Crown Prince Xie Heng was ambushed by surprise and gravely wounded, collapsing outside a remote clinic.
The clinic’s only physician, Qin Qing, who happened to be a woman, tied him up, stripped him down, cleaned his wounds, and applied medicine.
Qin Qing: I’m just a woman, so I have to be on my guard. You don’t mind, do you?
Xie Heng, barely conscious: “Could you at least put some clothes on me first?”
His parents were dead, he had no brothers, and his relatives were doing everything they could to seize the Qin family’s estate.
At her wits’ end, Qin Qing bashfully approached Xie Heng with a proposal. “Um, you don’t look like you can afford your medical bills. Why don’t you become my live-in husband? You can consider the medical fees my betrothal gift.”
Xie Heng, forced into a wedding dress: “I’ll have you sentenced to death!”
On their wedding night, Qin Qing considerately helped Xie Heng onto the bed and gently reassured him. “Husband, don’t feel embarrassed. We can consummate the marriage once you’re feeling better. I don’t mind waiting.”
Xie Heng, furious with embarrassment: “I’ll have your entire family executed!”
Later, after the treacherous ministers were executed and reinforcements arrived, Qin Qing finally learned that the live-in husband she’d casually picked up was actually the current crown prince, second only to The Outcast and above everyone else. Weeping bitterly, she declared, “This commoner is willing to divorce you!”
Xie Heng regarded her darkly. “You want to divorce me?”
Qin Qing, tears streaming down her face: “Then should I write you a letter of repudiation?”
Xie Heng: “I’ll wipe out your entire clan!”
Crown Prince’s Attendant: “Your Highness, you’re currently the first person in her clan.”
Xie Heng: “If you keep your mouth shut, no one will think you’re mute.”
After the crown prince returned to the capital, he brought back a country girl who knew nothing about the world. Her rank was the lowest possible, a palace attendant. Everyone waited to see Qin’s humiliation. A country bumpkin with no family status, no beauty, and no cunning was bound to fall out of favor sooner or later.
What no one knew was that every night, when all was quiet, the lofty crown prince would climb over the wall and plead softly, “Sweet Qingqing, please open the door for your husband.”
Qin Qing replied coldly, “The law states that a man who treats his wife as a concubine shall be exiled for two years and receive a hundred strokes. Your Highness, you haven’t been punished yet.”
Xie Heng dangled a grand promise before her. “Let’s start with a small goal, like becoming a palace attendant. Then we’ll set a big goal, like becoming empress dowager.”
Years later, Qin Qing indeed rose from palace attendant to crown princess, then empress, and finally empress dowager. She still couldn’t understand. “There are so many noble ladies and beauties in the world. Why me?”
Xie Heng lowered his eyes and peeled a whole bowl of grapes for her before answering calmly, “Because when everyone else wanted me to fall into hell, you were the only one who tried with all your might to pull me back.”
Theme: There are plenty of joys to be had as a live-in husband
