The Golden Crow Cries

In her previous life, Sang Yu was renowned throughout Yanjing as a refined young lady of impeccable bearing and unmatched beauty. The late emperor had already chosen her as the crown prince's future consort, and she and Crown Prince Yan Chu had grown up together, deeply devoted to one another. She should have had a smooth, enviable life.

But in the fourth year of Tongde, her father, Grand Tutor Sang Huai, was implicated in a corruption and examination-fraud case. The entire Sang family was convicted. The men were beheaded or exiled, and the women were sent to the Bureau of Music.

Sang Yu had always believed Crown Prince Yan Chu would keep his promise, clear her family's name, and rescue her from captivity. So she endured her humiliation at the Bureau of Music, waiting and waiting. But all she got was news that her father, Sang Huai, had hanged himself in prison to prove his innocence, while the crown prince married the prime minister's legitimate daughter as his crown princess, to the celebration of the whole nation.

Desperate, Sang Yu sent word asking to see the crown prince, only for one of his trusted men to force her to drink poison, claiming it would preserve her virtue and honor their old love.

What a fine way to preserve her virtue and honor their old love!

Perhaps her resentment was too great for her soul to disperse after death. She watched as someone helped prepare her body for burial, carved her a gravestone, and kept her company as the sun sank in the west and the moon rose in the east, until his eyes were red.

That person was Wei Tingchun, commander-in-chief of the Golden Crow Guard.

One day, Sang Yu awoke back on the day the Sang family was arrested.

The courtyard was full of Golden Crow Guards. At a glance, Sang Yu spotted the man at the front. He wore the Golden Crow Guard's black uniform embroidered with golden horned dragons, a saber at his waist, and a blade's cold sharpness about him.

As she was marched past him, Sang Yu found courage from nowhere, broke free of her captors, and clutched the hem of his robe with all her strength.

Her slender hand lay over the savage horned-dragon embroidery, fragile yet unyielding.

When Wei Tingchun was young, he studied at the Sang family school and was lucky enough to visit the Sang estate twice, where he saw the family's young lady.

She stood on a stone step to pluck a plum blossom from a branch. There was none of the usual prim elegance of a young lady about her. He saw only her flowerlike smile and shining eyes.

Later, Wei Tingchun abandoned the civil path for the military, joined the Golden Crow Guard, and carved his way forward through bloodshed. He rose step by step to become the sharpest blade in the ruler's hand. He and the young lady of the Sang family were worlds apart.

After the Sang family was convicted, Wei Tingchun hid her in his back courtyard, gave her a new identity, taught her investigation and interrogation, and helped her clear the Sang family's name.

In front of outsiders, Sang Yu called him "cousin." But as time went by, Wei Tingchun wanted more and more.

One day, Crown Prince Yan Chu saw the woman he had once known. Shock and deep affection filled his eyes as he murmured, "A Yu." Wei Tingchun's face instantly darkened. He pulled her into his arms and said coldly, "Your Highness, choose your words carefully. She is my wife."

His longing and forbidden desires grew stronger by the day. Now that the moon was in his arms, all he wanted was for her to call him "husband."

Blurb begun on December 6, 2023

Theme: Stand firm in adversity and press forward without hesitation