Pluck and Break

After mourning for years following the deaths of her father and elder brother, Xie Yuanchun of the Xie family returns to Chang'an. With her beauty and family background, all she needed to do was plan carefully, and she could surely find a husband to her liking. But everything changed. She went from being a beauty of Chang'an whom scions of noble families eagerly sought to marry to an older unmarried woman everyone avoided. All because the all-powerful Chancellor Pei Ying declared that no Xie daughter was worthy of a match with him. Xie Yuanchun had no choice but to pack up and slink back to her hometown, only to be seized and taken to the Pei residence. Deep in the night, beneath a fragrant bed curtain, the man pinched Xie Yuanchun's chin and sneered, "You rejected me because I was born into a poor family. Did you ever imagine this day would come?" * No one in Chang'an knew that Pei Ying, the chief minister, had once been in love with Miss Xie. The more passionate the feelings, the more humiliating the parting. Looking at Xie Yuanchun's face, lovely as spring flowers yet utterly cold, Pei Ying was consumed by hatred. Back then, she had been the one to sweet-talk him, gazing at him with affection. Now she was the one speaking coldly, treating him with utter disdain. "How could someone born into a poor family like you ever be worthy of me, Pei?" Pei Ying swore he would make her regret it. An alternate Tang dynasty Theme: Pursuing happiness.