The Magistrate's Wife's Little Foibles

The widowed magistrate's wife nervously travels to the capital to seek refuge with relatives.

To keep her daughters from being selected for the imperial harem and sent to their deaths as sacrifices, even this meek, honest woman has to grit her teeth and find a way out for them.

She had it all planned out. Her eldest daughter is proper, so she would find her a civil official from a family of equal standing. Her second daughter is sensitive, so she would find her a scholar who knows how to care for her. Her third daughter is sickly, so she would need a family with a military background.

But each daughter has a mind of her own.

In the frantic rush, she runs into the marquis with whom she was once engaged.

The commander of the Zhenbei Army, he has won countless military honors before turning thirty-five and was personally granted the title of Dingbei Marquis by the emperor. He has been single for years, with no concubines, and is the most eligible bachelor among the capital's noblewomen. His only flaw is the rumor that he was injured on the battlefield and is no longer able to father children.

For some reason, he is at every banquet on the Twenty-Four Bridges. She cannot avoid him.

The magistrate's wife is mortified.

But she has no time to worry about that now. She grits her teeth: I'm already middle-aged. Why make such a fuss?

At a banquet, she leads her daughters aside to pay their respects, not daring to lift her head.

But the man stops in front of her, studies her for a long moment, then says just one thing: "It's been years. I see you've learned to be polite."

The magistrate's wife's palm trembles. Is he making small talk or taking a jab at her?

At the table, a noblewoman uses her status as a widow to take a swipe at her. She clutches her handkerchief, wondering how to laugh it off, when the marquis at the head table suddenly sets down his wine cup. His voice is not loud, yet the entire banquet falls silent. "Since when do outsiders get to make the rules for an honored guest in my home?"

After the banquet, when the crowd has thinned, she gathers her courage and stops his carriage.

"Marquis, you've helped me time and again. I... don't know how I can repay you."

The curtain lifts slightly. Hidden in the shadows, he answers in a voice that gives nothing away. "No need to rush. We can settle the new accounts and the old ones, bit by bit."

The carriage rattles away. She stands in the night wind, and only after a long while does it dawn on her: Old accounts? What old accounts?

Theme: Never give up