When Shen Yiguang first arrived in Chang'an from a remote backwater, she immediately heard of Lord Jiang of the Three Judicial Offices and his great reputation.
They said he had mastered the Five Classics and excelled in martial arts, a rare talent for high office, the likes of which Great Zhao had not seen in a century.
They also said he and Princess Chaohua were deeply in love, and that he had remained devoted to her, waiting year after year for the princess to return to Chang'an.
Shen Yiguang had no interest in other people's affairs. Even Jiang Shudao made little impression on her. All she remembered was looking up at him in the dazzling light when he reached out to steady her.
Thin lips, a straight nose, and a refined bearing, yet his eyes were indifferent.
As the old saying in her hometown went, a man with a face like his was bound to be faithless and cold-hearted. Who would have thought he was the devoted lover of the rumors?
But she had not been mistaken.
For she, Shen Yiguang, was the one who later bowed with him beneath the wedding canopy, bore his children, and occupied the place of his wife for four years.
Even though she was not the scheming woman Jiang Shudao believed her to be, the one who had plotted against him.
Jiang Shudao did indeed show her just how cold-hearted he could be.
In the years that followed, Jiang Shudao would bitterly regret that day.
By then, Shen Yiguang had given up on him and had been cold toward him for a long time. That day alone, she called out to him before he went to work. "Lord Jiang, could you stay a moment? There is something I'd like to tell you."
He glanced at her coldly and did not answer.
Jiang Shudao never imagined that would be the last thing she ever said to him.
She no longer wanted anything from him. All she wanted was for him to take good care of their children after her death. But before she could say it, he had already walked out the door.
That was the day Shen Yiguang, a clerk in the Ministry of Justice, went undercover in an enemy kingdom to obtain military intelligence and died in the line of duty.
It was also the day he dressed for a formal journey, preparing to go outside the city to welcome Princess Chaohua, who had not returned to Chang'an in four years.
Shen Yiguang died that day, perhaps at the very moment he was raising cups with Chaohua.
From the day he learned of her death, he became a wandering soul, consumed by regret day after day. But later, Jiang Shudao met another woman.
That woman looked just like his wife.
[Reader's Notes]
1. An old-school arranged-marriage-turned-love story, with plenty of angst and a groveling arc.
2. The female lead truly gave her life for her country, so her later rebirth is in another body.
3. The ending is undecided.
4. The setting advances things a little compared to my last book. Women can take the imperial examinations and enter government service, and this is already commonplace.
[Screenshot dated March 10, 2023]
Theme: At the time, it all seemed ordinary.
