Footprints on Clogs

Huai Ping, the most beautiful woman in Yanjing, had features as lovely as a painting and a gentle disposition.

Yet on the seventh night after her brother-in-law's death, she resolutely married him in a wedding ceremony. She then followed her twelve-year-old stepson, Tan Chiyue, to the northern frontier, where she stayed for seven years.

During the seven years Huai Ping was away from the capital, stories about her continued to circulate in Yanjing. Countless popular tales were written with her as their inspiration, and the chaste, steadfast heroine became the most beloved female lead in Yanjing's storybooks.

Seven years later, Huai Ping returned to the capital with Tan Chiyue, who had come back to report on his military service. The young general leaped down from his horse and helped the beautiful woman out of the carriage with his strong arms. In an instant, stepmother-and-stepson romance stories were all the rage, eclipsing the chaste, steadfast heroine tales.

Later, Huai Ping was kept at the residence of Huan Qi, the emperor's eldest grandson. Rumors spread that the two spent every night in bed together, and the book The Domineering Imperial Grandson and His Charming Widow sold out at once.

At the time, Huai Ping, whose disposition was said to be gentle, sat barefoot on a chaise longue, propped up with a storybook in her hands and an utterly incredulous look on her face.

She pinched Huan Qi's cheek. "A domineering imperial grandson?"

Then she pointed at herself. "A charming widow?"

Huan Qi knelt on one knee beside the chaise longue, one hand wrapped around her slender ankle. He gazed up at her with infatuated tenderness. "Yes. Very charming."

To Huan Qi, Huai Ping was tomorrow, the bright moon. Even when he fell into the mud, he couldn't bear to stain her. She was the person he would chase for the rest of his life.

He was willing to prostrate himself at her feet and submit to her.

Theme: Redemption