Spring Colors at Mingtai

Beautiful, kind-hearted marriage-alliance princess vs. frail, scheming heir

Ming Tan was born like an eagle on the grasslands, living free and unrestrained.

Until she was sixteen, when Wutu's cavalry devastated the walls of the royal city.

She had no choice but to don bridal robes and travel a thousand miles, all to secure a crack force in return.

At the welcoming banquet, her betrothed, Third Prince Xiao Lin, threw a golden cup at her in front of everyone, his eyes full of contempt.

"Barbarian girl, utterly uncouth!"

Those few words humiliated her and left her with nowhere to hide.

In a foreign land, Ming Tan could only endure one indignity after another to win a chance of survival for her father, brothers, and clan.

Yet later, this same Third Prince offered her a cup of wine at a banquet.

When she woke, she had gone from being the Third Prince's consort to the Heir of Prince Wei's wife.

Ming Tan knew that Pei Xingwei had been dragged into trouble through no fault of his own because of her. So she offered to divorce him once the war was over, but all she got was his indifferent glance and a curt, "As you wish."

Two years later, the fighting in Kuxi ended. Ming Tan kept her promise and prepared to return to her homeland.

But somehow, when she handed him the divorce papers, he reacted in a way that was completely unlike his usual cold, distant self.

That night, moonlight soaked through the silver-red gauze curtains. The large hand clamped around her waist like an iron vise, leaving her unable to move.

His damp kisses landed again and again beside her ear, hot and burning.

In a daze, Ming Tan heard him say, "A Tan, since you were the one who came to provoke me, you should see it through. How can you expect to walk away?"

Everyone said that the Emperor of Dayin placed immense trust in Pei Xingwei, and that he was showered with imperial honors. They said he lived a life of unimaginable splendor.

In truth, only he knew that for years he'd been dragging his broken, sickly body around to serve that man. His body was steeped in sin and filth, and guilt coiled around his heart like silkworms spinning their cocoons, layer after layer, as if to strangle him.

He was alone, and had long since lost the will to live.

Until he woke that night to find jade-white skin beside him, dazzling him so much he hardly dared look.

Pei Xingwei forcibly suppressed the shame in his heart and treated her as if she weren't there.

But who could have guessed that this woman would take such care of a consumptive like him?

As time passed, Pei Xingwei finally realized she wasn't an errant stroke on a blank page. She was the talisman of his fate.

She was springtime from the grasslands

She was the joy that flowed on, endlessly, throughout his life

#HappyEnding, #Redemption

#Blurb written on September 13, 2023.

Theme: The world is bright, and life is lovely