Miss Pei's Trousseau

The dew is cold in the dead of night, and the ancestral hall’s bricks are chilly. Pei Zhiyue, the third young lady staying with her maternal grandmother’s Cui family in the capital, has lost count of how many times she has knelt in the ancestral hall. Her crime is theft. She is the Cui family’s little thief. Her aunt’s white-jade comb, her grandmother’s gold bracelet studded with gems, the gold-inlaid earrings from her second cousin’s display cabinet... She has stolen all sorts of things over the years, collecting dozens of items. Because she also has an exceptionally beautiful face, her grandmother hopes to sell her to a wealthy family as a concubine for a good price. So she keeps her thieving habit quiet, allowing Zhiyue to maintain some semblance of a pampered young lady in public. Her second aunt’s husband gets into trouble and appeals to Shen Chi, the commander of the Northern Branch of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The man has a devil’s heart, yet a handsome face. During the Shangsi Festival outing, he gallops in pursuit of a criminal and bursts into a crowd of noblewomen. His immortal-like looks make the capital’s young ladies’ hearts flutter, but moments later they hear that he skins people alive. Known as the “Living Flaying Star,” he leaves the girls’ faces deathly pale. He is gracious enough to visit the Cui family, where he catches her passing stolen goods over the wall. He kindly pulls her out of trouble, but she mistakes him for a bandit trying to rob her valuables. As they struggle, she tumbles headfirst into his arms. Prostrate against him, she begs for mercy, her clear, limpid eyes full of hurt and helplessness. “These valuables are everything I own. You can’t confiscate them. Spare me this once, and I’ll repay you a thousand times over...” Somehow, the normally cold and unfeeling commander falls for her. He not only lets her off, but also shields her from every storm. From then on, everyone in the capital knows that a lovely young woman is being pampered in the commander’s residence at the Northern Branch. Everyone says she has ruined her reputation and willingly given herself to a powerful man. They don’t know that even to reach for a newly blossomed spring flower, she has to step on Commander Shen’s shoulder; That Commander Shen personally brings her each bite of cloud-mist tea pastry; that even the lychees she eats while bathing have to be peeled and fed to her by him, one by one. On Lantern Festival night, thousands of lanterns light up the streets. The young lady quarrels with Shen Chi and packs her valuables to run away, only to be cornered by him. He holds the back of her neck and laughs softly. “You promised to repay me a thousand times over. You’ve barely done it a hundred times, and now you’re running away?” The delicate plum blossoms on the branch above them tremble, reminding her of last night’s springtime passion beneath the soft curtains. Her heart pounds and her legs go weak; she can barely stand. Later, trembling in his arms, she suddenly realizes that the most precious treasure in the world has long been tucked away in her heart. Theme: Only after tasting all the world has to offer can one understand the truth of a simple life.