In the eighth year of the Qianning era, war fires suddenly flared along the border.
Xie Yu, heir to the Duke's estate, was ordered by imperial decree to head to the frontier and quell the calamity. Before long, news came that he had died in battle.
The marriage between the Shen and Xie families went ahead as planned.
But the Shen family pitied their legitimate daughter, so they pushed their concubine-born daughter into the bridal sedan instead.
After Ning Shuang took her place as the bride, she became a widow. She cared for her husband's younger siblings and managed the household accounts without fault. Even when bullied, she remained composed and graceful, gentle and quiet.
Three years later, the Northern Pacification Army returned in triumph.
The troops returning to the capital marched in a vast procession, their ranks stretching like a rainbow.
At their head rode a man in silver armor with a longsword at his side. His black steed made his solemn, cold demeanor all the more imposing. His frost-cold eyes shifted slightly. It was Xie Yu, who had supposedly died in battle long ago.
As it turned out, he had only been pretending with His Majesty that day.
·
Ning Shuang wanted to complete their wedding night.
But he rejected her. “We're only husband and wife in name. I hope you find a good match soon. I'll sign the divorce papers now, and I certainly won't keep pestering you.”
After that, she devoted herself to her business and stopped indulging in romance.
Xie Yu hoped Shen Ningshuang would find a good match soon and divorce him as quickly as possible.
As for him, he would let his sword sink into the sands and bring this life to an end.
Until, at a flower-viewing banquet in the imperial palace, he helped the imperial grandson retrieve a kite caught in the gnarled branches of a tall tree. He glimpsed the newly appointed top scholar in the pavilion, playing a long flute with elegant poise, while Ning Shuang listened and admired him nearby. They looked like a perfect couple.
At last, he understood:
He was the one who had fallen first, and he was the one who would become hopelessly clingy.
On countless difficult, rain-soaked nights, he tossed and turned, regretting everything. He didn't dare bring up what he'd said that day, and he didn't dare question her.
*
One night, beneath the moonlight and their bridal candles,
Ning Shuang presented him with the divorce papers she'd already signed.
“I won't live with you anymore.”
“If not with me, then who do you want to live with?”
In their haste, the curtains fell. Xie Yu gently encircled her waist, leaned close to her sensitive ear, and lightly nibbled her earlobe. With ill temper, he said, “You've climbed onto a low branch and already want to discard a high branch like me. You're heartless.”
Then he softened his tone. “Wife, I was joking...”
-She was the only variable in his life,
-the spring that brought his withered tree back to life.
-The character Shàn on the cover means change or replacement.
-Gentle noblewoman × gloomy heir
-Fully fictional setting, single-couple romance, marriage before love, husband pursues his wife after driving her away
-The male lead is pure in body and heart, with a slightly sharp tongue
Theme: Face your own shortcomings and welcome a beautiful spring.
