Changning

Wen Ke was the eldest princess of Jiayang in Daliang. Born into splendor, she was passionate and unrestrained. She should have lived a peaceful, comfortable life, sheltered and cherished by those around her.

Instead, she died in the third year of her marriage to Qi Min, the young prince of Daqing.

From then on, Jiayang was no more, and Changning took her place.

Living again, she returned to Daqing. Her heart was no longer stirred by anything; she had come only for revenge.

*

"Changning, I'll avenge you and bear your grievances for you. But save your love for me. No one but me may take even the smallest part of it from you."

The emperor leaned close, his lips brushing her ear. "Forget him. Be with me."

Coming soon: Has Lord Pei Regretted It Today?

Que Xuefu was the legitimate daughter of the crown prince, renowned for her beauty and noble status. She was the most celebrated young lady in the capital. Her mother, the crown princess, had died young, and both her father and the emperor doted on her. Raised like a precious jewel, she could have anything she so much as glanced at, delivered to her the very next day.

Yet no one could have imagined that Que Xuefu would fall for a poor, down-on-his-luck scholar.

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Que Xuefu loved Pei Yuanting.

She had never met anyone like him: born in the mire, yet neither humble nor servile, as aloof as snow.

Que Xuefu knew he would not remain buried in obscurity forever.

Sure enough, on the day of the palace examinations, Pei Yuanting was named third-place laureate.

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By imperial decree, Que Xuefu happily married the newly appointed third-place laureate, just as she had wished.

Three years into their marriage, they treated each other with polite respect.

Even in bed, they followed the rules, making love once a week. The man never seemed to lose so much as his composure.

Que Xuefu assumed he was simply reserved and detached by nature, proper, aloof, and always mindful of propriety.

But one day, she saw him in secret helping a delicate young woman down from a carriage, speaking to her softly and tenderly.

This was a side of Pei Yuanting she had never seen.

Que Xuefu spent the entire night wondering what she had done wrong over the past three years.

Outside the study, she finally learned the truth.

She heard his voice, cold enough to cut to the bone: "Marrying her was an imperial order I couldn't disobey. I know what matters more: a prince consort who never enters the cabinet."

At that moment, the heart that had been deceived for the past three years suddenly saw everything clearly.

She had thought she could win him over, but had never imagined his heart could be colder than a winter night.

That night, dazed and distraught, Que Xuefu accidentally fell into a lake.

Her fever raged all night. When she woke, it was as if she had been reborn.

She looked at the white hairs at her father's temples, and tears rolled down her cheeks like beads.

Que Xuefu thought, she would never love Pei Yuanting again.

-

Pei Yuanting waited outside the palace hall all night, only to receive a letter of separation.

He asked why.

Que Xuefu replied with calm indifference, "I don't love you anymore."

She did not look at Pei Yuanting, and so she failed to notice the hand holding the letter tremble almost imperceptibly.

After a long silence, Pei Yuanting said hoarsely, "All right."

Later, the imperial succession changed, and the crown prince ascended the throne.

Que Xuefu was granted the title of Grand Princess Yining, while Pei Yuanting entered the cabinet as he had always wanted and became its chief minister.

News spread that the new emperor intended to find a prince consort for Grand Princess Yining.

When the man who had always been so composed and self-controlled saw another man coming and going from her bedchamber, he finally panicked. In that moment, he forgot who he was and rushed into the palace alone.

But he had forgotten that Grand Princess Yining was no longer the young woman whose every thought and feeling had once revolved around him.

The guards forced him to his knees in a humiliating heap. His usually spotless white robes were stained with dirt.

She sat alone on the high dais, dignified and aloof. In her eyes, there was no trace of the unreserved admiration and love she had once shown him.

Pei Yuanting's eyes were red. "Don't marry him."

Theme: Nothing soothes wounds like tenderness