As the daughter of a powerful frontier governor, Shen Chunluo was careful in everything she did in the capital, worried that word would reach the emperor and cause trouble for her father.
Even her marriage was arranged only after careful consideration: she was to marry Qi Lan, the childhood friend from the neighboring fifth-rank Qi family.
His official rank wasn't high, which made him just right.
A month before the wedding, she saw Qi Lan in the morning. By late afternoon, he was dead at the Altar of the First Farmer.
As it happened, the war at the border ended in a great victory. To reward the Shen family, the emperor arranged another excellent match for Shen Chunluo: she would become the third prince's principal consort.
The third prince was as refined as jade. Which noblewoman in the capital wouldn't envy her?
Half a year later, Shen Chunluo married the third prince, who had been made heir to the Eastern Palace.
All she wanted was to preserve her Shen family's glory.
Less than a year after the wedding, her father was framed for treason, and more than eighty members of their household were imprisoned. Unable to clear his name, she died alongside the nation in mourning, in that cold winter.
She could not rest in peace.
When she opened her eyes again, it was summer. She was resting in a pavilion at her childhood friend's estate. Her father was still alive, and Qi Lan was still there. There was still time to change everything.
Just as she was about to speak, she heard an attendant beside Qi Lan say, "Since Your Highness is so eager to look after Miss Shen, why not arrange for her to become the crown princess?"
*
Qi Lan had cherished Shen Chunluo all his life. He had even thought of placing the most honored position in the world in her hands.
But his own status was low, and he was bound by propriety. He had wanted to take that step, never imagining that one moment of compassion would cost him his life.
As he breathed his last, Qi Lan's life flashed before his eyes. His only worry was this: if he died, the Shen family would be in danger. How would she face the pack of wolves and tigers closing in around her?
With that thought, Qi Lan looked back at the sleeping girl in the pavilion and coughed twice. "If I can make her happy, what does it matter if I earn a few curses? Besides, the histories of a thousand autumns will record it: the sun and moon shone together, and the phoenixes lived in harmony."
Theme: After a hundred years, all return to the western mountain's setting sun; through a thousand autumns and ages, all become dust at Be mang
