On the streets of Chang'an, amid smoke and scorching heat, a four-year-old girl helps sell baked flatbreads at a street stall.
The young woman with her hair pinned in a bun has a slender figure and a lovely, unadorned face, more beautiful than the peonies in the teahouse window.
A carriage drawn by four horses stopped. "Miss, two baked flatbreads, please."
The attendant carried himself with such arrogance that people instinctively feared him. And just from its size, it was obvious that this luxurious carriage was for a royal or noble family. Wanniang hurriedly fumbled with the wrapping as she packed up the flatbreads.
The attendant was about to hurry her along when a cool, refined voice came from inside the carriage. "We are away from home. Do not trouble the people."
The attendant promptly agreed. Wanniang kept her head lowered, her hands trembling twice. Aside from taking the money, she had not dared to look up once.
After the carriage left, the little girl tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Mother, I saw him just now. That nobleman in the carriage looked so much like the father in my drawing..."
Wanniang managed a faint smile and gently gathered the child in her arms. Her voice was so soft it was barely audible. "He is a nobleman, not your father."
Back then, he had been a renowned young gentleman of Jiangdong. Now he had become emperor, the Son of Heaven, and naturally had married a noblewoman from a great family.
She had heard that he was already engaged to a noblewoman of the Cui family, whose family had rendered meritorious service in supporting the emperor.
-
Liu Yincheng had never liked children, until he met a little girl called Nannan.
The little girl was as delicate and lovely as a porcelain doll. She tugged at his clothes and called him Daddy.
"My mother made these. She's clever and skillful, and if you marry her, you'll be lucky for the rest of your life." Awkwardly, she pushed a plate of pastries into his hands.
"I'll agree to anything you ask, except marrying your mother." Liu Yincheng could only smile helplessly.
Later, when that delicate little woman came hurrying to find him, he watched with cold indifference.
Wasn't she the very maid he had once spoiled to the heavens, only for her to flee with his money?
☆ An old-school melodramatic romance. The heroine runs away while pregnant. The focus is on the push and pull between the leads, not on raising a child.
☆ A powerful man learns to humble himself; both leads are each other's first and only.
Theme: Never give up; persevere through every setback.