1
As Tao Jing lay dying, her children gathered around her in tears, but her husband was nowhere to be seen. He held the post of Grand Commander and had just been summoned to the palace again to discuss affairs of state.
As she closed her eyes, she asked herself: After a lifetime of putting up with everything, was this ending worth it?
As a child, regardless of the season, she would get up early to pay her respects to her grandparents and serve them their meals. Her grandmother had said more than once that Tao Jing was the most filial of all the grandchildren, unlike her thoughtless male cousins. And yet she left her entire dowry to those thoughtless cousins.
Later, Tao Jing married Han Xuan, the second son of the Duke of Wei. With a difficult princess for a mother-in-law and shameless relatives constantly showing up to sponge off them, she dutifully cared for her husband's parents and raised their children while planning and making connections for Han Xuan's career. But just as Han Xuan finally rose to the highest ranks, she was about to die.
She remembered that, in the twenty-first year of Zhongping, just before she and Han Xuan were to be married, Han Xuan had eloped with the woman he loved, hoping to escape to Jinling. Tao Jing had stopped their boat, explained the consequences to him, and brought Han Xuan back.
It turned out that everything had been wrong. If she could live her life over, she would no longer come between Han Xuan and Yang Yi.
2
The powerful Grand Commander Han Xuan is reborn at eighteen.
He has his plans all worked out.
He will marry Tao Jing and have imperial physicians nurse her back to health. It doesn't matter if the children they had in his previous life arrive a few years later. This time, he will grow old with her. He'll also find a way to bring down those old enemies who opposed him in his last life as soon as possible.
Then he realizes he's on a covered boat, with a beautiful young woman beside him, blushing shyly. "Han Lang, we'll reach Jinling tomorrow."
It is the eighteenth day of the sixth month, two days after his wedding to Tao Jing.
Theme: Marriage
