The Pearl Hairpin Mix-Up

Li Chenzhao, Princess Rou Ning of Great Qi. Her mother, Consort Kong, was of humble birth and had little influence. For more than ten years, mother and daughter had been constrained at every turn in the palace, living as if treading on thin ice.

To rescue her mother, who was confined in Yizhai, she changed the fate that had destined her for a political marriage. At the Noble Consort's birthday banquet, she "snatched" the marriage intended for the noblewoman's daughter and volunteered to marry the Second Prince of the Northern Kingdom, Prince Qi.

He had a terrible reputation. His mother was said to have been a woman who entertained soldiers in the camp, and he was rumored to be hideously ugly.

Yet she resolved to leave behind her childhood sweetheart, whom she had known for years, and marry into the northern lands without hesitation.

But on their wedding night, she discovered that the truth was not as she had expected...

-

How did he express his love? He was no good with words. Instead, he silently changed the deeds to the land and shops into her name. When he mistakenly thought her heart belonged to someone else, he swallowed his feelings and said, "Excuse me," deciding to let her return to the crowd.

How did she express her love? She tossed aside her umbrella and knelt with him in the rain to plead their case. When she mistakenly believed he had died on the battlefield, she endured the pain tearing through her heart and lungs, and stood alone against corrupt officials with unyielding resolve.

It was a damp season of drizzling rains. After Prince Qi exposed the Crown Prince's crimes against the people, the emperor sentenced him to kneel outside the hall.

Only then did he learn that even with irrefutable evidence, the emperor still favored the Crown Prince.

After waiting a long time for Prince Qi to return, Princess Qi grew worried and had herself carried into the palace.

She walked to the Hall of Lingxiao and stood beneath a green bamboo umbrella, watching his broad shoulders take the endless pounding of the rain. He remained kneeling, utterly motionless.

She remembered what he had once said: My knees only kneel before all the people under Heaven.

Her heart felt pierced by a blade, and sorrow surged through her.

She dropped her umbrella, gathered up her skirts, and knelt beside him without a word.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Princess Qi stared straight ahead, unruffled by anything: I want to wait for you so we can go home together.

Later, the ruler sent him to a dangerous place, where he faced death at every turn.

"I entrust what remains of me to you. I only hope that while I am at the front, there will still be a light on at home."

Everyone said he was cold and heartless, lacking both guile and wit, a lifetime's worth of absurdity, nothing but a good-for-nothing.

But late at night, he would quietly carry a lamp to her door and close the window against the draft. She had also seen him take a servant's punishment and kneel in their place, and seen him earnestly gather evidence against villains, only for his wholehearted loyalty to be misplaced in the end. He worked tirelessly for the people and rescued women and children from an enemy country, securing them a place to live amid the chaos of war.

And she possessed a courage and resolve beyond the ordinary...

She could give up the childhood sweetheart she had known for years to pursue her future by marrying far away in the Northern Kingdom.

She could build a thriving business from the ground up, stockpiling grain and silver in preparation for putting down a rebellion.

In this world, only you and I understand each other best.

Reader's note:

This is a fictional setting, and everything serves the plot. Besides romance, family and friendship also have their share of the story.

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Zhu Yihong is a spirited tavern owner whose Zhu Gate Tavern is always packed with customers.

Outsiders call her a shrew, and say she has neither parents nor relatives. A girl raised in the wild, of unknown origins, who has managed to build such a successful business must be no ordinary person, and is not to be trifled with. She has a graceful figure and a pair of phoenix eyes with sharply raised corners, full of the lively charm of the marketplace.

One day, a blind beggar appeared outside the tavern. His clothes were ragged and his eyes were vacant, but he was incredibly handsome, more dashing than the men in storybooks... He just looked sickly, and had a very sharp tongue.

Zhu Yihong recognized his worth and took him in to greet customers and serve as the tavern's handsome face.

