[A pampered, haughty noblewoman heroine x a refined male lead from a humble family]
[Reader's Guide]
1. Includes lots of exes desperately trying to win the heroine back, plus dramatic love-triangle showdowns, but none of them succeed. The male lead comes out on top!
2. Set in an alternate Tang Dynasty. The heroine is partly inspired by a real person.
Li Zhiying and Pei Yan were entangled for five years, all because Pei Yan had once saved her life at Taiye Lake.
For those five years, she indulged him in every way. Even knowing they could never be together, she remained utterly devoted to him.
Until her father passed away and her half-brother ascended the throne.
Li Zhiying died on a bright, mild spring day. That day, the new emperor sent a palace eunuch to the Princess's residence with poisoned wine, a white silk cord, and a dagger.
She resolutely chose none of them. Instead, she drew the treasured sword her father had given her as a girl and held off the Imperial Guard for a long time. Unfortunately, she eventually ran out of strength and was defeated.
As she lay dying, she saw a young man in blue robes stumble toward her. He pulled the Imperial Guards surrounding her away.
The young man bent over her, his eyes red and his grief impossible to contain.
Li Zhiying wanted to tell him, Don't cry. I'm about to die. There's no point crying over someone who's about to die, especially when I don't even know you.
She died, but her consciousness did not fade from the world.
She watched the Pei family celebrate noisily as they welcomed the new emperor's younger sister as a bride. She watched the new emperor exterminate her maternal family. She watched the young official who had tried to save her rise to become Grand Preceptor, enjoy a smooth career, and win the new emperor's trust.
At last, she watched this favored courtier do something that shocked everyone: he personally erected a gravestone for the princess Li Zhiying, who had been executed.
She saw her body taken to a beautiful peony garden and buried beneath its largest, most beautiful peony.
She saw the young man visit her grave every day and pour a circle of Yingzhou Spring, her favorite wine, around it.
Li Zhiying remained a lonely ghost in this world for three years. She waited through spring and autumn, until the young man resigned from office and retired, until his hair turned white overnight...
Then she came back to life.
In the ninth year of Qianfeng, she is fourteen years old.
Emperor Gaozong still reigns, and everyone respects and loves her. She is once again the glorious Princess Changle.
She will gather talent and win people's hearts, command the military, and scheme for the throne.
Those who love her, she will do everything in her power to keep alive. Those who harm her, she will do everything in her power to send to hell!
When Chen Qiao was young, he was turned away because he couldn't afford the fees to sit the provincial examination. Heartbroken and disillusioned, he happened upon Princess Changle, famed for her beauty that dazzled the world.
She merely spoke a few words, and the official who had been putting on a show of toughness immediately changed his tune and submitted Chen Qiao's name without another word.
How could he ever repay the kindness of someone who had recognized his worth?
To Princess Changle, he was only a stranger she had met by chance. But Chen Qiao knew that the princess was the greatest benefactor of his life.
Later, he advanced from the provincial examinations all the way to the palace examination, solely so he could stand before her.
He never expected a coup to erupt, and for the new emperor to order Princess Changle's execution. The only thing he could do was gather her body with his own hands and bury her in her favorite peony garden.
"Your servant was once a commoner. Princess Changle happened to recognize my worth, and I was fortunate enough to serve at court. I would never dare forget her kindness. I beg Your Majesty to let me erect a memorial stele for the princess."
That year, Chen Qiao, who stood at the pinnacle of power, quietly resigned and returned to his hometown. He erected a blank stele in the peony garden.
He never married for the rest of his life.
Chen Qiao was fortunate enough to have seen the lonely moon hanging high in the sky. But whether he reached for it or held himself back, it was always beyond his grasp.
Theme: May I become the wind from the southwest, and fly into your arms forever.
