Please, Don't Play Along

[Your collection is my biggest motivation. Sending you a big hug and kisses!]

[Marriage Before Love / Substitute / The Long Road to Winning Her Back]

Pei Rongjin, Prince of Dingbei, was the late emperor's youngest son. At seventeen, he led an army to reclaim the twelve northern provinces and earned the emperor's praise as "the blade that safeguards Great Yong."

The young general was as handsome as jade and bamboo, a peerless beauty who caught the eye of the noblewomen of the capital. His marriage was a matter of great interest to the public.

Yet the emperor simply issued an imperial decree, ordering Shen Wanqing, daughter of the Huaihua General of the southern frontier, to marry Pei Rongjin on a chosen date.

Before long, rumors spread through the capital that Shen Wanqing was plain as salt and coarse and overbearing. The people all protested on Prince Dingbei Pei Rongjin's behalf, and public opinion was in an uproar.

On their wedding night, Shen Wanqing emerged from beneath her veil, her beauty surpassing even spring peach blossoms.

Pei Rongjin stared at Shen Wanqing, entranced, but not because he had fallen for her beauty. In her lovely face, he saw the features of someone from his past.

Since he could never have the woman he once loved, why not use you in her place?

When Shen Wanqing heard she could play the stand-in for his unrequited love, a perfect chance to hone her acting skills, she looked hesitant but was secretly delighted.

She only "reluctantly" accepted the role of stand-in after securing permission to leave the manor whenever she pleased.

From then on, Shen Wanqing went about teahouses and taverns in men's clothes, gathering stories to help build her opera business.

She couldn't care less about this noblewoman or that prince.

If there was a schemer, Shen Wanqing would study her acting.

If there was a good play, Shen Wanqing would turn it into a script.

If there was a handsome man, Shen Wanqing would make him promises and recruit him.

At first, Pei Rongjin paid little attention. But when the many handsome men around Shen Wanqing began treating her with increasing affection, his brow furrowed.

When the truth came to light, Pei Rongjin realized that the woman he had been yearning for had been right in front of him all along. But Shen Wanqing had already fallen into another man's arms (in a play performed by her troupe).

So Pei Rongjin pinned Shen Wanqing against the window frame, though she still hadn't remembered him, and made her cry out his name again and again to help her remember.

Old grievances and new resentments intertwined without end. Pei Rongjin leaned close to Shen Wanqing's ear, his voice husky:

"Since you accepted the duty of being my substitute back then, you might as well keep playing the role."

Only after suffering the consequences did Shen Wanqing realize just how formidable Pei Rongjin was.

Playing the substitute was too much. Shen Wanqing decided to quit, wrote up a divorce agreement in the middle of the night, and ran away from her husband. She planned to return to her old home in the southern frontier, conceal her identity, and retreat to the comfort of acting, where she could remain the leading lady and run her own opera troupe.

But when her troupe performed a play called "On Their Wedding Night, an Old Flame Willingly Takes the Groom's Place in the Bridal Chamber," Shen Wanqing was left alone in the bridal chamber, waiting in vain for her partner to arrive.

Realizing something was wrong, Shen Wanqing had just begun to rise when someone suddenly pressed her down onto the bed.

After being rejected, Pei Rongjin had endured every hardship before finally finding her. Now his eyes were filled with boundless madness, as if all the anguish he had suffered had shattered him.

"I'll make sure tonight's performance satisfies the princess..."

Theme: Enjoying life is what matters most