Meeting You

Complete. [Arranged marriage, love after marriage, and satisfying face-slapping] Genres: romance, mystery, political intrigue, and more. Xu Yunqi attends a palace banquet and, through a twist of fate, is betrothed by the drunk emperor to Pei Muheng, the capital's most eligible young gentleman. Everyone says Xu Yunqi has struck it lucky, managing to marry such a wealthy and desirable husband. Even the entire Xu family thinks so. Only after the wedding does she learn that Pei Muheng has a childhood sweetheart from a family of equal standing, whom he had intended to marry. On their wedding night, Pei Muheng is cold and distant, laying down three rules for their marriage. Xu Yunqi silently agrees to every one. Afterward, they treat each other with courtesy and live their quiet, uneventful lives. Xu Yunqi always knows her place and never oversteps. * Pei Muheng is elegant and refined, with a noble bearing unlike any other. He is the most talked-about imperial grandson in the realm. Every noblewoman in the capital was once his to choose from, but his imperial grandfather made a wildly unsuitable match and married him to the daughter of a low-ranking official. Though Pei Muheng was unhappy, he had no choice but to accept the decree. He spends more than half of every month in the palace. His impression of his new bride is that she is quiet, gentle, and sensible, never clinging to him. After they consummate their marriage, he sees that she is lovely and soft-spoken, diligently managing the household. She is so virtuous that, despite her humble background, he could bear to spend the rest of his life with her. Until a mishap at a banquet leads him to discover, quite by chance, that she has a “moonlight” in her heart... Pei Muheng has always thought of himself as decisive and ruthless, cold-hearted and unsentimental, never having cared for anyone. But this time, he tosses and turns sleeplessly in the dead of night, tasting the bitterness of wanting someone he cannot have. (Arranged marriage, love after marriage, a husband trying desperately to win back his wife; the heroine is gentle on the outside and strong within, and has no heart.) Coming next: Feng Yi (a fierce push-and-pull between a palace woman official and the emperor; a refined villain of an emperor falls from his pedestal) Synopsis: Li Sheng'er is the least distinguished in status among the women selected to serve as palace officials, yet the most beautiful. The other young women guard against her at every turn, refusing to let her appear before the emperor. By chance, Li Sheng'er offends the emperor, and he comes to her rescue. At first, the emperor finds the young official simple, gentle, and easy to bully, and seeks her out to relieve his boredom. Later, taken by her soft, lovely beauty, he takes her to his bed. Sheng'er timidly asks the emperor, “Your Majesty, could you grant me the title of Noble Lady?” Only a Noble Lady can be mistress of a palace. Sheng'er does not want to be kept under someone else's thumb. She is his first woman, and she believes she is special to him. Remembering that her father holds no high office, the emperor casually smooths a loose strand of hair at her temple, his expression unmoved. “With your status, you are not qualified to become a Noble Lady.” “And I will not bend the rules for anyone.” His words pierce Sheng'er's heart. Clutching her thin robe, she silently swallows her tears in the rain-blurred night. At last, she understands that he will always be the lofty emperor, while she is merely a fleeting comfort in his leisure. Resolving to break free and transform herself, she leaves her gilded cage. The emperor hopes Sheng'er will bear his child. One month passes, then two. No happy news arrives, only word that she has left the palace. That day, snow falls thick and fast. Cups and saucers lie shattered across the Hall of Mental Cultivation. At first, he thinks that once she is carrying his child, he might consider making her a Noble Lady. Later, he racks his brains over how to place the imperial phoenix seal in her hands. (A husband trying desperately to win back his wife; a fierce push-and-pull between a palace woman official and the emperor.) (A refined villain of an emperor falls from his pedestal.) Note: No palace scheming. One-on-one romance. Theme: Only hard work will never let you down.