Before they married, Li Rong and her sisters were the Li family's daughters, envied by all yet looked down upon by all.
The military elite sneered at them, while the aristocratic families wanted nothing to do with them.
Adrift and homeless, they endured cold looks wherever they went.
When Lin Guzhou first met Li Rong, he asked her name. All he got was an indifferent glance, yet that one look stayed in his heart forever.
"The flowers of Shangyang bloom like brocade, yet there is no one to admire them."
*
One spring afternoon, the empress slept and could not be roused.
In her dream, that bold, carefree young man, dressed in fine clothes and riding a fine horse, leaned against a ginkgo tree with an easy smile. His features were bright and clear.
Back then, at Jifang Garden, everyone openly praised her while secretly belittling and suppressing her. He alone stood up for her and shielded her behind him.
An old Tang poem says: "How pitiful, the bones beside the unsettled river, still the beloved in a young woman's springtime dream."
But after all these years apart, she was no longer a maiden in her springtime boudoir. His deep affection had gone unanswered. And where had the man in her dreams fallen?
*
BE BE BE, in all caps, three times
The heroine gets everything, except she loses the one she loves.
Please add my upcoming long novel, The Spring Oriole in Chains, to your collection!
Theme: Regret leaves an indelible mark
