They say a middle-aged man's three greatest joys are getting promoted, striking it rich, and outliving his wife.
Marquis Yan has enjoyed all three.
After quelling the border raiders and earning his title on the battlefield, he returned home to a sea of respectful, ingratiating smiles.
May good fortune be with you, Marquis.
May everything go your way, Marquis.
The young woman he'd been forced to marry for the sake of the family had died quietly in the back courtyard. Even the forty-ninth day after her death had passed.
At twenty-four, Marquis Yan had suddenly become the most eligible son-in-law in the capital.
But when the Third Branch and the Second Branch fell out, he finally realized that the headstrong young woman who had defied her elders, flouted propriety, seduced her cousin's father, and refused to be tamed had borne so much for him in secret...
Crying at his wife's grave, Marquis Yan was even more astonished to find that the coffin held nothing but a single golden hairpin...
Where was his wife?
Where was his beloved?
He... He had been wrong...
Theme: Strive tirelessly to better yourself.
