The Girl of My Dreams Married a Nobody

[Story starts October 25 at midnight]

*

Li Zhi comes from a prestigious family. She's learned and refined, beautiful as an immortal, and the ideal love in countless young men's hearts.

On the eve of her coming-of-age ceremony, Li Zhi had a dream.

In the dream, the emperor attended her ceremony in person and publicly arranged her marriage to the Seventh Prince.

She and the Seventh Prince had grown up together, so this marriage should have been a happy one. But on their wedding night, the Seventh Prince made her maid-in-waiting take her place as the bride, claiming she was still too young and he couldn't bear to make her suffer.

Furious, she tried to leave. The Seventh Prince chased after her on horseback. As they struggled, she fell to the ground and was trampled to death by his steed.

After waking, Li Zhi thought it over for a long time. Whether or not the dream was real, she had to do something.

So when the emperor asked her at her coming-of-age banquet, just as he had in the dream, whether there was a young man she favored and promised to arrange a marriage if she named him, Li Zhi looked at the Seventh Prince, gazing at her with deep affection, and said yes.

"Who is he?"

"That man."

Li Zhi's gaze swept past the Seventh Prince and settled on an inconspicuous figure in the corner behind him.

"I want to marry him."

The whole hall erupted.

The Seventh Prince's face turned livid in an instant.

No one could understand why the second young lady of the Pucha family had taken a fancy to some ordinary passerby with an ordinary background, an ordinary position, and an ordinary face.

His name was even Lu Ren!

Only Li Zhi remembered how, during last month's horseback archery at the racetrack, everyone had gone to choose horses while she hesitated in place, afraid to move. Lu Ren had noticed her and asked what was wrong.

"I... I can't ride a horse lately."

"Well, then it works out. I don't feel like riding lately either," Lu Ren had said lazily. "If you don't mind, Second Young Lady, I'll sit with you and have tea to pass the time."

He wouldn't turn her down, would he?

Li Zhi thought of how she'd stayed in his arms for half a quarter of an hour that day, and he hadn't pushed her away.

Sure enough, Lu Ren only paused briefly before accepting the marriage arrangement.

After the wedding.

"Everyone says I'm an ordinary nobody from head to toe... Do you regret it?"

"No."

"What if one day you find out I'm not really an ordinary nobody?"

"Huh?"

Seeing Li Zhi's confused and bewildered expression, Lu Ren sighed. He'd have to wait a little longer.

When he returned to his kingdom, he'd take her with him and show her that being a prince's consort wasn't such a big deal. He could make her crown princess, or even the more honored mother of an entire nation.

More importantly, he wasn't actually that ordinary-looking. He really didn't want to hear anyone say again that a beautiful flower had been planted in a pile of cow dung.

* The official system is modeled after the Tang Dynasty; everything else is fictional. Please don't nitpick the history.

* Warm, sweet romance, indulgent wish fulfillment, satisfying, and delightfully outrageous

* One-on-one romance, happy ending

* I timed it down to the second to snag this gorgeous cover template! [Though I don't think it's gorgeous anymore, I still have to say I really did time it to the second. Please admire it.]

* Screenshot archived on Weibo on 2024.01.12, @A Nai Nai Nai Nai

Theme: Water the roots when you water a flower, and connect with someone's heart when you make a friend