My Dearest, You Know

The Shen family was a household of military commanders, with generation after generation serving in the army and a home full of fierce warriors. Then their fifteenth daughter was born. On the day she picked an item, she reached for the military seal with her left hand and a little red-tasseled spear with her right, babbling and making the whole room laugh. Only Old Madam Shen furrowed her brow and sighed. After a night of murmuring at his bedside, General Shen issued an order with dark circles under his eyes: "The Shen family can't be full of rough soldiers and fierce women. We need to raise our fifteenth girl properly. Bring her up to be delicate, like the noble young ladies of the capital!" By the time Shen Weiqiao was seven, she was a darling little beauty, wearing the softest silk shoes and walking with the lightest steps, every bit as graceful as the noble girls of the capital. That same year, a cousin came to stay with the family. He was as handsome as a jade tree, exceptionally good-looking, and already well-read and talented at such a young age. Shen Weiqiao and her cousin studied and practiced calligraphy together, always side by side from morning to night. They made a lovely pair. The maid who looked after Shen Weiqiao quietly told her that everyone said she and her cousin were childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable, and destined to marry one day. The little girl's cheeks turned rosy, and she nodded, still too young to understand. One day, the enemy suddenly attacked. Behind the city wall, Shen Weiqiao clutched her skirt, huddled beside her cousin, and tilted her head to call in a sweet voice, "Brother Yuanshu, I'm scared." The resolve in her cousin's eyes crumbled instantly, replaced by ten times as much panic as hers. "Shut up! I'm scared too!" With a bang, his image collapsed, and the childhood-sweetheart filter shattered to pieces. Shen Weiqiao suddenly saw her cousin for what he really was. In front of his teachers, he was more eager than other boys his age to show off and seek attention. In front of his elders, he was more skilled than his peers at flattering them and acting obedient. When times got tough, he gave up easily and had none of a soldier's spirit. With the enemy at the gates, he'd definitely save his own skin by selling out his comrades! He was a hypocrite, a real villain! Was this the childhood sweetheart everyone sang about as the perfect match? Then she didn't want one! The little girl wiped away her tears, picked up the red-tasseled spear, taller than she was, and charged toward the barracks with a determined stride... Her mother was right. A girl had to make herself strong! Years later, they met on the streets of Chang'an. One was a successful and famous young woman general, the other a gentleman renowned for his virtue. Shen Weiqiao propped her red-tasseled spear on her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, why did you go to the young men who came to ask for my hand and tell them we're childhood sweethearts?" Cui Yuanshu smiled faintly. "To make them give up." "You little rat, Cui Yuanshu! How is marrying me and spending your life with me a difficult thing? You really did go around badmouthing me, didn't you?" The tenderness in Cui Yuanshu's eyes crumbled to dust. He turned away with a sigh. "...It is pretty difficult." Revised on June 8, 2023. Screenshot. Theme: Be self-reliant and keep striving forward