[Classic groveling romance]
[Bright, pampered young heiress x aloof, proud, chaste gentleman]
Qin Zhaozhao had been married to Wen Xun for two years, and had spent those same two years loving him alone.
Qin Zhaozhao's father was immensely wealthy. He had raised her to be pampered and carefree, decked out in jewels from head to toe, and living no less comfortably than an official's daughter.
Then, on a snowy night at the City God Temple, she saw the man in his courtyard, snapping off a plum blossom. It was as if he had snapped half her heart along with it.
The young master of the Wen family in the south of the city came from a fallen aristocratic house, but still possessed the cool, proud bearing of a scholar.
Qin Zhaozhao lost her appetite and pleaded with her father for a long time before finally getting her wish and marrying into the Wen family.
Even though the man disliked a fuss and the wedding was a modest affair.
Even though, after they married, he was always busy with official duties and spoke in a plain, indifferent way.
Qin Zhaozhao still thought it was wonderful.
The man was simply cold by nature. Since he had married her, he must have been willing to do so.
-
But one day, the man came home with a frail young woman clinging to his sleeve. He said she was his cousin, who had been separated from the family as a child.
She grew jealous.
But she was told that the girl had been promised to him in childhood, and that they had shared a bond since they were young.
Her own family, on the other hand, were the ones taking advantage of a favor they'd done for the Wens.
In the third month of spring, her anger brought on a miscarriage scare.
When she was a step away from death's door, Qin Zhao heard a servant report that her husband had set off for his new posting in Qi with his cousin. Their boat had already reached the opposite bank.
She called across the river for a long time, but her husband... never looked back.
Qin Zhaozhao smiled, threw away the betrothal jade hairpin she had treasured as dearly as her life, and knocked over the incense burner that night.
She would never beg for his love again.
-
When Wen Xun hurried back, the graceful figure who used to lean by the door and wait for him was gone.
All that remained were the collapsed beams and a charred corpse consumed by the flames.
The man who had never let his feelings show spat up blood.
Two months later, a tavern suddenly opened on the banks of the Qiantang River, thousands of miles away.
The landlady had a face like the bright moon and was stunningly beautiful.
When someone suddenly came to visit, one glance at her left him dazed, as if struck by lightning. "...Zhaozhao."
Qin Zhaozhao gently waved her palm fan and smiled brightly. "Have you mistaken me for someone else, sir?"
The tall, stern man trembled all over and staggered as he pulled out the jade hairpin he always kept against his heart, desperate to prove who she was.
"I am your husband."
Qin Zhaozhao tilted her head and touched the jade hairpin in her hair, then smiled and turned him down.
"You have the wrong person. I'm a vulgar woman who loves nothing but gold and silver."
After saying this, she turned her head, making the light glint on the gold hairpin in her hair.
"My husband gave me this gold hairpin. Isn't it beautiful?"
[Blurb revised on October 25, 2024, and archived]
[The male lead will not change. There are hidden circumstances.]
Theme: Through mountains and rivers, I came for love.
