Snow in the Courtyard

[Powerful man lowers himself / possessive love / groveling pursuit]

[Extremely controlling, possessive powerful man * delicate, sickly beauty]

The hibiscus bird flew away from the villa.

Snow fell in sheets.

Song Shuhe cowered in a cave. Countless candle flames illuminated her little face, smeared with dust and grime, and her eyes, wide with panic.

She watched Meng Ting'an take off his cloak and drape it over her shoulders, and heard him speak in the same gentle, calm tone he always used.

“Are you going to run again, Rongrong?”

Then

Meng Ting'an calmly drove a dagger into Song Shuhe's chest.

Everyone knew that Meng Ting'an was ruthless and wielded immense power, yet he cherished his “deceased wife,” Song Shuhe, above all else, spending his nights in the Moonlit Pavilion where she had once lived.

No one knew that the ice coffin holding Song Shuhe was actually empty.

The night grew late and the dew grew heavy. The candles in the Moonlit Pavilion burned all night.

Meng Ting'an brushed his fingertip over the moisture at the corner of Song Shuhe's eye, his voice unbearably gentle. “Why are you crying?”

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Halfway through the palace banquet, the Crown Prince used changing clothes as an excuse to step out for some fresh air.

In the misty rain, a figure stood in the waterside pavilion, drenched and utterly wretched.

The palace attendants said she was Wen Sui, the wife of the newly appointed top scholar. She should have been enjoying a life of boundless glory, but the scholar had given his heart to someone else and abandoned his new bride for his beloved, leaving her alone in the pavilion, weeping behind her hands.

How pitiful.

The Crown Prince scoffed.

He had someone bring her an oil-paper umbrella.

-

Wen Sui was the daughter of the Crown Prince's tutor. Gentle and meek since childhood, she had diligently served her parents-in-law for half a year after marriage, only to be told by her husband that she was “stuffy and dull.”

She knew her personality was unappealing, and she knew her husband's heart belonged to someone else.

But Wen Sui had no other choice.

She had studied the virtues and precepts for women since childhood, learning the Three Obediences and Four Virtues: obey your father before marriage, your husband after marriage, and your son if widowed.

At the palace banquet that day, her husband suspected her of harming the woman he loved. In a fit of rage, he shoved her into the rain and strode away.

At her most desperate moment, someone brought her an oil-paper umbrella.

Wen Sui thought she had met a good person.

Only later did she learn that he was the real wolf in priest's clothing.

Another palace banquet.

In the torrential rain, the newly appointed top scholar knelt at the Eastern Palace gates, shivering with cold.

Inside the hall, the hibiscus curtains were warm, and the storm had passed.

The Crown Prince's expression was gentle as he asked, though he already knew the answer, “...Sui Sui, should we let him in out of the rain?”

Wen Sui clutched her slightly rounded belly and sobbed, unable to speak.

Theme: Strive to live.