A heavy snow fell the day Dong Qing was brought back to the Prime Minister's residence.
The next day, she changed into festive clothes, clumsily mounted a horse, and was pushed into the role of welcoming the new bride on behalf of the sick Prime Minister Zhu.
Her stepmother-to-be, Chu Mingwan, was said to have once held a very noble status.
A daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo's household, a noble-born lady, she had commanded armies at the age of fourteen and was hailed as the "Jade-Faced Young General."
But later, her legs were broken.
After a devastating defeat, her reputation lay in ruins. She was not only disabled, but now had to marry as part of a political alliance and become a second wife.
The suona horns played, and red decorations covered the ground as far as the eye could see.
Zhu Dongqing dismounted, brushed the snow from Chu Mingwan's wedding robes, and personally pushed her wheelchair into the Prime Minister's residence.
She thought she had been quite considerate toward her new stepmother, but for some reason, the other woman seemed to dislike her.
--
The day Chu Mingwan married into the Prime Minister's residence, her stepdaughter came to welcome her.
They said that Zhu Dongqing had been kidnapped as a child and spent many years suffering in the mountains of Qianzhou. She had only returned to her family two days ago and was a very crude, ill-mannered person.
But Zhu Dongqing's hands were steady as she pushed her wheelchair, and Chu Mingwan understood that rumors could not always be trusted.
Still, she had already resigned herself to spending the rest of her life in this deep, secluded household. A second wife who could not walk and a sharp-edged young lady who had just returned to the residence were better off keeping their distance.
She never expected the Prime Minister's residence and the General's residence to plot a rebellion, suddenly disrupting the peaceful life she had resigned herself to.
"You don't need to worry about me." In the chaos of soldiers ransacking the residence, everyone was only thinking of escaping. Why bother protecting a cripple like her?
Zhu Dongqing, however, lifted her steadily out of her wheelchair.
"I was the one who welcomed you into this home. I have to take responsibility."
At first, Chu Mingwan paid little attention to those words.
That is, until the wedding curtains were tossed aside and someone began visiting her bedchamber night after night.
[A sweet 1v1 romance. Please add it to your reading list!]
Theme: Raise a daughter to care for you in old age
