Stealing Peaches

Shortly after coming of age, Zhu Yingshi was hurriedly sent off in a carriage to the capital, where she would stay with her maternal aunt, the wife of the heir to Ding'an Marquis Manor.

She understood that her mother wanted her to spend some time with her cousin so they could settle on a wedding date. Her father had died young, and with only each other to rely on, she and her mother needed someone to depend on.

Although she and her cousin hadn't seen each other in years, they had kept in touch through letters. When they met again, he seemed nothing like the cousin she remembered.

Zhu Yingshi assumed that she had simply been too young back then and had mixed up her memories.

There were many people in the marquis's household, and the rules were complicated. Zhu Yingshi kept a low profile and was careful in everything, afraid that one mistake might cause trouble for her aunt.

One day, she met her cousin who had been acknowledged as her aunt's son, though he was born to a concubine. He had sharp brows and bright eyes, and was so handsome he seemed otherworldly. Though his face was cold, he bore a faint resemblance to the man in her dreams.

Later, Zhu Yingshi gathered her courage, hugged him from behind, and asked, "Brother Jin, is that you? It's Wanyan."

All she got in reply was a frigid, "Cousin, you've mistaken me for someone else."

Crown Prince Jin had been brilliant and exceptionally gifted from childhood, earning the emperor's deep affection. With the maternal relatives holding power and the crown prince dying unjustly, Crown Prince Jin was imprisoned at the imperial mausoleum and forbidden to leave for the rest of his life.

Three years later, Ding'an Marquis Manor gained an illegitimate son born to a concubine, Pei Jingchuan. He passed the imperial examinations with top honors, and the emperor took a liking to him because he bore a slight resemblance to Crown Prince Jin.

After all, this illegitimate son was also Crown Prince Jin's cousin, so it was only natural that they looked somewhat alike.

When Pei Jingchuan returned from accompanying the emperor on an inspection tour of the south, he found a young girl in the household whom he had never seen before. She had rosy cheeks and a lovely face.

He frightened her badly the first time they met. Only after asking her name did he learn that she was the girl he had been engaged to in his youth. If fate hadn't intervened, she would now be old enough to marry him.

But his position was perilous and his future uncertain. He was afraid he couldn't give her a stable life. It might be better for her to marry his cousin and live out her days in peace.

Perhaps they simply weren't destined to be together.

When the young girl, burning with fever and teary-eyed, clutched his clothes and called him "Brother Jin," Pei Jingchuan knew he could never hand her over to another man in this lifetime.

So be it. Protecting one more girl was no great burden. She had been destined to be his Crown Princess from the day she was born, to stand by his side as they claimed the realm together.

Theme: True love endures forever