A martial arts prodigy who has lost all her memories × a former crybaby who is a cold-faced queen in public
Jiang Suhe has three things she never expected in this life.
First, she never thought she would get to be the older woman in an older-woman-younger-man romance.
Second, the younger man had already been married.
Third, she herself had also been married.
It's all because she lost her memory, and not all at once.
Jiang Suhe is a bit of a lech. She admits it!
Her new husband is young and handsome. She's thrilled!
"How could it not be a stroke of heaven-sent good fortune for the daughter of a fifth-rank official, raised in the wilds of the southwest from childhood, to marry Lu Xuanzhou, the young and accomplished Prince of Yongchang, a man as clear and bright as moonlight, with an army under his command?"
As it happens, the older bride herself thinks so too, and is rather pleased with herself.
At the ripe old age of twenty-four, Jiang Suhe marries Lu Xuanzhou, who is three or four years younger than her. She has no parents-in-law to serve, and only has to deal with her younger brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and sister-in-law in the afternoon. She considers this heaven's reward for her late marriage. Those people hate and curse her, and would love to drag this old maid out and humiliate her, but she just laughs it off.
Besides, when they first met, Lu Xuanzhou called her "older sister." Jiang Suhe was quite pleased. A handsome young man who was a cold-faced prince in public and a little crybaby in front of his big sister was exactly the sort of man who belonged with her.
But on their wedding day, the old Princess Dowager, who had refused to return to the capital, suddenly came back from the northern frontier with a remarkable beauty in tow. She told Jiang Suhe that the beauty was Lu Xuanzhou's wife, whom he had married while in the north.
The northern frontier? A beauty? The memories she had forgotten at seventeen came rushing back like raindrops.
"Lu Xuanzhou, you weren't the only one who got married in the north. I did too."
With that, she took off her outer wedding robe, gripped a gold hairpin in one hand, and stormed into the Princess Royal's residence, vowing to avenge the humiliation she had suffered all those years ago.
2.
Jiang Suhe had always thought she had lost one set of memories from when she was seventeen.
It wasn't until her husband, Prince of Yongchang, failed in his coup that she realized otherwise.
"The Jiang family has served the throne loyally for two generations. I won't become a traitor alongside you."
With twin blades in hand, she stood guard before the emperor.
Lu Xuanzhou, covered in blood and sprawled on the ground, said to her,
"A-He, you remembered everyone, but somehow left me behind."
Only then did she remember that she had lost two sets of memories.
3.
A new emperor ascended the throne and changed the dynasty's name to Huisheng.
On the Dragon Boat Festival of the first year of Huisheng, another heavy rain fell on the northern frontier. Jiang Suhe was drenched from head to toe. A Northern Hu curved saber had cut into her shoulder, and rain mixed with blood seeped into the sand beneath her. At that moment, she thought it might be fine if the love and hatred of her life began in the north and ended there too. Still, when she thought of Lu Xuanzhou, she felt she owed him an apology.
"What a shame. All those years, I just didn't understand."
Reading notes:
1. The heroine is about three or four years older than the hero.
2. Both are virgins! Happy ending!
3. The heroine has temporarily lost her memory.
4. Set in an alternate dynasty, with a mixed bag of systems and conventions.
5. The original title is A Lotus Leaves Her Country for a Thousand Years. It will be changed back later.
Theme: Someone will love you well.
