A Palmful of Pennies

Synopsis 1: Wen Yi has recently been having the same dream. In it, the Wen family is utterly destroyed, and she is left destitute, drifting into the Entertainment Bureau. Her family's former coachman stands before her, high and mighty, and tosses her a silver ingot as alms. After waking up and returning to the past, Wen Yi decides to treat Chu He well, since he is destined to rise to great heights. But the day after she wakes is the very day Chu He is punished. Because he offended her, Wen Yi orders the servants to beat him and lock him in the woodshed. Yet no matter how she tries to get close to him, Chu He shows no response. Then, one day, when she brings him a meal again, a woman in plain clothes and a hairpin is sitting in Chu He's arms. She casts him flirtatious glances and smiles sweetly, while Chu He, usually as cold as ice and snow, calmly tightens his hold around her.

Synopsis 2: When Jiang Xianyu is brought before Chu He, her face thick with makeup and her body decked in gold and silver, he can't help laughing. The person who found Jiang Xianyu is also grinning from ear to ear. This woman abandoned Chu He for another man's arms without a second thought when he was still in white robes and struggling to make ends meet. Now that she's helped Lord Chu find his heartless old flame, she'll surely receive a handsome reward.

Chu He opens his palm. A handful of gold dust lies there, insignificant compared to his wealth. The man waiting expectantly for a reward, hunched over with his neck tucked in, is baffled.

"The woman once in plain robes is now sand in my palm." The man takes the gold dust, understanding that Chu He must still resent this woman.

As Jiang Xianyu watches Chu He pour the gold dust from the only purse he carries, she suddenly remembers seven years ago, when ruffians seized her and planned to sell her to pay off a gambling debt. Chu He stood in their way and took all the wages he had earned over the years from inside his robe, cupping them in his hands. "This meager wealth in my palm is all I have earned over the years. I would gladly give every last bit of it to save her."

Everyone believes she is insignificant, but no one understands that Jiang Xianyu is everything to Chu He.

Synopsis 3: In Zhudan County, a clerk is thrown out after making a mistake. Chu He, now homeless, endures two days on the streets alone. On the third day, some beggars drag him into an alley and beat him for taking up space. Chu He lies motionless on the ground until Jiang Xianyu helps him back step by step to a ruined temple. The young woman, dressed simply with no makeup, dusts off her hands and smiles brightly. "My name is Jiang Xianyu. I'm a performer at the theater. The owner hated that I was currying favor with the powerful and deceiving people, so he kicked me out. It's not safe for a woman to live in a ruined temple alone. I heard someone at the county office had taken bribes and been tossed out by the constables, so I brought you here."

Chu He gnaws on the two steamed buns she tossed him, then turns his back to her and says, "When I rise again, I'll make sure you reach the heights you deserve."

This story is also known as The Vanity-Seeking Woman's Steady Rise. Through the years, they truly rely on each other and truly look out for one another.

Reading Guide:

1. Spoiler: Chu He did not take bribes. The synopsis is only a rough outline, and neither lead is as simple as someone who merely craves power and wealth.

2. Your favorites and follows are what keep me writing. XOXO.

Theme: Even if everyone else is reborn and tries to change the fate of the world, the one I love is still you.