"His flawless disguise has just one flaw: her."
A self-reliant, tenacious ray of sunshine vs. a hypocritical, secretly ruthless power broker
Blurb One
Yao Yunshu's ex-husband, Zhao Chengyu, died young. But she died even earlier than he did.
Actually, he wasn't really her ex-husband. She was the only one who had divorced him.
They had never gotten along since childhood, yet a marriage contract tied them together.
After seven years of marriage, they hadn't become a loving couple, but a resentful one.
Zhao Chengyu took another man's betrothed by force and made her his concubine, doting on the concubine while mistreating his wife.
Yao Yunshu became a laughingstock. Everyone mocked her, saying a noble family's daughter couldn't hold on to her husband's heart.
She didn't want to live as a bitter wife, so she decided to divorce him.
"Zhao the thief stole my wife, so I'll kill Zhao the thief's wife. An eye for an eye."
Before she could divorce him, she was hacked to death by "someone else." Her corpse was hung on the city gate for all to see, and she became a wronged woman.
Reborn one day in the first year of her marriage, Yao Yunshu had already lost heart, even though Zhao Chengyu hadn't taken a concubine yet. She packed her things and prepared to run for her life.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Chengyu returned home victorious ahead of schedule. He was injured, but had lost his memory.
Amnesiac Zhao Chengyu: We are a deeply loving couple, perfectly in harmony.
Yao Yunshu: No, no, no. We're not. Nothing like that.
Zhao Chengyu: You're angry with me, but I'm only able to remember you. Doesn't that show how much I adore you?
Yao Yunshu: That's because we're sworn enemies. You hate me to the core.
Zhao Chengyu: I don't believe you. You're fooling me.
Yao Yunshu: ...
Blurb Two
Everyone says Zhao Chengyu is an exemplary gentleman. Though born into a family of imperial relatives, he supposedly "emerged from the mire untainted," a refined gentleman, warm and gentle as jade.
Only Yao Yunshu knows that beneath his handsome exterior, he is cold-hearted, ruthless, and cruel.
She had always been headstrong, and so had Zhao Chengyu. The two of them spent year after year locked in a rivalry.
Childhood sweethearts and young spouses, yet their relationship was the opposite of "deep and abiding love."
She died on the winter solstice after her twenty-seventh birthday.
Zhao Chengyu gazed at her battered corpse and laughed at the sky, saying "good riddance" three times. Then he drew his sword and hacked his enemy to pieces.
At last, he admitted defeat.
"Yao Yunshu, you win."
When it came to who would die first, he lost completely.
Zhao Chengyu's rebellion was cut short, and the great power broker died fifteen days after the winter solstice.
"Tell me, why did the Grand Marshal die so suddenly?"
"That old wound reopened, from the sword Miss Yao stabbed him with all those years ago."
"Impossible. That sword missed the mark. It wasn't a fatal wound."
"What do you know? Miss Yao's sword struck neither too high nor too low. It pierced the Grand Marshal's heart."
Two lines from Agatha Christie's Endless Night sum up this story:
"You look at me as if you once loved me..."
"Some people are born embraced by happiness, while others are born surrounded by endless night."
Theme: Don't mend a broken relationship. Throw it away.
