I still remember how young we were back then. At the palace selection, the newly crowned top scholar Zhou Xianqing sat tall on his fine horse, carefree and dashing. Xu Lingyan only had to rise onto her tiptoes among her sisters for one look, and she had seen something more beautiful than anything else in the world.
The love at first sight between Miss Xu and the top scholar became a famous romantic tale in the capital. But it did not last long before it became a joke.
Zhou Xianqing rode on the support of the Xu family to become a rising star at court, then turned around and denounced Lord Xu. The Xu family was destroyed, and its members lost their lives, all in a single night.
When her dream of a golden millet pillow ended, she was fortunate enough to return to the moment when she was sixteen, standing on tiptoe and hoping the top scholar would ride past her family home in the parade.
This time, though, she couldn't be bothered to look.
She pivoted and turned to the young man behind her. He looked displeased, as if sleepy, as if scornful.
By a little bridge and flowing stream, as lovers murmured together, she leaned against his shoulder and spoke softly, pretending to pout:
