Nighttime Window, Daylight Bright

A kind maid who learns medicine and takes a substitute bride's place x a beautiful, frail prince

Both leads are inexperienced. Set in a fictional dynasty inspired by the Qing, but women don't bind their feet and men don't shave their heads.

Princess Changxing ran away while traveling to a foreign land for a political marriage. To avoid being executed, the other maids begged Lin Xiang'ai, a maid who somewhat resembled the princess, to take her place. She traveled north in the princess's stead and became the consort of Prince Yi of the Li Kingdom.

The elderly Prince Yi fell ill and died on his wedding night. An imperial edict named his son, Jin Yanyi, a commandery prince and ordered him to marry the princess after the hundred-day mourning period for Prince Yi.

And so Lin Xiang'ai moved into the prince's residence. She knew few characters, so she desperately practiced copying the princess's handwriting. Though terrified inside, she forced herself to act as if she were above everyone else. To her surprise, she fooled not only the servants, but even the Grand Princess Dowager, who came looking for trouble, couldn't do anything about her.

Jin Yanyi had never been interested in marriage or children. Seeing that the princess was a vulgar woman who loved pleasure and was spoiled and willful, he grew even more annoyed. After agreeing that they would live separately and leave each other alone, he put her out of his mind.

One day, Jin Yanyi saw the princess, his consort, at the entrance to the prince's residence, tugging at an old man and insisting he take her as his student. She was even about to kneel to him in front of a crowd. The prince's face instantly turned darker than ink.

“Don't kneel!” Jin Yanyi strode over angrily and grabbed Lin Xiang'ai by the arm. “You're a prince's consort. There's no need to kneel just to ask someone to teach you! You don't even kneel to my mother. Where's your dignity? Where's the pride of a princess of your country?”

The stubborn old man showed no sign of backing down, even after the prince arrived. “Your Highness needn't use your status to pressure me. So what if she's a princess and a consort? No matter how noble you are, I can't take on a female student.”

Humiliated in front of everyone, Jin Yanyi's face grew stiff. He said coldly, “You're only an imperial physician. There are plenty of imperial physicians in the Imperial Medical Academy. If you won't take her, someone else will!”

Lin Xiang'ai's eyes lit up. Forgetting that she was supposed to keep her distance from the prince, she eagerly leaned over and asked, “Your Highness can introduce me to other imperial physicians?”

Why was this woman from a foreign land so interested in the physicians of his country? What was she planning? Jin Yanyi suppressed his anger and took her by the wrist. “Of course I can, my lady. There are too many people out here. Let's go back to the residence and talk.”

“Wonderful!” Immersed in the excitement of being able to study medicine, Lin Xiang'ai happily followed Jin Yanyi through the gates of the prince's residence.

Lin Xiang'ai didn't want to be a princess or the prince's consort. She was always going out, hoping to learn medicine and then escape the prince's residence to become a wandering healer.

Jin Yanyi didn't want power or status, nor did he want a household full of wives and concubines. He knew the emperor disliked him, which was why the emperor hadn't given him any official post. So he always stayed indoors, spending his days practicing calligraphy and the zither and cultivating his character.

After finding Lin Xiang'ai a teacher, Jin Yanyi didn't see her again. He heard that she couldn't understand the imperial physician's highfalutin speech, so she'd gone to find a folk doctor to study under. Then he heard she'd come yesterday to take the pulse of his servant, and today she was going out to treat patients with that doctor.

Remembering the happy smile she'd given him when he promised to introduce her to an imperial physician, Jin Yanyi couldn't sit still any longer.

She was his wife, after all. What did it look like for her to spend all day with another man?

When the prince personally came to ask her to return, Lin Xiang'ai firmly refused. At first, she'd only been imitating the princess's forceful manner, but now she had something she genuinely wanted to do. She cited the agreement Jin Yanyi had proposed about leaving each other alone and sent him away.

That woman! Why was she so warm and kind to everyone else, but so cold to him?

Jin Yanyi was angry, but there was nothing he could do about her. Before long, a strange scene appeared in the capital: the prince's consort followed a doctor around with her medicine chest, treating commoners, while the prince stood nearby with a cold expression.

Lin Xiang'ai charged nothing for her treatments and even paid for poor people's medicine out of her own pocket. Soon, the prince and his consort's good name spread throughout the capital. Although neither of them had any ulterior motives, they still aroused the wariness of certain people.

Jin Yanyi sensed danger closing in. He didn't want to get involved in the court's political struggles, but he couldn't persuade Lin Xiang'ai either, so he could only send more people to protect her.

From then on, wherever Lin Xiang'ai went, Jin Yanyi followed. For the first time in ages, she felt constrained. With him watching her so closely, how was she supposed to escape?

Lin Xiang'ai turned around and met Jin Yanyi's gaze. She couldn't help shivering. He must have become suspicious of her identity. Had he peeked at the prescriptions she'd written and noticed the handwriting was different?

Jin Yanyi came over with a cloak. Following the servant's advice, he tried to show Lin Xiang'ai some concern. “My lady, are you feeling cold?”

Seeing the stiff smile on Jin Yanyi's face, Lin Xiang'ai felt panicked. This was bad. She couldn't put it off any longer. If she didn't run soon, she would surely end up dead at the hands of this cold-faced man!

Theme: What makes someone noble isn't being a princess, but who she is.