By a stroke of fate, Ning Qiqi rescued a young nobleman in fine clothes.
He was handsome and distinguished, but when he woke, he couldn't remember his name or family. Since the jade pendant he wore was engraved with the character Heng, she called him A-Heng.
She was a farmer's daughter. Her father had been missing since she was little, and her mother was frail and often ill. She had grown up relying on the kindness of her neighbors, so taking care of one more person was no easy matter.
Later, when she went into town to buy medicine, the sixty-eight-year-old county magistrate took a fancy to her. She didn't want to become his concubine, so with no other choice, she used the fact that she had saved him to get what she wanted.
**
A-Heng became her husband.
She thought she and A-Heng would spend their lives together, but one day, he left without a word.
Not long after he was gone, the village doctor told her she was two months pregnant.
Chu Qingheng finally remembered who he was: a great-grandson of Emperor Taizu of Great Jin and the hereditary Prince of Chu.
The new emperor was still a child, and Empress Dowager Chen ruled from behind the curtain. Her Chen clan relatives were tyrannical and lawless, leaving the people destitute and the empire on the brink of ruin.
After inheriting the title of Prince of Chu, he gradually took control of the empire's armies. He deposed the emperor, crushed the Chen clan, and installed a new ruler. In due course, he became the regent of Great Jin.
**
A year earlier, he had been ambushed. Gravely wounded, he fell from a cliff and lost all his memories. He was rescued by the farmer's daughter Ning Qiqi.
Had he never remembered, perhaps he could have lived out his life happily. But he remembered everything, and Ning Qiqi was no longer the bright moon to him.
He despised her lowly origins, her despicable attempt to use her kindness to claim a reward, and her presumption in calling herself his wife.
He had never looked down from his lofty position. How could vulgar, worldly things ever catch his eye?
Besides, he and the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Pingnan had been childhood sweethearts. He was supposed to marry her.
**
He wanted nothing more to do with Ning Qiqi.
After returning to the capital, he ordered his subordinate to deliver a divorce letter written in his own hand. But instead, the subordinate brought Ning Qiqi back to the prince's residence, because she was pregnant.
He had wanted to put an end to the matter once and for all, but when he thought of the child in her womb, he could only arrange for her to stay at a country estate and grant her the status of a concubine.
The estate was far from the prince's residence. He had no wish to see her again.
On the eve of his wedding to the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Pingnan, a fire broke out at the estate, reducing her quarters to ashes.
News arrived from the capital: Great Jin had changed emperors again. This was the third emperor the regent had installed.
In private, the common folk whispered that the regent might as well take the throne himself. It would save them the trouble of installing one useless emperor after another, only to depose them again.
Ning Qiqi didn't care about any of that. She only cared about whether she could keep herself fed and clothed, and whether she should move somewhere else to hide. She had concealed herself well for five years, not even daring to acknowledge her own father after finding him.
Five years ago, she had barely escaped the fire. She finally understood that the lavish residence was a place that devoured people, and saw Chu Qingheng for who he was.
He was the Prince of Chu of Great Jin, but he was no longer her A-Heng.
So she hadn't died. Not only that, she had pulled the same trick again.
The secret guards reported that the assassin who had tried to kill him had collapsed by the roadside and been rescued by her. She had cared for the assassin with great devotion, and now she intended to marry him.
**
In the pitch-dark dungeon.
Ning Qiqi watched helplessly as the man who was supposed to marry her lay dying on the ground. There was nothing she could do.
Chu Qingheng stood there, looking down on everyone. He wiped his sword with a cloth, his expression indifferent. "Why are you so upset? I only scratched his face."
Fear took hold of her, and she retreated. He tossed aside his sword, abruptly pulled her into his arms, and pressed his lips to her ear. His voice was low and deliberate. "Have you forgotten, Qiqi? I'm your husband."
"..."
(A plain and unassuming farmer's daughter vs. a powerful prince. Possessive pursuit, the powerful one eventually yielding. The male lead is ruthless and will stop at nothing, and has nothing to do with either a gentleman or a good person. The amnesiac A-Heng in the early story and the Prince of Chu after he regains his memories can be treated as two different people. The heroine is beautiful but not breathtakingly so. Both leads have only ever been with each other. Happy ending.)
Core Theme: Learn to love yourself.
Thank you to heaven, thank you to earth, thank you for your hard work~