Jiang Xunji was a trainee beautician at Yuanhua House. Her life had always gone smoothly, but when she came of age, she caught the eye of Lord Wu, a powerful nobleman in Chang'an.
On their wedding night, screams rang out through the residence, and a raging fire turned the window paper red.
The groom lay dead outside the bridal chamber. Someone gently pushed open the door, and blood ran down its frame.
The newcomer wore dark, immaculate robes and stood tall and straight. He held a bloodstained sword, yet his face was as flawless as jade.
He was Wu Liang, the Marquis's legitimate son.
Jiang Xunji trembled all over, but heard him rasp, "Go."
Few people knew that Wu Liang, son of the Marquis of the Wu family, was adopted.
His playboy persona was a disguise to protect himself. Carrying a blood feud, he had to tread carefully at every turn in the imperial capital.
The one step he got wrong was letting that Seventh Concubine escape on the night the marquis's household was wiped out.
And later, when she took pity on him and said she wanted to give him a home again, he followed her without hesitation.
From then on, Wu Liang and Jiang Xunji depended on each other.
With the Crown Prince's selection of a consort approaching, noblewomen flocked to Yuanhua House after hearing that it had a remarkably skilled makeup artist.
Word soon reached the imperial palace, and the name Xun Niang even earned an invitation from the empress herself.
The day Jiang Xunji entered the palace coincided with the consort selection. The Crown Prince fell in love with her at first sight and, heedless of everything, asked the emperor to grant them a marriage.
Jiang Xunji did not cower before the envious noble clans or the abyss of the Eastern Palace.
But amid celestial towers and deep red palace walls, Wu Liang dragged her into the Crown Prince's bedchamber. Only when he tore loose the sash at her waist did she truly grow afraid.
"Wu Liang, what are you doing? I'm your Seventh Concubine!"
In the dim lamplight, his eyes were dark as still water. He smiled with reckless, icy amusement, blood at the corner of his mouth from biting down in jealous anger.
"If Seventh Concubine truly wishes to take the throne as empress, A Liang will personally give you a dowry."
*The heroine's profession is fictional. The story is entirely set in an imaginary world, so there's no need to scrutinize the details.
Theme: Put family and country before love.
