Brilliant Vermilion

Back in the hospital again. No new chapters until the 20th.

++++ At fifteen, Lu Huaying met Wei Mingsu.

That year, she was a dazzling, willful young lady from a powerful family. He was a poor country scholar, raised in a temple, with nothing to his name and barely any standing.

At Chang'an's grandest cuju match, the crowd was like a sea. Huaying sat astride her horse, cracked her whip, and pointed at Wei Mingsu, who was holding the horses for the young noblemen. Smiling brightly, she declared, "I like him!"

The aristocratic clans and commoners, the powerful families and the humble, were separated by an unbridgeable chasm. She was the moon in the heavens, a flower among the clouds, lofty and far beyond his reach.

He was as insignificant as dust, never daring to dream of her, yet in the end he still fell for her.

That year, he threw caution to the wind, gave up his prospects, and solemnly wrote her a marriage proposal. Though he was poor, he promised to do everything in his power to make Lu Huaying comfortable and happy.

Lu Huaying's second brother gave a scornful smile and revealed the truth:

"How could a penniless nobody possibly catch Lu Huaying's eye? She publicly declared her love for Wei Mingsu only to spite her family."

It was like being flayed by knives and sliced by swords, his heart torn open.

Wei Mingsu picked up the shredded marriage proposal and left in disgrace.

The court was in turmoil, and the tides of power shifted. Lu Huaying's eldest brother was convicted and executed, and Lu Huaying was reduced to a servant.

The bold, carefree young lady fell into the mud and endured scorn and abuse. Accused of murder, she was thrown into prison.

The presiding judge, with his stern eyes and uncompromising manner, was none other than Wei Mingsu, the man Lu Huaying had once toyed with.

In just a few years, he had won the empress's favor and risen rapidly through exceptional promotions. Now in charge of litigation, he had unleashed a wave of prosecutions, chopping down the heads of powerful nobles and royal clansmen as easily as slicing melons and vegetables.

Kneeling before him in court, Lu Huaying looked at Wei Mingsu's face, colder than a blade's edge, as tears pattered down her cheeks. "If I say I loved you back then, will you save me?"

++++ Reader advisory:

++++ The characters are imperfect and have plenty of flaws. This is a character-growth story, so please don't read if that's not for you.

++++ The heroine develops a psychological illness at ages thirteen to fifteen due to certain circumstances, but she will recover.

The setting is a fictional Tang and Zhou. The protagonists, story, and characters are all fictional, though some are inspired by historical figures.

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Theme: Keep striving and work hard to improve yourself