Caging the Crane for Love

Miaoshan is the least welcome person in the Jiangwu village. Pale and thin, she lives alone in a secluded, crude wooden hut deep in the mountains.

Later, by chance, she comes across the kindhearted Holy Maiden rescuing a blood-soaked man.

His features are graceful and striking. Even unconscious, he looks like an immortal banished from the heavens.

Miaoshan thinks, He's mine.

She will steal him away and make him hers.

Later, the man wakes up. The first thing he sees is Miaoshan, her dark hair damp and her body nestled against his side.

"I saved you, so... you have to marry me."

Miaoshan lies to him, pretending to be his savior and using her supposed kindness as leverage to make him marry her.

Who would have thought that after hearing her out, he would simply chuckle and nod?

"All right."

Miaoshan smiles happily and crushes the love-bonding Gu worm she'd prepared in advance.

*

She takes him back to her home. She can hardly bear to let him out of her sight, spending every day curled up in his arms, telling him how much she loves and cherishes him.

Afraid he will dislike the hut's humble condition, she secretly poisons him and blinds him.

Afraid she will frighten him, she never reveals her terrifying skill at controlling snakes and Gu worms.

Later, Miaoshan learns that he is the crown prince.

But she doesn't care. He already belongs to her.

So she locks him up.

Until one night, the wooden hut goes up in flames, and ranks of silver-armored soldiers bow before him. "Your Highness, what should we do with that witch?"

After a long silence, she hears a voice as harsh as gritted teeth.

"I want her to wish she were dead."

*

Li Zhuoqian was born into the imperial family, privileged and blessed. From childhood, he has been proper and composed, never once doing anything outrageous.

The emperor and his ministers all sing his praises.

The greatest upheaval of his life is that witch from Jiangwu: lowborn, ignorant, and full of schemes.

She stoops to using Gu magic on him to control his heart.

He has never endured such humiliation, and he loathes the sticky, cloying intimacy. Through the many days and nights of captivity, he holds on by clinging to his hatred, dreaming of drinking her blood and tearing the bones from her body.

After returning to the palace, no one knows that he has hidden that witch deep within the Golden Hall, where she serves him every day.

He tells himself he must keep a close watch on the witch and never let her out to harm anyone else.

One-on-one, both leads are each other's first

[Synopsis written on November 4, 2024]

Theme: Redemption through light