The title comes from the line: "Few recognize the face behind a mask; who is worthy to hear the truth?"
Synopsis:
Though Mu Ruo is a woman, her martial prowess surpasses that of most men.
One year, her master went down the mountain to save someone. When he returned, he brought her a marriage contract.
She never saw a portrait of the young man. All she knew was that his surname was Wang and that he was a scholar.
To put her master's mind at ease, she agreed to the engagement, but never gave her fiance a second thought.
Unexpectedly, disaster struck her sect, and she had no choice but to flee with the marriage contract and her junior fellow disciple.
By chance, amid the chaos of war, she met the fiance her master had chosen for her.
The young master Wang was handsome, but delicate and frail, looking as if he might ascend to heaven at any moment. She couldn't help worrying she'd soon be a widow.
Fortunately, she was strong and capable, and Young Master Wang didn't mind that she came with her junior fellow disciple in tow.
So she readily married him.
Chen Lang was a puppet emperor, powerless to control his own fate, tormented with all sorts of drugs by a powerful minister for more than a decade.
The minister controlled the government, forced him to take an empress, and even drove his tutor to his death.
To stay alive, he went to great lengths to escape the palace that had imprisoned him for thirteen years.
After leaving the palace, he was so weak he couldn't lift or carry anything. Even setting up a stall to write letters for people and sell calligraphy and paintings left him desperately poor.
Then, one afternoon, Mu Ruo rescued him from the hooves of a rebel army.
When he learned she was searching for a fiance she had never met, a scheme suddenly took shape in his mind.
He smiled at her. "Miss, I'm Wang Liang, and I'm also looking for my fiancee, but I have no idea where to find her."
Two years after they married, Mu Ruo went out to chop bamboo. When she returned, Wang Liang was gone.
After much searching, she finally learned that the husband who painted umbrellas for her every day was the dog emperor whom war-ravaged commoners had cursed for over a decade.
Furious, she decided to storm the capital with her sword.
At first, Chen Lang was consumed by thoughts of revenge. But, captivated by the warmth she gave him, he remained clear-headed even as he sank into it.
Mu Ruo was naive and slow to understand romantic feelings, but in the end, she lost herself in his repeated calls of "My lady."
Later, she discovered he'd deceived her, yet she still charged headlong toward the capital.
Because she knew that though she couldn't clear his name, she could save him from that place that devoured people.
Reader's Guide:
1. One man, one woman. Both are sexually inexperienced and have only ever loved each other.
2. The heroine is slow to realize her feelings in the first half. The hero wants revenge, so it's a marriage before love.
3. Half romance, half plot.
Synopsis written on June 27, 2025. A screenshot has been saved as proof.
Theme: Cherish the light and stay true to your original aspirations
