Hua Ruxiu lived a life of misery and asked only for peace and comfort, but an imperial decree making her empress trapped her for the rest of her life behind towering palace walls.
It was all because the head monk at the temple cast her fortune and declared, "The Fourth Miss of the Hua family is destined to be a phoenix."
In the treacherous palace, she lived cautiously and worried herself to exhaustion, yet still died on the winter solstice at the age of twenty-two.
When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the past.
Beneath the deep night and heavy dew, she sat under the gallery and thought for the whole night.
This time, she would live as she pleased. She no longer wanted to spend her life entangled with the sinister, ruthless young emperor.
*
The seventh day of the seventh month, the Qiqiao Festival.
Hua Ruxiu took a boat out to admire the lotus flowers. The view across the lake was lovely, and she could not help taking off her embroidered shoes and dangling her feet in the water, closing her eyes to savor the rare coolness of summer.
"A Xiu."
Hua Ruxiu opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. Xie Yanchuan stood on the deck, his sleeves fluttering in the breeze, staring at the surface of the water as if he had been possessed.
Following his gaze, she saw that he was looking at her pale feet. Without a change in expression, she drew them back. "Fourth Young Master Xie."
Xie Yanchuan gave a soft acknowledgment. His throat bobbed slightly, and his gaze still seemed to linger on her feet.
Hua Ruxiu smiled and took her leave. Just as she was about to return to the cabin, another boat slipped in between their two vessels.
She looked up and saw an achingly familiar face. Xiao Tianling's icy gaze fell on her, and the teacup in his hand crumbled to pieces.
*
Xie Yanchuan's aunt had once been the most favored consort in the imperial harem. His grandfather, a founding general, had been granted the hereditary title of Duke Who Guards the State. His father was a great hero who defended the borders, and his mother was Princess Yongyi.
They said he had been arrogant and unrestrained since childhood, considering himself the finest man in the world. He was usually lazy and haughty toward everyone.
Yet this spirited young man did not die on a battlefield. He died, instead, in the political infighting at court, one bitter winter.
*
In her previous life, the new emperor Xiao Tianling seemed every bit a gentleman, immaculate and flawless.
People praised him for serving his country and people and having no interest in women. He did not take an empress or consorts until he was twenty. But Hua Ruxiu knew he was calculating, ruthless, and merciless to others for the sake of his goals, yet even more ruthless to himself.
He had seen her at her most wretched, and she had seen his frail side.
But in the end, they were separated by life and death, never to meet again.
Reading guide:
1. The setting is entirely fictional, with no historical accuracy intended.
2. One-on-one romance, happy ending. The male lead is a virgin; the female lead is not.
Theme: Live toward the light and pursue happiness.
I feel so sorry for the heroine. She did nothing wrong but was rejected by her parents right after she was born.