Jin Yuzhuo was the prettiest girl in the surrounding ten li. When she reached the age for marriage, matchmakers wore down the threshold of her family home.
The realm had only recently been pacified, and everything was waiting to be rebuilt. The displaced people gathered into villages and towns, took up farming, blacksmithing, and small businesses, and gradually settled into stable lives.
But Jin Yuzhuo's marriage prospects remained undecided. After weighing her options, she picked a lame man, no longer young, with only three mu of poor farmland and a frightening scar on his face. They said he was a general who had retired from military service.
The matchmakers throughout the county lamented: "A general, my foot! He's a cripple! How could he be worthy of a delicate young lady? She'll suffer if she marries him. This match cannot be made."
Jin Yuzhuo paid them no mind. Unable to find a matchmaker, she rode in a small sedan chair and went to propose herself.
The man was driving an ox to plow the field. He turned his face away from her scorching gaze and shook his head in refusal. "I am a half-ruined man. I cannot accept a young lady's generous affection."
Jin Yuzhuo furrowed her brows. "I want to marry you. Don't you dare refuse me!"
Theme: Live the life you want
