The illegitimate son of a low-ranking sixth-rank official, Ling Zixue was forced by his stepmother to marry a wealthy man who frequented brothels at sixteen. Her husband died of a venereal disease just after she turned twenty-five. Life was nothing but one fall after another. Ling Zixue had planned to live as a widow with her eight-year-old child, but her stepmother interfered again, threatening to send the child away unless she remarried.
This time, the match was a fifth-rank military officer who had fought his way up through the northwestern army. They said he was taciturn, sinister, and bloodthirsty, and that his brutal temper would crush anyone who got in his way. With no choice, Ling Zixue put her hair up again and donned a wedding gown, comforting herself with the thought that her life was already a toilet. It couldn't get any filthier than a public restroom.
On their wedding night, red candles glimmered with dew as the newlyweds drank from their nuptial cups. Her second husband stared at her for a long while, as if afraid to disturb a beautiful dream, then said drunkenly, "Ten years ago, you were already the one in my heart."
"For ten years, I've waited for this wish to come true." With that, he lifted her veil. The embroidered red silk with mandarin ducks fell to the ground, and in the low candlelight, Ling Zixue saw a handsome young man, straight as a pine and imposing as an abyss.
In the bloom of youth, bright as the stars.
Ling Zixue: ???
With looks like yours, why did you marry me?
The moon on the branch and the snow atop the clouds had long since fallen into the mortal world, filthy and sullied, yet they remained a bright moon in his heart. Now, at last, he could hold that moon in his arms and see his long-held wish fulfilled.
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A few notes: 1. The gong is three years younger than the shou.
2. The gong will become the Marquis of Zhenyuan, a title he earns through his own military merit.
3. The shou already has a child.
This is a sweet little story.
Theme: What is poison to one is honey to another
