For a Branch

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[Flashback content is in the first eighteen chapters]

In the Southern Dynasty, women were forbidden to read. When Yuanzhi was fourteen, her adoptive father flew into a rage after catching her reading and threw her into the snowy wilderness.

Yuanzhi trekked through the snow for seven days, until she ran into a pack of wolves.

She fought them for three days and was about to be torn apart when she was rescued by a red-clad youth who had "run away from home."

The youth in red was named Weimian.

At first, he wanted to kill her. Then he took pity on her, and eventually, he was mending her clothes.

Weimian would make fish soup with her and cook for her.

He would make lanterns with her and search for hairpins for her.

He would bring her a camellia and confess his feelings.

Yuanzhi liked him.

Later, during the battle at Luobei, Yuanzhi learned that Weimian was the legitimate son of Prince Yanqing of the Southern Dynasty.

In that battle, Weimian lost both his parents.

He was going back to the capital.

Weimian looked at her and told her to leave.

Yuanzhi smiled and asked him, "If I get married someday, will you come?"

He said nothing.

Yuanzhi's eyes curved into a smile. She was just about to speak when Weimian gave her two chests of pearls.

His silhouette was framed against the plain curtain. She heard Weimian say, "Those two chests of pearls are my wedding gift to you."

Yuanzhi stared at his shadow for a long moment, then suddenly smiled and said in a very soft voice, "Thank you. You really are like a dear brother to me."

Their fate began with a single pearl and ended with two chests of pearls.

When Yuanzhi was seventeen, she learned that she was the biological daughter of the Minister of Rites. Because of her adoptive father, she came to the capital.

By then, she was no longer a lonely girl with no one to rely on. She was the newly crowned champion of Xiyan Tai.

(The famous scholars and gentlemen who visited Xiyan Tai that day would probably never forget the young genius for the rest of their lives.

"A poem in seven steps, fame resounding throughout the land" was the highest praise anyone could give him.

Later, the Master went into seclusion, and he was rarely seen.)

The legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites was betrothed to a spoiled young heir in the capital. Yuanzhi married the heir, Li Wei.

And Li Wei was Weimian.

He no longer recognized her.

He was no longer flamboyant or carefree. He had become insecure and pitiful.

Every time Li Wei looked at her, his eyes held an indescribable affection, yet he stubbornly believed she was looking past him at someone else.

After Li Wei and Yuanzhi married, no one in the capital thought much of the couple.

After all, the former had lost his parents early and grown into an illiterate wastrel in the capital, while the latter was the sickly legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites, raised in the countryside.

Everyone thought they were together in name only, and that sooner or later they would fail to hold on to the vast estate of Prince Yanqing's household.

Later, the Northern Barbarians mistakenly took Yuanzhi hostage.

Everyone urged Li Wei to abandon his useless wife, the heir's consort.

But after this wastrel of a young heir rescued his wife single-handedly, Emperor Wenping had him imprisoned on the grounds that he was "harboring treasonous intentions."

Meanwhile, the country girl no one had thought much of dragged her frail body from one noble household's gate to another. She brought out the jade pendant that symbolized the champion of Xiyan Tai and begged the noble families to save her husband for the Southern Dynasty.

Only then did the scholars and gentlemen realize to their astonishment that the world-renowned Master Guixian was a woman.

After the battle at the Huai River, no one ever again called Li Wei a wastrel.

He led troops against the Northern Barbarians, became the new emperor of the Southern Dynasty, and took charge of this deeply troubled nation.

He was invincible on the battlefield.

"With ten paces, he slays a man; blood and flesh flow like a river."

Only later did the people learn the truth.

Their new emperor had only wanted to see his beloved before the lantern festival ended.

Li Wei had pretended to be a wastrel for most of his life, all to avoid the emperor's suspicions.

Only later did he understand that he had to wield the sword in his hand, fight on the battlefield, and gain power at court before he could dare dream of taking her into his arms and protecting her for a lifetime.

Reading guide:

1. One couple, both each other's first, happy ending. There are some ensemble elements. The male lead's mother transmigrated; the male and female leads are natives of this world.

2. In the early chapters, the male lead is called Weimian and the female lead Yuanzhi. Later, the male lead is called Li Wei and the female lead Yuanzhi.

3. The leads' names come from the line, "There is angelica in the Yuan River and orchids in the Li River. I think of you, my lord, but dare not speak."

4. In this story's setting, "women are forbidden to read." The dynasty is very loosely based on history, so please don't read too much into it.

Theme: No matter what you are like, there will be someone who loves you.