Jade in Peril

Liu Chuyu, the eldest daughter of Lord Liu, Vice Minister of Rites, was frail and sickly, with a fate said to be short-lived. Fortune-tellers and doctors alike declared she would not live past eighteen. Her birth mother was gone, and her family neglected her, so her health grew worse by the day.

Liu Chuyu herself believed that all men must die eventually, and lived each day as if she were merely going through the motions, counting down until her last breath. She had even had her shroud made in advance.

But fate had other plans. Her younger sister Liu Chuyuan's fiance, Prince Qi Ji Fu, was carried back from the battlefield covered in blood and with only one breath left.

Liu Chuyuan wept and refused to marry him, so after weighing their options, the family sent Liu Chuyu off in the bridal sedan instead.

Everyone remarked that this was the perfect use of their resources. Liu Chuyu was not long for this world, and Prince Qi was about to die, so the couple would probably meet again in the underworld before long.

But no one expected Ji Fu not only to survive, but to ascend the throne. Liu Chuyu's health also improved by the day, and she became empress.

The first order Ji Fu gave after waking was to secretly execute his new wife, but he never expected that

Liu Chuyu pricked her finger while embroidering.

Ji Fu: My fingertip hurts.

Liu Chuyu played chess all night.

Ji Fu: My eyes hurt, my head hurts, everything hurts.

Liu Chuyu read a tragic romance.

Ji Fu: My heart hurts.

Not only could Ji Fu not kill Liu Chuyu, he had to treat her like royalty. Eventually, he got used to it.

Might as well make the best of it. What else could he do, divorce her...

After Ji Fu woke up, the first thing Liu Chuyu heard him say was, "This marriage is in name only. Know your place, and don't get any ideas."

Five years later

Ji Fu: A-Yu, why don't you say you love me?

Liu Chuyu: This marriage is in name only. Know your place, and don't get any ideas.

A frail heroine with a rather bad temper x a cold, ambitious hero

2022.12.9

Theme: Health is the foundation of everything