Spring Runs Deep in the Bronze Sparrow Tower

[A Ruthless Hero and His Beauty | Stealing a Minister's Wife | Love and Hate Entwined]

In the eleventh year of Zhengyuan, the military governor of Hexi raised an army in rebellion.

The following spring, Li Shao, the commander, personally led an army of one hundred thousand to the gates of Luoyang.

Pei Heng, son of the Eastern Capital's governor, opened the gates to surrender. He held a banquet in welcome, presenting beautiful dancing girls and attending to the commander with great care.

Li Shao merely toyed with the wine cup in his hand, seemingly uninterested. He was too listless to speak.

Only after the wine was finished and the banquet ended, in the dim night, did a young woman arrive with a little girl to take Pei Heng home.

Beneath the fading lanterns, the woman looked at her husband with concern and smiled tenderly.

Li Shao's gaze suddenly stopped.

Before long, the woman and Pei Heng climbed into a carriage together. The bamboo curtain fell, leaving behind only the faint, graceful outline of her figure.

The carriage rattled away. Li Shao's gaze darkened, following it all the way to the end of the long street.

Reading his expression, the Eastern Capital's governor nervously apologized. "My son cannot hold his liquor and was unfit to stay longer. I hope you will forgive him, Commander."

A colleague beside him laughed and teased, "Young Master Pei and his wife are so devoted to each other, and their little girl is such a darling. They really make everyone else envious."

Li Shao's face abruptly turned cold and grim.

The governor of the Eastern Capital was instantly terrified, unsure what he had done to offend this murderous god.

It was only later that he learned that when Li Shao was young, he had been held hostage in Chang'an, where he seemed to have had a romance with a young lady from the Changsun family.

Cold sweat streamed down his back.

His son's wife... wasn't her surname Changsun?

Changsun Rongjia and Li Shao had been childhood sweethearts, deeply devoted to each other when they were young.

News that Hexi intended to raise an army reached Chang'an. With danger closing in, Li Shao infiltrated the Changsun residence at the risk of his life before leaving the city. He called her tenderly, "Meimei, take good care of yourself. Wait for me to come back and marry you."

Rongjia nodded through her tears and promised to wait, then sent him off with a bowl of farewell wine.

But after the wine went down, Li Shao lost consciousness and fell into the hands of the imperial family.

Rongjia soon married in haste and moved to Luoyang. Though the marriage had been arranged without the couple ever meeting, they got along harmoniously after the wedding, and their life together was peaceful and happy.

Who could have guessed that five years after their parting, Li Shao would lead an army to seize the Eastern Capital and carve out a realm for himself?

One night, after getting drunk at a banquet, she woke in a daze to find herself lying on an unfamiliar brocade couch, her wrists bound with silk and a sheer veil covering her eyes.

Footsteps approached. A long, icy sword came toward her. Its cold edge traced her cheek, inch by inch, paused for a moment, then continued without hesitation, slicing open her sash.

Her skin instantly felt the chill. Rongjia was shocked and tried to struggle with all her might, but the person suddenly bent down and came close.

"You heartlessly abandoned me back then, all so you could marry into a family like this."

Li Shao's hard fingers seized her chin. His voice carried an unmistakable note of derision. "What should I call you now... the deputy governor's wife?"

- An imaginary setting modeled on the late Tang, with military governors ruling independently

- The heroine is not the hero's only romantic partner. The heroine marries a second time. A dark, coercive love story with family vengeance, melodramatic love and hate, and both sweetness and heartbreak

Theme: Staying true to one's principles