I Know Not This Soaring Cloud Tree

He is a lotus rising unstained from the mud. She is a red spider lily by the Bridge of Helplessness.

Arrogant, powerful nobleman x cool, down-and-out beauty

Born to a disgraced concubine of the previous dynasty, he was taught from birth to endure, restrain himself, and hide his talents.

By then, open attacks and hidden schemes were already part of everyday life for him.

At seventeen, he placed first in the military imperial examination. His father, the Minister of War, laughed drunkenly, gave him a treasured sword, and promised to teach him martial arts himself someday.

Who could have guessed that one drunken remark would lead to someone severing his tendons, destroying his martial arts, ending his official career, and imprisoning him in a cramped, dark hovel for two full years without seeing the sun, all on a trumped-up charge?

All because he had stolen someone else's thunder.

The day the examination results were posted was also his stepmother's birthday.

Only after he bent his straight back and humbled himself like a rat did they deign to grant him a chance to live.

Standing in the dazzling sunlight, he thought: He would become the most upright official there was, and never let anyone else suffer such an injustice.

So he gave up martial arts for literature and did whatever it took to climb the ranks of the court.

But how could the turbulent, filthy currents of the court tolerate a clear stream like him?

He worked for the welfare of the common people, and in doing so angered the ministers.

An imperial edict demoted him to the remote land of Shao County, Yazhou.

He was disheartened.

Little did he know that this was only the beginning of his nightmare.

The first time he met her, she smiled brightly and said she liked his looks, and that he should offer himself to her without a fuss.

He came to hate her and did everything he could to undermine her power.

The second time they met, she fell into his trap and was surrounded by a crowd, her body covered in bloody wounds.

He watched without lifting a finger.

The third time... his political enemies had set him up, and he lay on the brink of death. All he saw was her straight-backed silhouette and blood dripping from the hem of her clothes.

Like a red spider lily by the Bridge of Helplessness, passionate and brilliant.

He couldn't understand why she had saved him.

*

She grew up in a poor mountain village where her father could beat her mother whenever he pleased.

To avoid being beaten, she learned to fight the boys. Sometimes they left her face covered in blood, but she figured out their weaknesses.

When she was ten, famine struck. To save the family, her mother decided to marry off her older sister and sell her.

So she killed her younger brother.

Later, by chance, her master took her in, and she began living a respectable life. She practiced martial arts day after day and mastered them.

Men no longer dared to bully her. Instead, they kept their distance.

But that wasn't enough.

There were still fathers beating mothers, and boys bullying girls.

She wanted to punish evil and uphold justice, but discovered that the power of the mighty made it impossible for her to move forward.

So she used her martial arts skills to build a reputation in both the underworld and the legitimate world. And the quickest way to do that was... to become one of them.

The power, money, and pleasure that followed gradually clouded her eyes.

She thrived in damp air thick with the stench of money, seated on a throne above it all, surrounded by shrill laughter and cheers.

When she opened her eyes again, a cool, otherworldly man stood before her, with straight black hair and clear, clean features, like a spotless lotus flower.

Everything fell silent.

At that moment, she thought: No matter what, she had to make sure this snow lotus lived well, even if she had to become the mud that nourished him.

Only he could wash her clean.

Theme: Live well