[The daughter of my enemy, yet the wife I wed.]
Blurb:
Zhu Yanling's father married her off to the legitimate grandson of his enemy, as a gesture of humility and a bid for peace.
The palace was pleased to see the two families make peace, and issued an imperial decree arranging the marriage, turning hostility into harmony.
Zhu Yanling's husband was Ren Guancang, the legitimate grandson of the Ren family.
After Grand Secretary Ren was killed because of the Zhu family, he became the brilliant young scholar of the Hanlin Academy who bore the hopes of his entire clan, as well as the spotless, refined new dynasty's top scholar.
Zhu Yanling, by contrast, came from the family of a treacherous minister, and everyone wanted her dead. Who could see this marriage and not say that the top scholar had been disgraced?
After her wedding sedan crossed the threshold, Zhu Yanling showed that she knew her place. She was willing to keep her distance from her top-scholar husband.
As for the Ren family, they had done her a real kindness by not locking her up.
All she hoped for was that one day Ren Guancang would bring down her father and avenge Grand Secretary Ren.
If that day came, perhaps he could let his guard down long enough for her to escape.
*Originally titled Embracing Fragrance, from the verse: "Better to die with fragrance in my branches than be blown down by the north wind."
Theme: Someone will understand the exquisite beauty of a flower blooming amid bloodshed.
