The old emperor, senile and debauched, was finally driven from the throne by a warlord who had laid siege to the capital.
On the day the city fell, the young palace maid Li Yuan fled in the chaos and happened to rescue a wounded man beneath the palace walls.
When the man awoke, he tried to repay her. "I'll have a place in the new dynasty. You don't need to run anymore. Once things have settled down, I'll bring you to enjoy a life of wealth and luxury."
Li Yuan thought it over. "All right."
So Li Yuan stayed in the palace, only to receive an order assigning her to attend the new emperor.
Staring at the emperor's familiar face, Li Yuan was astonished. It was him?
*
The new emperor couldn't stand the new palace maid.
She was clumsy at her work and often stared at him for no reason, saying things like, "Back in the day..." that made no sense.
Time and again, the new emperor tried to send her away, but every time he thought better of it for the sake of his reputation for treating the former dynasty's people generously.
He was a wise ruler who had founded a new dynasty. He could keep her around as a living testament to that, he reminded himself each time.
But as he kept her around, the new emperor was horrified to realize he might have raised a love-struck fool. He was starting to find the little palace maid rather charming.
Unable to resist, they spent a night together.
Then the little palace maid ran away.
In his fury, the new emperor stopped even trying to be a wise ruler. He would hunt her down to the ends of the earth.
*
At first, Li Yuan thought being a concubine would be just fine, until one day at a palace banquet she met the new emperor's older brother, Prince Zhao.
Li Yuan: ...?!
On one side was the unpredictable new emperor. On the other was Prince Zhao, who had been devotedly waiting for her to become his principal wife.
Li Yuan swiftly packed her belongings and made a run for it.
"You've got the wrong person. Goodbye."
Li Yuan headed straight for Prince Zhao's residence. With flowers blooming and the moon shining, she wanted nothing more than a happy life together.
Until she discovered she was pregnant.
Theme: A glimmer of hope after despair
