Que Xuefu is the legitimate daughter of the Crown Prince, a peerless beauty of noble birth and the most esteemed young lady in the capital. Her mother, the Crown Princess, died young, and both the Crown Prince and the Emperor cherish her dearly. Raised in luxury like a precious branch of the imperial family, she has only to glance at something for it to be brought before her the very next day.
No one could have imagined that Que Xuefu would fall for a penniless scholar.
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Que Xuefu likes Pei Yuanting.
She has never met anyone like him: born in the mud, yet neither servile nor arrogant, and as cool as snow.
Que Xuefu knows he will not remain buried in obscurity forever.
Sure enough, on the day of the palace examination, Pei Yuanting is appointed the third-ranked graduate.
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By imperial decree, Que Xuefu gets her wish and marries the newly appointed third-ranked graduate, her heart full of joy.
Three years into their marriage, they treat each other with courtesy and respect.
Even in bed, they stick to a strict once-a-week routine, and the man seems never even to lose his composure.
Que Xuefu thinks that is simply his nature: proper and aloof, cool and restrained.
But one day, she sees him in secret helping a delicate young woman down from a carriage, speaking to her gently and tenderly.
It is a side of Pei Yuanting she has never seen before.
Que Xuefu spends the whole night wondering what she has done over the past three years to displease him.
Outside his study, she finally learns the truth.
She hears his voice, cold as ice: "Marrying her was an imperial command I could not refuse. If I want to enter the Cabinet, I know what matters most."
At that moment, the heart she had allowed to be deceived for the past three years suddenly clears.
She thought she could move him, but she never imagined his heart could be colder than a winter night.
That night, dazed and distracted, Que Xuefu accidentally falls into the lake.
She burns with a fever all night, and when she wakes, it is as if she has been given a new life.
She looks at the white hairs at her father's temples, and tears stream down her face like beads.
Que Xuefu thinks that she will never love Pei Yuanting again.
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Pei Yuanting waits outside the palace hall all night, only to receive a divorce agreement.
He asks why.
Que Xuefu replies calmly, "I don't love you anymore."
She does not look at Pei Yuanting, so she does not notice the nearly imperceptible tremor in the hand holding the agreement.
After a long silence, Pei Yuanting says hoarsely, "All right."
Later, the throne changes hands, and the Crown Prince becomes Emperor.
Que Xuefu is named Princess Yining, while Pei Yuanting finally enters the Cabinet and becomes its chief minister.
Word spreads that the new Emperor is choosing a husband for Princess Yining.
When the usually composed and self-controlled man sees another man entering and leaving her chambers, he finally panics. Forgetting his station, he rushes into the forbidden palace alone.
But he forgets that Princess Yining is no longer the wife who once had eyes only for him.
The guards force the man to his knees in a humiliating heap, staining the hem of his usually pristine white robes.
She sits alone on the high dais, regal and resplendent. There is no trace in her eyes of the unreserved admiration and love she once had for him.
Pei Yuanting's eyes are bloodshot. "Don't marry him."
Theme: Love yourself
