Resilient, clever little ray of sunshine & composed, aloof prince
After her father was executed for treason and her family and relatives were forced into exile, Su Muxin went from a pampered daughter of the Minister of Rites to a beggar wandering the land.
Unwilling to accept her fate, she learned that Prince Huai, who had presided over her family's case, had lost his fiancee, whose features were strikingly similar to hers, to a fatal bout of typhoid. Zhao Jingchuan, Prince Huai, thought of her day and night. Su Muxin had a sudden idea: she would become his stand-in and keep him company, while using his influence to investigate her family's tragedy.
Her plan went smoothly. Faced with her familiar features, Prince Huai instructed his attendants to take good care of Su Muxin without showing any emotion, and let her stay in his residence.
Su Muxin put her all into imitating his gentle, refined late fiancee. Seeing Zhao Jingchuan hesitate to speak, she thought he was slowly coming to cherish her as he had his deceased fiancee.
**
Since Li Jiaoyue, his prospective princess consort, passed away, Prince Huai had devoted himself to religious study and ignored political affairs. Everyone said the prince was deeply devoted and heartbroken.
Later, a beggar "accidentally wandered" into Prince Huai's carriage, but he took her back to his residence and had her well cared for. When the maids saw the beggar cleaned up and dressed properly, they all nodded. "Mm, she looks about seventy or eighty percent like her."
Zhao Jingchuan often saw Su Muxin secretly practicing Li Jiaoyue's way of walking. Watching her treat him with gentle respect, he wanted very much to explain something. But Su Muxin always looked as if to say, "I understand. Your Highness needn't say more." So Zhao Jingchuan swallowed his words.
**
One day, while tidying Prince Huai's study, Su Muxin happened to find a painting tucked into a drawer. It showed a strikingly beautiful woman, seated on a horse and swinging a polo mallet, carefree and radiant.
Su Muxin tilted her head. "This... looks like me at the polo match three years ago."
Standing behind her, Zhao Jingchuan could no longer keep quiet.
**
Reader's guide:
1. Resilient, clever little ray of sunshine & composed, aloof prince.
2. The heroine carries the burden of her family's case. Becoming a stand-in is just a means to an end.
3. Includes political intrigue. The setting is a fictionalized version of the Ming Dynasty, with original worldbuilding.
2022.8.01
