The Treacherous Minister's Wife

Before Lu Yuanzhao placed first in all three imperial examinations, he had never once met his betrothed, who had blossomed into a graceful young woman. He didn't even know her name. All he knew was that she was a daughter of the Cui family, a household known for its upright values and strict propriety.

That year, he passed the highest imperial examination, rode through the streets on horseback, and was full of youthful pride.

That year, the ninth young lady of the Cui family, De Yin, who had long lived secluded in the inner quarters, left home for the first time with her father and brothers to go sightseeing.

From a pleasure boat beneath the Vermilion Bird Bridge, she looked up at the brilliant young top scholar riding across the bridge.

Smiling, she pointed toward him and asked her third brother,

"Brother, is he the man I'm supposed to marry?"

"Yes."

"But with a face like that, he'll become a first-rank official someday. He's bound to be a corrupt courtier. The Cui family has been upright for generations. I refuse to become the wife of a treacherous official."

Cui Sanlang flicked the forehead of the shameless girl who was spouting nonsense. "Yinyin, stop reading those ridiculous books of the occult. Your marriage is decided by your parents and the matchmaker. Do you really think you get to choose?"

"Hmph!"

-

Lu Yuanzhao spends his whole life rising and falling in the treacherous world of officialdom, while Cui De Yin is the wife of a corrupt official for her entire life.

When they are both old and frail, he asks her, "My dear, do you regret becoming my wife?"

With tears in her eyes, she answers, "I don't regret it."

Choking back a sob, she asks him in turn, "Husband, what wish did you make before the Buddha when you were a child?"

His old face turns red as he replies, "I wished to eat vegetarian for the rest of my life, and asked the Bodhisattva to let me eat candy without ruining my teeth, point at the moon without having my ears cut off, and scratch my pimples without leaving scars..."

She smiles and says nothing.

Everyone who knew the ninth young lady of the Cui family when she was young knew that only a handsome young man as graceful as a jade tree could catch her eye.

[Reading Guide]

1. A sweet, gentle romance about marrying first and falling in love later.

2. One-on-one, both leads are virgins, happy ending.

Theme: Better to be straight as a bowstring than crooked as a fishhook.