Tender Whispers

Wen Shining is the daughter of the prime minister, blessed with breathtaking beauty but plagued by poor health since childhood. A Taoist once said she wouldn't live to see seventeen unless a celestial immortal came down to save her.

The day before her seventeenth birthday, she woke up to find a booklet beside her pillow.

It recorded every detail of her family's lives without a single mistake. But on her page was a stranger's name: Xie Yuhuai.

That day, Wen Shining went to a temple to pray for blessings. A sudden downpour drove a man inside. He claimed to be a scholar named Xie Yuhuai, on his way to the capital for the imperial examinations.

Wen Shining sized him up. Though dressed in plain clothes, he had broad shoulders, a slim waist, and an extraordinary air about him. His appearance here couldn't be a coincidence. The Taoist had said that the yin energy of misfortune around her was too strong.

And this man, at a glance, had an abundance of yang energy.

Wen Shining immediately told him her name and took him back to the prime minister's residence.

*

Xie Yuhuai had just returned to the capital in secret and was about to have his hidden guards find him a place to stay. Then, from a side room in the temple, he heard a woman's clear, lovely voice praying for the gods' protection and asking to meet a man named Xie Yuhuai.

Someone was already playing tricks before he even got back to the capital.

Intrigued, he opened an umbrella and went to meet her.

The woman was delicate, with a face like a lotus flower. Unfortunately, those people had guessed his tastes wrong. He couldn't feel the slightest interest in a woman like her.

Then she introduced herself and took him back to the prime minister's residence.

As it happened, he hadn't seen Prime Minister Wen in years.

*

In Wen Shining's eyes, the man she brought home was gentle and polite. By day, he respectfully called her Miss; by night, he dutifully replenished her "yang energy." He was quiet and obedient.

Wen Shining treated him well, too.

But she hated deceit more than anything. When she found out he'd lied about his identity and was only using her, she flew into a rage. "There is no affection between us anymore. Never set foot in the prime minister's residence again." In her fury, she drove him out.

And he really did leave.

Later, they met again at a palace banquet. He sat on the high dais, and the emperor and empress asked if he had a candidate in mind for crown princess.

His gaze was deep as it lingered on her. Then he raised his hand and pointed at her.

Wen Shining stood and replied, "This humble subject's daughter is not so fortunate. I have already agreed to marry someone else." Everyone present was stunned. They all thought that she had dared to reject the Crown Prince's proposal outright, and that the prime minister's family would surely suffer for it.

But afterward, people often saw the Crown Prince visiting the prime minister's residence. A man normally so imposing and stern would go there just to make the Wen family's youngest daughter smile. Yet she wouldn't show him the slightest courtesy and wouldn't even let him through the gate.

Theme: Love does not change with time