How long can a couple who can't stand each other stay together?
Song Ying doesn't know. As a daughter of the Pingqiu Song clan, she has no say in whom she marries.
But she never expected her family to choose the man she hated most among all the young nobles of the capital.
Xie Mingzhen couldn't stand Song Ying's rough ways. He repeatedly criticized her for lacking virtue and bringing shame upon the family. Song Ying wasn't one for lengthy arguments, so she scratched his face up. Faint scars still remain to this day.
Plenty of people can't stand Song Ying. Xie Mingzhen is at the top of the list.
And plenty of people admire Young Master Xie. Song Ying suggests they get their eyes checked.
After five years of marriage, the two have sacrificed enough for their families. They've done all that could be asked of them.
- -
Song Ying counts down the days until their divorce, her heart full of joy.
But lately she's been having a string of strange dreams. In them... she seems to be living in a completely different world.
There, Xie Mingzhen never minds that she grew up in the countryside, and accepts how different she is from the other noblewomen. He cooks for her, ties her skirts, teaches her to write, and smiles at her.
In spring, he breaks off a willow branch and says, “Ying-niang, may we be together for a long, long time.”
Every time she wakes, Song Ying feels as if she's lost something.
At last, she understands why everyone praises Young Master Xie. She also understands what Xie Mingzhen would be like if he found the person he loved.
- -
Xie Mingzhen thinks that wild girl Song Ying has been acting strangely lately. She no longer glares at him or lashes out at him.
She just watches him quietly.
As if looking through his eyes at someone else.
Someone... who never existed.
Theme: Finding a kindred spirit
