had thrown her seniority around to show off in front of his cousin that he overheard her teasing remark.
She had told the Crown Prince's cousin, "So what if you're the Crown Prince's cousin? Do you know how sweetly your Crown Prince cousin calls me Grandaunt?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Gu Ziyi turned around and saw the Crown Prince standing behind her, his face gloomy and his gaze icy.
Gu Ziyi: ...Is it too late to be born again?
The Crown Prince had sneered at her then, and from that day on, he never gave her a kind look.
Gu Ziyi lived in constant fear of his revenge. Her aunt had warned her that the Crown Prince was terribly vindictive.
Later
In the bridal chamber, the man slipped off her phoenix-patterned wedding robe and whispered in her ear, "Is this pressure to your liking, Grandaunt?"
Gu Ziyi: ...Aunt was right. The Crown Prince really is vindictive!
That day, Gu Ziyi heard him call her "Grandaunt" all night, until her legs went weak.
Everyone in the capital knew that although the Gu family, Dukes of Heng, seemed illustrious, their fortunes were all but spent. They survived only because the Empress Dowager supported them with all her might.
To preserve the family's glory, the Empress Dowager wanted to marry her stunningly beautiful niece to the Crown Prince, hoping the Gu family would produce another empress.
But the Empress also wanted to marry her own niece to the Crown Prince. The whole palace waited for the spectacle, well aware of who held the greater influence and had the better odds: the Empress Dowager or the Empress.
The current emperor was not the Empress Dowager's son, while the Empress was the Crown Prince's birth mother. Naturally, the Crown Prince was closer to his mother's family, and he had never thought much of the Gu family girl anyway.
Everyone was waiting to see Gu Ziyi make a fool of herself. But then the Crown Prince personally petitioned the emperor for an imperial decree, asking to marry the Gu family's legitimate daughter. The onlookers had egg on their faces, but tried to save face: The Crown Prince was only being considerate of the Empress Dowager!
Only the people of the Eastern Palace knew how, on countless dark and stormy nights, their lofty Crown Prince would stand outside the palace and plead softly with the Crown Princess:
"Wanyan, let me come back to bed. It's so cold in the study."
Theme: A beautiful, sincere love
