A Letter of Divorce

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When the meeting is right, it is never too late.

Princess Ji Mingsheng can be a respectable noblewoman, or she can divorce her husband with a single letter and let her prince consort follow his beloved first love.

The trouble is that divorce gives her a rather bad reputation. And her bold act inspires others to follow suit, leaving a trail of "grievances" in its wake.

Still, it seems General Lou Changwei has no reputation to speak of either, except for his fearsome and wicked name. Even his late wife believed his sins ran so deep that she spent her days chanting and praying, afraid Heaven would punish him and bring harm to the family.

Who cares about their reputations? Let them be as bad as they like. She is a princess, and he is a general. Even their detractors will have to grit their teeth and wish them a happy marriage that lasts a hundred years.

Ji Mingsheng filled a cup to the brim. "General Lou, shall we meet again in our next lives?"

Lou Changwei answered without hesitation. "Yes."

Ji Mingsheng: "What if we meet late again in our next lives?"

Lou Changwei: "As long as it's you, early or late, it will be the perfect time."

A secondhand marriage can be pretty wonderful, too.

Coming soon: The Merchant's Daughter

The Sang family of a border town owns a fur shop, a general store, a coffin shop, and a two-courtyard home. They have two or three servants, three daughters, and no sons.

Their "vast" estate has no heir.

The eldest daughter says, "Priceless treasures are easy to find, but I want a man who loves me. Take a husband into the family? No way."

The second daughter says, "The handsome scholar across the street is my childhood sweetheart. We're only one step away from pledging ourselves to each other."

The youngest, Sang Mo: "...All right, I'll stay home and inherit the 'vast' estate. I'll take a husband into the family. Father, Mother, what are your requirements?"

The Sang couple count them off on their fingers: "A peaceful household, a small family, and once he's married into our family, he can't favor his own. He has to be completely devoted to being our son-in-law."

Sang Mo promptly brings home a man nine feet tall, strikingly handsome and heroic. "Father, Mother, how about this son-in-law? His parents are both dead, he has no ancestors, and he lives in a ruined temple. He has nowhere to go astray, even if he wanted to."

The Sang couple: "Daughter, the color of his eyes seems a little unusual, and there's something different about his looks, too. He seems to have foreign blood."

Xie Sixing, the son-in-law who married into the family: "Maybe my father was a foreigner, or maybe my mother was."

Sang Mo is cautious. "You aren't hiding some secret identity, are you? If you are, I can't marry you into the family."

Xie Sixing looks at his snow-white skin, blinks his gray-blue eyes, and swears to the heavens. "Absolutely not. I'm an abandoned baby, unwanted by my mother and unclaimed by my father. I don't deceive anyone, young or old."

Sang Mo is satisfied. Good. Her son-in-law must be utterly ordinary, so he can help her manage her "vast" business empire. For starters, they can expand the fur shop into two storefronts.

Theme: Abandoning yourself is foolish. You have to love yourself before you can love others.