The Crown Prince, Duan Yuan, had always lived the life of a playboy, unconcerned with the royal struggle for power. To avoid the filthy deeds he had witnessed, he chose to pretend to be blind and wander among the common folk. He had stayed away from the palace for so long that he figured the longer he put off returning, the better.

He shook out his coarse hemp robe and convinced himself: "Fine, from today on, I'm a beggar."

When her little sidekick made him soak naked in a rotten wooden tub, he endured it.

When her little sister came over and specifically asked him to serve the tea, he endured it.

When she ordered him to kneel and apologize, he actually endured that too.

But the good times did not last. An old acquaintance found him and smiled at him for no reason in the dark of night. "Your Highness, how have you been in Xiangxi? You've been wandering around long enough. Time to go back, isn't it?"

From Zhu Yihong's perspective, the blind man had just argued with her and brazenly announced that he was going to find a better way to make a living elsewhere, so she let him go.

But then he showed up at the tavern first thing the next morning and refused to leave.

He even wanted to marry into her family?!

She wiped her hands with a rag and looked him over. "You're so poor you can hear the wind whistling through your pockets, and you own nothing. Why would I marry you?"

He did not even blink. "I have good looks."

"..."

"Can good looks put food on the table?" Zhu Yihong narrowed her eyes. "Get lost."

"Mine can."

"..."

On the night they married, Zhu Yihong went through all the formalities in a daze. When he lifted her bright red veil, he found a face filled with despair beneath it. She said to him, "I'm just an ordinary citizen who sells wine and meat. Please, Your Majesty, have mercy on me."

Fury burned in his heart. He laughed wildly, but failed to see the tears already glimmering beneath her raised brows, despite her cold tone.

He advanced on her step by step, no longer the frivolous scoundrel he had once been. "My hands aren't precious... But are you really the daughter of a fallen family? Tell me, was it you who led them here?"

"Your Highness. For this past year, you've seen every joy and sorrow of a girl from a fallen family. You've watched her struggle and witnessed her pain... Did you enjoy this journey south to observe the people's lives?" Zhu Yihong pulled off the flower ring she had woven with her own hands and strode toward the door. "If you've had your fill, then leave. I'm a daughter of a fallen family, a country girl. All I think about every day is money and survival. I'm not like you."

Duan Yuan often thought back on the time he spent at the Zhu family tavern. He stubbornly told himself: You don't miss her. Not one bit.

But whenever the moon shone at his window and a fine dinner was set before him, he would think of her cooking.

Using a southern tour as an excuse, he returned to the tavern and had his attendant order the owner's finest house-brewed wine. But as she moved among the guests and sensed his presence, she paused for only a moment before welcoming customers with the "obsequious" smile he hated. She did not spare him a glance.

Even when she brought him his drinks, all he got was a passing gust of wind from her skirt.

Watching her walk away, Duan Yuan laughed in anger. "Fine! From now on, neither of us will pay the other any mind! I'm the Crown Prince. Why should I lower myself for a tavern keeper?!"

He had lived at the tavern for more than a year and knew her pace by heart. Duan Yuan blocked her at the corner. "On our wedding day, you said those things... So were your feelings for me real, Yiyi?"

"Who are you?" Zhu Yihong looked him over coldly. "I don't believe I know you."

Duan Yuan had no idea how to win her back. She had withdrawn her hand so easily, like the spring breeze that would never return.

But just then, his mother was brutally killed by his second younger brother.

At the same time, he uncovered an old notice, a missing-person poster from more than ten years ago. The name on it was Zhu Yihong. Beneath it was another notice: The Zhu family met an untimely end, and their daughter, Zhu Yihong...

Zhu Yihong, Zhu Yihong...

At his mother's funeral, Duan Yuan stood rigidly, numb with shock.

That night, Duan Yuan did not keep vigil. The emperor was so furious that he drove him out. Riding alone at a gallop, he tumbled head over heels into a haystack and slept off his drunkenness.

In his dreams, he murmured, "Yiyi, am I still worthy of wearing the robes of the Eastern Palace?"

[Outline archived on February 2026]

Theme: You are more precious than love.