"Pei Zhaoye, remember - you will not be just a slave in this life."
Shen Zhaoning, the legitimate daughter of the Shen family in Beijing, is famous as the "Princess Zhaoning" in Beijing. She was born as a phoenix in a heap of brocades. She was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, etiquette, music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Even the current prince would call her "Sister Zhaoning" when he saw her.
But the only thing she did that went against the rules in her life was falling in love with her personal bodyguard - the young man named Pei Zhaoye.
He read poems with her, stayed overnight with her, and carried her through a ten-mile street on a rainy night.
She stole medicine for him, resisted the whip, and secretly gave him a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake when he was punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall.
He said: "My lord, a slave is not worth it."
She smiled: "This princess wants you to be worthy."
Until the new emperor ascended the throne, an imperial edict smashed the green apricot branches——
"Shen Zhaoning is gentle and virtuous. She is registered as a noble concubine and will enter the palace on a certain day."
On the wedding day, Pei Zhaoye wore black armor and held a halberd to clear the way for her. When the wedding sedan passed by Zhuque Street, she opened the curtain and saw him kneeling among the flying flowers. His shoulders and back were straight, but his Adam's apple was branded with blood marks from her bite last night.
"Pei Zhaoye, look up."
"Slave... Don't dare."
Later——
She died in the plum garden in late winter. When she was dying, Shen Zhaoning clutched the faded purse in her sleeve. There was a osmanthus cake hidden in it, which had become moldy. "Aye..." She looked at the sky outside the palace wall and smiled softly, "This year's snow... Is so cold."
Outside the palace gate, Pei Zhaoye cut off the imperial guard's flagpole with one slash, and when he rushed in covered in blood, he only received her already cold body.
Purpose: People should be responsible for their own choices