Synopsis
Blurb:
Tan Qingxuan woke from a deep sleep to discover she had become the daughter of a favored consort.
The good news: her mother was a favored consort. The bad news: her father was not the emperor. The emperor had taken her mother by force.
As a stepchild brought along for the ride, she was kept in a garden called Qiu Garden, where she had plenty of servants, lavish meals every day, and a neighbor she had never met.
But before she fell asleep, hadn't she been the daughter of a marquis's household? How had she suddenly become the daughter of her favored-consort aunt?
Realizing she seemed to have lost her memories, Third Miss Tan decided to face reality and lie flat.
But there was always a stumbling block on her path to lying flat. Not only did he share Qiu Garden with her, he opposed her at every turn, making snide remarks whenever she was in favor and wantonly abusing the rewards bestowed upon her by the palace.
Considering his miserable background, Tan Qingxuan put up with it, but she still found a way to drive him out of Qiu Garden.
The day he was kicked out, Tan Qingxuan stood tall and looked down at him. "Qiu Garden doesn't keep idlers, and that goes for idle dogs, too."
*
At a spring banquet, the favored consort's daughter, rumored to be so beloved by the emperor that she was practically a princess, appeared before the public for the first time. Her breathtaking beauty left the whole hall in awe.
But rumors soon spread that her father was Xie Yunguan, a fugitive wanted criminal and remnant of the previous dynasty.
In a single day, Tan Qingxuan fell from the clouds. She discovered in despair that Qiu Garden was no haven, the favored consort was no favored consort, and her father was not Xie Yunguan. Nothing was real. Everyone had been lying to her.
Yet in the eyes of others, she had already become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
The Empress Dowager decided to marry her off to her nephew, who had already outlived three wives.
Prince Wei coveted her and wanted to take her as a concubine.
The new top scholar wanted to refuse a princess's marriage proposal for her sake.
Amid the uproar, the man she had driven out of Qiu Garden had become the newly famous Duke of Wei, Lin Chuxi. He looked down at her just as she once had at him and said:
"If you beg me, I might consider keeping an idler in my manor."
Tan Qingxuan gritted her teeth. "In your dreams!"
The next day, a young woman with her hair in two buns sneaked into the duke's manor and smiled at its master. "A Shi, do you still need a kitchen maid? I'm very easy to keep!"
*
When the first spring rain fell in Luodu, Tan Qingxuan and a group of noble young ladies were taking shelter beneath the eaves of a bookshop.
Someone asked her, "Third Miss Tan, has anyone from your household come to pick you up?"
Tan Qingxuan felt guilty. Of course no one had, but she nodded anyway.
Later, all the young ladies left, while she remained standing where she was.
A carriage rolled slowly along the road beside them. The steward glanced at the scene and asked, "Young Master, that's Miss Qingxuan. Shall we give her a ride?"
From behind the carriage curtain came a voice as cold as a winter spring. "No need."
When the last rain of spring arrived, Tan Qingxuan had become the "calamity beauty" reviled by everyone in Luodu. She had offended powerful people on every side and was framed until she was on the brink of death.
Only one person came to her rescue. Wearing full armor, he knelt before the emperor and offered thirteen prefectures as the bride price, asking for her hand in marriage.
From then on, beneath the flowers and moonlight and amid the clash of swords and horses, one person was always by Tan Qingxuan's side.
*
Lin Chuxi never forgot how, in his previous life, he had risked everything to storm the palace for revenge. As he lay dying, a young woman with a red mole between her brows had whispered in his ear, telling him to hold on and never give up.
"We have no family, so we'll choose our own. The more they want us to die in misery, the more dignified we must live. A Shi, we absolutely cannot give up."
Reborn, he met that young woman again and decided to choose her as his family, to spend the rest of his life by her side.
"A Xuan, the road ahead may be difficult, but you don't need to look back. Whenever you need me, I'll always be behind you."
A resilient noblewoman shrouded in mystery vs. a sharp-tongued, devoted husband who protects his wife
P.S. 1. One-on-one romance, a virtuous male lead, happy ending.
2. They match wits at first, then dote on each other and help each other heal. You could also call it a marriage-first, love-later story.
3. The male lead is reborn. The tone is serious.
Theme: Never give up
