[This story will be completed. I'm short on inspiration lately, so updates will be paused for a while.]
Xie Fuguang was born into a distinguished clan, blessed with both beauty and talent. She was once the crown princess the new emperor was to marry.
Everyone in Chang'an knew that after the new emperor ascended the throne, his most favored consort, Zhen, owed her place at the center of the harem to her face, which bore a striking resemblance to Xie Fuguang's.
The stand-in basked in boundless favor, making the original love, widowed and far away in Youzhou, seem all the more pitiful and ridiculous.
As the forgotten love of his past, Xie Fuguang naturally wanted revenge on the faithless new emperor, who had made empty promises.
She needed a blade sharp enough to cut through jade as easily as mud to make her wish come true. Pei Shu, one of the new emperor's most trusted ministers, was the perfect choice.
Pei Shu, Vice Minister of the Secretariat, had a delicate face as beautiful as a woman's. Yet behind that appearance, he was a smiling tiger, mercurial and ruthless. Arrogant and wanton, he held such power and influence that the entire court took notice, inspiring both envy and hatred.
Though they had met a few times, Xie Fuguang had never believed the rumors that the reason this notorious minister kept his distance from women was that he had Xie Fuguang, the bright moon who bewitched his soul, in his heart.
But the moment they reunited, before she could even make a move, this powerful and notoriously overbearing court official willingly bowed his head and offered himself as her servant, worshipping her as a bright moon suspended high above the clouds.
*
The first time Pei Shu saw Xie Fuguang, she was the crown princess-to-be, graceful as a spring stream. With a radiant smile and a few casual words, she rescued Pei Shu, an illegitimate son mocked by the scions of noble families.
The second time he saw her, Xie Fuguang had been forcibly taken as a bride by the Crown Prince's uncle, Prince Qin. Pei Shu rode a hundred li through the night with the Crown Prince to intercept the wedding carriage. Xie Fuguang's wedding robes blazed like a magnificent peach blossom on the verge of wilting.
Later, the Crown Prince ascended the throne, and Pei Shu's fortunes rose as his close confidant. When word came from Youzhou that Prince Qin had died, the new emperor, coveting the tiger tally that commanded the 200,000 troops stationed there, ordered Pei Shu to escort Xie Fuguang back to Chang'an.
In the vast, snowy world of glazed whiteness, Pei Shu saw Xie Fuguang again after nine years. Her faint smile was enough to make his disobedient heart leap with joy once more.
What Pei Shu never told Meng Yiguang was that from the very first day of their reunion, he knew perfectly well that Xie Fuguang wanted to use him.
And he was more than willing.
*
Only a few years after the new emperor ascended the throne, he died an untimely death. Xie Fuguang helped a young ruler take the throne, then joined forces with Pei Shu to monopolize the government. As a result, rumors spread that the new emperor had died at the hands of Xie Fuguang and Pei Shu.
The officials of Great Yong, tormented by Xie Fuguang and Pei Shu, believed the wicked consort and treacherous minister were both blinded by power. Though they were in love now, surely they could not remain united forever.
So they gritted their teeth and waited in bitter resentment. They waited and waited, until they died without ever seeing Xie Fuguang and Pei Shu fall out...
A few things to know before reading:
1. The female lead is not a virgin, while the male lead is.
2. Neither lead is a morally upright good person.
Theme: Stand on your own two feet, and do not sink into despair when faced with adversity.
