Phoenix Token

Note: The extra chapter is in the “Extras” collection on my profile. One chapter has been posted. People always like to pair talented scholars with beautiful women. But in all the history books Chu Ying had read, she had only seen Zhuo Wenjun weep over “Song of White Hair,” and Xi Daomao mourn her own abandonment. So when her cousin secretly became pregnant by Wang Lang, forcing Chu Ying to marry her cousin's fiance, a military man from the Zhao family of Nanjun, she wasn't as devastated as everyone else expected. In fact, she was rather pleased. In an age of great upheaval, books and writing could not withstand weapons and war. When the seas were in turmoil, the refined and delicate could not match the valiant and strong. There was nothing wrong with marrying into the Zhao family. Besides... “For the sake of one family and one surname, Ying forsakes the great clans to marry into a military family. Without an inheritance of a million zhu, how could I endure this humiliation?” “Our family's position as Grand Commandant came through the Zhao family. Now Ying is taking her elder sister's place and marrying into the Zhao family, so the position should rightfully go to my father!” Her grandfather, seated high on his jade platform, had a solemn expression as he lowered his eyes and said, “That is only right.” Everyone thought that after the elegant and refined Fifth Miss Chu married Zhao Xuan, a military man from a humble, provincial background, she would be utterly miserable. But the truth was that her father-in-law was powerful and high-ranking, and had eyes only for his beloved son, Zhao Xuan. And Zhao Xuan... He trusted and loved her, bowing his head before her and calling her Guanyin. The setting sun gleamed like molten gold, the evening clouds were magnificent, and Zhao Xuan whispered in her ear, “Of all the heroes beneath heaven, only I and my beloved wife are worthy of each other.” Chu Ying thought: “A three-foot sword amidst the dust of war, a soldier's uniform for the sake of the realm.” They had weathered the smoke and flames of war and the peace and prosperity that followed, loving and supporting each other all the while. And they never forgot that the sovereign and empress were the parents of the nation, ruling as its monarchs. Zhao Xuan told his closest ministers, “The Zhao family rules the realm, enjoys the ancestral temples and state altars, conquers lands spanning ten thousand li, and governs the Central Kingdom. Without my wife's devoted efforts, none of this would have been possible.” Across the Nine Provinces and Four Seas, we built an age of prosperity. With two sages ruling together, we held the imperial seal side by side. Note: The setting is an imaginary dynasty, the Liang dynasty, a unified empire the author invented as following the Eastern Jin. It later lost its hold on the north amid warfare and retreated to the southeast, becoming the Southern Liang in the story. It is not the historical Southern Liang or any real dynasty. Theme: Why seek pale green or deep red? This flower is the finest of them all.