Wei Si of the Wei family of Wu Commandery was blessed with a beauty's delicate frame and a slender waist.
With the court changing hands and the Wei family on the verge of decline, having achieved nothing of note, she has to find a man of high rank and illustrious lineage as soon as possible to preserve her family's standing.
But then she has a dream.
In it, the ruler, who stands above all others, claims to love her, yet brings about her family's ruin and leaves her to live alone in the cold palace.
Fu Huaishuo, the newly prominent capital noble who appears warmhearted and wins a great victory over the Northern Yi, will bind her in a shadowy chamber and stroke her face each day while calling her by someone else's pet name.
And her fiance, Xu Ningxing, the Imperial Tutor's son, will offer her up to the ruler's bed to save himself, letting anyone do as they please with her.
A year later, her family selects three suitable husbands for her.
As luck would have it, they are the very same three men from her dream.
With her coming-of-age ceremony drawing near, a panicked Wei Si stumbles straight into the arms of the newly appointed top scholar.
The newly appointed top scholar, Xie Hanshi, has the bearing of a pine and crane, and is disciplined and courteous.
He is the most noble, upright gentleman in all of Great Song.
No matter how Wei Si flirts with him, he never lets it show.
But no one knows that
Every time he sees Wei Si, he dreams of a mesmerizing scene: warm red bed curtains and the radiant shadow of a beautiful woman.
He can hardly bear it.
By a twist of fate, Wei Si still catches the ruler's eye.
On the eve of her summons to the palace,
In the shadowy chamber, the beauty's eyes glisten with tears. Their ragged breaths rise and fall, and a broad, warm palm rubs her nape, stirring waves of tingling sensation.
Xie Hanshi's jade-like brows knit as he struggles to hold himself back, and a flush slowly rises in his eyes. "Another dream?" His grip tightens, almost as if in punishment. "Why did you stop coming to me? Can I not give you what you want?"
Separated by only a window, the newly prominent Fu Huaishuo watches silently from the darkness for a long time.
His fingers slowly clench, the crisp crack of his knuckles swallowed by their intimate, lingering breaths.
[Blurb archived January 1, 2023]
P.S.:
1. A flirtatious, aloof noblewoman VS a disciplined and courteous top scholar
2. Ex Fu Huaishuo is reborn, the heroine has prophetic dreams, and the story features multiple men competing for her
3. Xie Hanshi is the endgame pairing
Theme: Treat others with sincerity
