[Proud, Clever Princess × Aloof, Cold Nobleman]
[The Chosen One's Unrequited Love, the High-and-Mighty One's Fall from Grace]
The aristocratic clans were powerful, while the imperial family had fallen into decline. Even Yichang, the emperor's only daughter, had to mind the clans' opinions.
How could Yichang, who had always gotten whatever she wanted, put up with that? She packed her bags and headed for Gusu, claiming she was going there to study, when in truth she was looking for an ally through marriage.
Gusu was blessed with outstanding people and abundant talent. After considering her options, she chose Song Mo, heir to the Song family.
Song Mo came from the Gusu Songs, one of the Four Great Clans. Handsome and aloof, he was like an immortal who had strayed from the heavens. A man so discerning naturally sought a woman of equally refined temperament and kindred spirit, someone who could accompany him into the mortal world.
But Yichang was the complete opposite. She loved luxury and fine clothes, and her gold and silver jewelry shone so brightly it could dazzle you. Wherever she went, she brought along a retinue of servants. She was, to put it mildly, very worldly.
No one thought Yichang stood a chance. They all assumed she would be rebuffed a few times and learn her lesson. Yet as they watched in disbelief, the Song heir really did end up in Yichang's arms!
By day, they toured the streets together in a sedan chair. At night, they whispered by the bridge. They were inseparable, as close as if they were lovers lost in love.
Everyone sighed. Even an immortal who had left the mortal world behind had descended to earth. It was truly a case of a phoenix following a crow, and a jade flower leaning on weeds.
A year later, when Yichang finished her studies and returned to Jianye, the man she brought back wasn't the Song heir, but a son of another great clan. Everyone was left speechless.
In full view of the crowd, the once proud and aloof nobleman lowered his head for the first time and stopped Yichang's carriage. "Why him?"
Yichang smiled faintly and answered unhurriedly, "Yi Xue is kind, and we get along very well."
As the carriage curtain fell, the immortal who had once stood apart from the world was now just an ordinary man who could not have the woman he wanted.
*
As the heir to the Gusu Songs, Song Mo had always had an easy life. His only real worry was that he didn't want to become an official. He wanted to go up into the mountains and become a Daoist instead.
But Yichang's arrival threw everything into disarray. She was worldly and willful, like a blazing fire that melted all his cold indifference without a second thought, then left with her head held high, leaving him at a loss.
He thought he would hate her. She had trampled his dignity into the dirt like a worthless rag. Yet in the dead of night, when he dreamed of her, all he remembered was her radiant smile.
No matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise, he still went to Jianye. He only needed one look at her, just one look, and then he could let go.
After that, their paths would part, each going their own way.
But when he arrived in Jianye, all he heard people say was that Princess Yichang and the Sang family's young lord were "touring the streets together in a sedan chair by day, whispering by the bridge at night, as close as lovers and inseparable."
The strings of the zither in his hands snapped. He stood there in a daze, realizing he could never again be that immortal who stood apart from the world.
He hated her. He hated that the princess gave her heart so freely.
He hated that she did not belong to him.
Yichang was his.
Theme: Every love in the world begins with the wind stirring, or the banner fluttering.
