A Stranger Beside Me

Because of a ridiculous fortune-telling claim that she would bring good luck to her husband, Zan Chun, a commoner and a widow, was able to marry Prince Su, a nobleman of the imperial family.

Zan Chun really did seem to bring her husband good fortune.

Before marriage, Prince Su was unloved by his parents and at odds with his brothers. Everyone feared him as the Jade-Faced Asura.

Over the three years of their marriage, her husband’s temper gradually improved. He became kind and courteous to others, and willing to listen to advice. He was considerate toward Zan Chun in every way, and kept the concubines in his household in name only. When she was ill, he stayed by her bedside without sleeping, caring for her himself.

Little by little, Zan Chun forgot about the days that came before and resolved to devote herself to building a good life with him.

But gradually, she discovered the clues she had forgotten, tucked away in the corners of her mind...

It turned out that the man she believed to be virtuous, lying beside her, was a liar who spoke nothing but falsehoods, a hypocrite and a villain.

[The male lead’s perspective]

Back then, Zhao Xun traveled alone to Chu to find his cousin, who was stranded there and had yet to return. But he accidentally revealed his whereabouts, was ambushed, and badly wounded.

During the ten days he lay gravely ill, Zan Chun saved him, placed him in a woodshed, and personally fed and cared for him.

Through a wall, he heard her husband call her Zan Chun.

Zan Chun, Zan Chun.

He repeated that name on his lips thousands upon thousands of times.

So what if she had a husband?

He would soon be gone.

Only he could protect her in this chaotic world.

[Reader advisories]

A melodramatic, over-the-top tale, with obsessive coercive romance and a sinister tone. The male lead is sexually inexperienced but genuinely evil. The female lead has a former husband, but their marriage ended before she got together with the male lead.

Theme: People should have the courage to escape hardship and persevere.