(The novel opens on November 2. If you're interested, please add it to your favorites!)
Spendthrift heiress × incorruptible, handsome court official
Lu Shusheng was born into wealth. Her older sister was a consort, and her father was a chief minister.
After the spring examination results were announced, her father found a poor top scholar and forced her to marry him.
She was dead set against it, until she learned that the childhood friend she had always loved had been betrothed to a county princess.
In a moment of impulse, she married the scholar.
On their wedding night, Lu Shusheng stared at his impossibly beautiful face and said coldly:
"This marriage is nothing but our parents' decision. I have no feelings for you. From now on, we'll each live our own lives and stay out of each other's way."
The man said nothing, only giving a faint "Mm."
In public, they pretended to be in love. In private, they never shared a bed.
Lu Shusheng had always been extravagant, free-spirited, and capricious.
She thought her husband, who wore plain robes and spent all day buried in official duties, was a self-righteous fraud and an eyesore.
A year later, her husband was suddenly demoted, and the whole family moved to Shuchuan.
Just then, her childhood friend wrote to say that he wanted to elope with her
That night, heavy snow buried Panlong Ridge.
Countless animals and villagers were buried beneath the snow.
Lu Shusheng was trapped there, too, and her childhood friend abandoned her and left.
The mountains wore a crown of frozen snow, the wind swallowed human remains.
Just as she was overcome by despair, points of firelight came rushing toward her.
The husband she had thought a hypocrite appeared, bringing soldiers to rescue the villagers.
He draped his cloak over her while he, dressed in only thin clothes, braved the storm and carried her down the mountain step by step.
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(Male lead's point of view)
Shen Tongchun would always remember the girl's cold eyes and icy words on their wedding night.
After that, he buried his love for her deep in his heart.
Knowing she didn't want to see him, he often went away on business. Knowing how extravagantly she lived, he gave her his savings to spend as she pleased.
He never asked anything of her and never dared get close.
But when he saw the tender look in her eyes as she gazed at her childhood friend,
his heart suddenly turned cold. His usual calm restraint and solemn composure vanished, replaced by deep jealousy and resentment.
He envied how easily her childhood friend had captured her attention, and hated that it had never once been turned on him.
"I beg you, my dear wife, have pity on me and spare me a single glance."
"I have lived in this world for over twenty years. I know I am lacking in virtue and talent, yet I offer my wife the one thing I possess, an honest heart. With the radiant sun above and all the people of the realm as witnesses, my words are true, and my love is clear as day."
[Reading Guide]
1. Fictional setting, with no historical inspiration.
2. The childhood friend is engaged to someone else, but they aren't married yet.
3. The heroine grows over time. She has many flaws at the beginning.
Theme: Adversity reveals true love
