Ye Chen, the young master of the Jingbian General’s Manor, has feared two things all his life: his mother General Ye’s ruler, and the fourteenth princess Yun Qing’s pair of eyes that always seem to hold a knowing smile.
She looks every inch the gentle, refined gentleman, yet she loves teasing him. She corners him beneath the pear blossoms, and one “Chen-ge’er” is enough to turn his ears red. A single “husband” sends him fleeing in embarrassment.
He thought she liked him, and married into the Princess’s Manor in high spirits, only to find a cold, lonely home where they treated each other like strangers.
Until one day, she tossed a letter of divorce before him with her own hands, every word like a knife: “You have failed in your duties as a husband. Go back to your General’s Manor.”
He begged her, wept for her, and clung to the hem of her robe, but she wouldn’t even spare him a glance.
Later, war swept across the land and shattered the realm. He went from the well-fed, finely dressed principal husband of a princess to a homeless refugee fleeing for his life.
Later still, she became the Regent, whose power eclipsed all others, and posted a notice offering ten thousand taels of gold for news of his whereabouts.
In the drizzling rain of March in Jinzhou, she finally found him and held his thin frame tightly in her arms. Her voice hoarse, she asked, “I’ve been looking for you all this time. Why wouldn’t you see me?”
He turned his face away, tears mingling with the rain. “I… am no longer worthy of you.”
But she kissed his tear-streaked eyes and whispered, “Now I have no one in the world. If you won’t have me, I’ll have nowhere left to call home.”
One wrong step, and every step after is wrong.
The beauty of the realm became the tribulation in her heart.
She traveled across thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, searching for him alone.
The bitterest thing in this world is longing; the sweetest is reunion.
Reader’s guide:
Women are dominant, and men can bear children. Contains original worldbuilding, so please don’t read if that bothers you.
A short story of around 100,000 words, updated irregularly~
Theme: May we weather every storm without forgetting our first intentions; may we endure every hardship and finally find the love we long for.
