Xie Baozhu had known since childhood that she would marry Chen Xingye when she grew up.
After both her parents died, the Chen family took her in, and she grew up alongside the two Chen brothers.
Chen Xingye was a refined gentleman, warm and courteous, as graceful as an orchid or jade tree. He was exceptional in both scholarship and appearance, and everyone envied her for having such a good marriage arranged for her.
Madam Chen often told her that her eldest son was good-natured and that she would never suffer after marrying him.
When Xie Baozhu first came to understand love, she couldn't help falling for him. Like any lovestruck girl, she lost her senses amid his gentle, repeated calls of "Little Sister Baozhu."
She learned how to be a virtuous wife and loving mother, caring for him and waiting for him to pass the imperial examinations and return to marry her.
The young girl lost herself in the sweet dream she had woven, waiting day after day in happy anticipation.
Until he returned after passing the exams, bringing a courtesan with him. For her sake, the usually proper gentleman knelt in the ancestral hall and insisted on breaking off their engagement, even after being beaten until his skin was torn and bloody.
Everyone told her to be patient, saying he had only been bewitched for a moment by a seductress from outside.
Only Xie Baozhu knew Chen Xingye had truly fallen in love.
He had pleaded with her, begging her to let him go and set him free.
Xie Baozhu's heart was shattered, but she nodded through her tears.
On the day of Chen Xingye's wedding, Xie Baozhu shut herself in her room and refused to see anyone. She stared at the glaring red outside her window and silently wept.
Amid the clamor, someone climbed through her window.
The young man walked up to her, step by step, and held out his hand. His words rang out, resolute and clear: "Xie Baozhu, if he won't marry you, I will."
"The engagement is between the Chen and Xie families, and I'm his twin brother. I have just as much right to marry you."
"Xie Baozhu, marry me. I will never let you suffer the way he did."
The young man's gaze burned like a wildfire.
"Everyone outside is spreading rumors. How could I drag you into this?" Xie Baozhu smiled bitterly. The broken engagement had damaged her reputation too.
The young man didn't hesitate for a moment. "I don't care."
Only then did Xie Baozhu take a proper look at him: Chen Jiahe, the other son of the Chen family.
He was unruly and disobedient, a rebellious troublemaker who had loved picking on Xie Baozhu since they were children.
Compared with the dazzling Chen Xingye, he was more like a dull gray shadow, a dim star beside the bright moon.
Xie Baozhu chose him because she had nowhere else to turn. Yet every year that followed, she was more grateful for how right that decision had been.
After they married, Chen Jiahe took her from the countryside to the imperial court, from obscurity to great wealth. He kept only her at his side and truly never let her suffer in the slightest.
Meanwhile, Chen Xingye's concubines fought among themselves every day, and the courtesan he had risked everything to marry had long since been forgotten.
A gentle, resilient heroine x a devoted hero who hides his feelings
Mutual healing / heroine falls in love after marriage / hero's secret love comes true
Theme: You don't have to make yourself suffer. Everyone deserves to be loved.
