The concept and blurb were screenshotted and saved on May 19, 2026.
[Novel Blurb]
Ruan Baizhi lost both her parents as a child and had to live under someone else's roof. She thought she would marry an ordinary man, raise a family, and live out a quiet, unremarkable life.
But when she was sixteen, her cousin eloped with her lover on the eve of her wedding. Ruan Baizhi was pushed into the bridal sedan and ended up marrying into the Lu family in her cousin's place, without quite understanding what was happening.
The Lu family had been an eminent house for a century. Its eldest son, Lu Jin, was as graceful as orchids by a stream and strikingly handsome. He was the youngest and most promising prime minister in Great Qi's history, as well as the dream man of countless young women in Chang'an.
Ruan Baizhi herself was delighted. When she was little, some people had bullied her and pushed her into a pond. Lu Jin happened to be passing by and rescued her. Ever since, she'd carefully kept him in her heart for years.
He was the bright moon in the heavens, while she was an insignificant weed on the ground. But now, the moon had come to her.
After they married, Lu Jin was cold toward her and never showed her even the slightest smile. Ruan Baizhi assumed she hadn't been good enough, so she treated him even better and tried her hardest to be a good wife.
She thought that one day, he would notice.
One day, as usual, she brought Lu Jin the medicinal soup she'd spent hours preparing herself. Outside his study, she overheard him talking with a friend.
"She's just an orphan from the Ruan family. Naturally, I don't think much of her."
Only then did Ruan Baizhi understand that she'd never warmed his heart. Everything had been nothing more than her ridiculous one-sided love.
Wanting to keep what little dignity she had left, she left a letter of separation and departed Chang'an.
With all her savings, Ruan Baizhi opened a cosmetics shop in Luoyang. Business grew better and better, and with time, the heartbreak began to fade.
Until...
*
"Only the ruthless can accomplish great things."
That was the lesson the head of the Lu family taught Lu Jin. From childhood on, anything Lu Jin cherished had to be given up or destroyed.
When Lu Jin saw the letter of separation Ruan Baizhi had left behind, he felt little. If she didn't want to stay, he could simply let her go.
When she left, she also took away the lamp in the back courtyard that had always been lit for him, the steaming soup waiting late at night, the assortment of sugary pastries, and the chatter that had filled his ears.
Only then did he realize that he had long since grown used to her being there.
One night of pouring rain, he arrived at her home, soaked and exhausted from the journey, only to hear her say:
"It's late, sir. You should return home soon."
And...
There was another man standing behind her.
Theme: Love yourself before loving another.
