Wei Hui, Marquis of Jin, was a scion of a prestigious family, a fine and noble talent, and a man of formidable character. He took charge of the court's inner workings at a young age. By twenty-six, he already held the emperor in his grasp and commanded the feudal lords.
Yet the life of this peerless Lord Wei, immaculate as white jade, had one tiny flaw.
That flaw was his wife, Zhou Ying Shu.
*
After buying her freedom, Zhou Ying Shu took the place of the Zhou family's daughter, who had died of illness. She became a noblewoman and married into one of the most powerful marquis families in the realm.
The Marquis of Jin treated her coldly, while his collateral relatives bullied her and the servants looked down on her. After enduring countless difficult days, Zhou Ying Shu held a little maid who was shivering with cold just like her and made a quiet decision.
In the bitter winter snow, she softened her voice and stumbled into the arms of a nobleman. Like a frightened kitten, she timidly called him her husband.
From then on, she played the lovely young wife, and he played the virtuous husband. They shared a bed for years, and by the end, Zhou Ying Shu had been foolish enough to believe it: to believe he loved her a little, even if only a little.
Until Wei Hui raised an army in rebellion. With a knife at her throat and her life hanging by a thread, she was held hostage, but Lord Wei said:
"A fake husband and wife, a trifle for amusement. Why pity her? Better to kill her."
So he had known everything. She had spent more than a decade making her way to Chang'an, working carefully and using every scheme she could, yet she still hadn't managed to become his wife.
*
Wei Hui had known from the start that she was an impostor sent by the Zhou family.
He didn't care.
He needed no one's love, and he needed to love no one.
At the Lantern Festival in Chang'an, a young woman blushed and asked, "My lord, am I your wife now?"
All at once, the lanterns went dark. Only the eyes of the person before him shone brighter than the stars.
It was only much later that he understood: the thunderous pounding of his heart that night had not been caused by Zhou Ying Shu's clumsy tricks. It was the joy he could no longer suppress.
But Zhou Ying Shu left a letter of separation and disappeared without a trace.
The Marquis of Jin, Wei Hui, had been clever all his life. He was foolish only this once, but it cost him his heart and left him with no way back.
Theme: Even a tiny moss flower can learn to bloom like a peony.
