A Little Reunion

Zhang Xihua transmigrates unexpectedly to the first year of Hongde in the Great Ming dynasty, born as the posthumous daughter of the Zhang household's recently deceased eldest master.

After giving birth to three daughters, the First Madam is bitterly disappointed when she sees the little girl in her swaddling clothes. To keep the family estate from being squandered by the gambling-addicted Second Master, and to ensure that the eldest branch has an heir, she announces to the world that she has safely given birth to a son.

Miss Zhang Xihua is a young lady with a young master's fate. Born into a family of wealth and distinction, renowned for its literary traditions, she is expected from childhood to bring glory to her ancestors.

And so:

After fifteen years of hard study, she places at the top of the imperial examinations and rises swiftly through the ranks.

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On the eighth day of the tenth month in the first year of Hongde, Zhu Mingji is born at the Prince of Xiang's residence. The Zhang family's scholarly reputation is renowned, so once he begins his education, he is sent there to study.

Growing up, Zhu Mingji is constantly nagged by his royal father and mother: "Look at Zhang Erlang. He's obedient and sensible, brilliant, and peerless at archery and horsemanship."

Zhu Mingji refuses to accept it. Competitive in everything, he is always trying to outdo Zhang Xihua, the Zhang family's second son, but loses every time and settles for second place.

When Zhang Xihua studies, he resents her extraordinary intelligence and dazzling brilliance.

At sixteen, Zhu Mingji unexpectedly inherits the imperial throne and becomes Emperor Huiyuan. He issues an edict to hold an imperial examination outside the regular schedule.

Under the emperor's personal decree, Zhang Xihua, who would normally have swept the top three places, can only place third in the first class, earning the title of Tanhua.

The young emperor is quietly malicious. He means to make Zhang Xihua taste what it feels like to rank below someone else.

When Zhang Xihua serves as an official, he resents her skill at governing the state and her inability to protect herself.

Years later, after serving together as sovereign and subject, he can no longer bear even a hair's breadth of distance between them.

He resents that she loves the realm and its people, but not him, and that she refuses to give him a place in her heart...

And so:

For fifteen springs in the Western Garden, he cannot let go of the woman who once earned the title of Tanhua.

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Husband and wife in a past life, sovereign and subject in this one.

Theme: A warm, close-knit family story