[Playful, Healing, and Sweet]
Fang Tian had been married to Lu Yi for three years. They ate at separate tables and slept in separate beds. Her husband was an ice block she could never warm, but she wasn't the least bit disheartened.
Because on the night before their wedding, she'd gotten a divorce agreement signed and sealed by her husband.
As agreed, once his three-year term of service in Suzhou ended, he would set her free before returning to the capital.
For those three years, she wouldn't have to fulfill any wifely duties. He would provide her with good food and drink.
Sounds good, Fang Tian thought. More than good.
The Prince of Su was her father, though he couldn't even say which daughter she was. Her mother had died young, and she'd had to get by under the thumb of her stepmother. To make life easier, she'd long ago learned how to flatter and please people.
Now she was mistress of a little courtyard, with food and drink taken care of. Apart from people from the prince's manor showing up every so often to make life difficult for her, she had nothing to worry about.
Fang Tian made one small additional request of Lu Yi: take her with him when he returned to the capital.
She'd lived all these years without ever leaving the fiefdom. She wanted to see the capital and find herself a happy marriage. She wanted never to set foot in Suzhou again for the rest of her life. That was all she asked.
On the day before their three-year agreement was due to expire, Lu Yi left for work on his own two feet, but that night he was carried home on a stretcher.
His forehead had been split open. His colleagues said he'd been injured on the job and the authorities would cover the costs, so Madam Lu needn't worry about the medical bills. She should just call the best physician to treat him.
On her way out to fetch a doctor, Fang Tian took a detour to the neighboring alley and knocked on the door of the second-to-last house. She quietly instructed the young man inside, "The plan may have changed. We might be a few days late getting to the capital. Don't worry. Wait for word from me."
By the time she returned with the doctor, her husband had already woken up. His eyes reddened when he saw her, and he stretched out his long arms and pulled her into his embrace. "Where did you go, my dear? When I woke up and couldn't find you, I was terrified."
What... Fang Tian shoved him away. She'd been married for three years without ever being intimate with a man. Being hugged by him made her... terrified, too.
After examining him, the physician delivered shocking news: her husband had hit his head and suffered memory loss. There was no telling when he'd recover. It could take a month, or it could take a hundred years.
As soon as midnight passed, Fang Tian pushed the divorce agreement toward him. "It's in black and white, with your own signature and seal. Don't even think of going back on it."
Lu Yi looked confused and pouted. He snatched up the paper and used it to kindle the stove, then stuck to her like glue. The tall, handsome man looked pitiful, like a lost little beast. "You tricked me, my dear. You love me so much. How could I bear to divorce you?"
You lost your memory, not your mind! And you're not a three-year-old child! Fang Tian tried in vain to reason with him. The next day, she went to the authorities. Her husband had been injured so badly; the government should take full responsibility. They could keep him and raise him. She didn't want him anymore.
But when Fang Tian gave the name Lu Yi at the government office, they couldn't find any record of him.
Fang Tian: If you don't want to take responsibility, you don't have to pretend you've all lost your memories.
After that, strange things began happening around the house. Her "foolish" husband acted strangely, and the Prince of Su, who had never paid her any attention, came to visit in person and kept calling her his daughter, making Fang Tian's skin crawl...
Meanwhile, the man she'd agreed to go to the capital with took her belongings and ran off. He fell off a cliff along the way and died without a trace, while a bundle of silver and jewelry lay abandoned on the main road, untouched by anyone.
Later, Suzhou changed overnight. The Prince of Su was implicated in treason and reduced to commoner status. He was sent to serve in the army in the far north with Fang Tian's stepmother and stepsister.
By then, Fang Tian had already arrived in the capital half a month earlier and moved into her husband's family home, the Lu residence of the Marquis of Yongan. Her father-in-law praised her as clever and virtuous, and her mother-in-law treated her even better than her own daughter. Her dear husband, Lu Yi, had just been appointed by the Emperor as the regional governor overseeing the three administrative offices of the Southwest Circuit.
Fang Tian had gone to the capital to see the world, then followed Lu Yi back to their old home in Suzhou.
Fang Tian: I made the trip for nothing. I gained nothing and lost nothing.
Lu Yi: Don't you feel guilty saying that? You gained a husband who adores and cherishes you and does whatever you say.
Fang Tian: I suppose... I don't.
Heroine: A demure little white flower who knows how to play innocent. Hero: An aloof beauty who loses his memory and turns into a soft dumpling with a dark heart.
Premise: You know my heart, and I am grateful for your love. This love is for Heaven to decide.
