The Yan Dynasty has four arts: tea whisking, incense burning, flower arranging, and hanging paintings.
The Du family's flowers are famous throughout Lin'an. Du Hengwu, the Du family's daughter, has been cherished and spoiled by her family since childhood. She imagines marrying... no, being married to a delicate scholar. Hengwu would grow and arrange flowers, while her husband would keep the books and collect the money. Their sweet life together would stretch as far as the eye could see.
But everything comes to nothing. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the consort loses her unborn child after smelling the flowers presented by the Du family. The whole Du household is exiled.
In the chaos, a man in armor throws Hengwu onto a horse. His guard produces an imperial edict granting a marriage, and Hengwu becomes the new wife of General Wei Lin, the "Iron Pagoda."
On their wedding night, Hengwu and the armor are separated by a gauze curtain.
They sit facing each other in silence. After a long while, Hengwu sits upright and gives Wei Lin a formal bow. "Thank you, General, for saving my life."
Wei Lin is a man who repays kindness. The shopkeeper Du once saved him, so he petitioned for an imperial marriage decree to spare Hengwu from exile.
Wei Lin is a gentleman who can resist temptation. Since this marriage is a way to repay a debt of gratitude, he naturally won't take advantage of his benefactor's daughter.
Her convenient husband sits outside the curtain all night, then is nowhere to be found the next day. Hengwu reopens her flower shop, selling seasonal arrangements and floral displays for the twelve solar terms. The business thrives, and she hopes that one day she'll have enough money to buy her freedom.
There's just one thing: a muscular, intimidating hunter from the outskirts named A Lin. He's highly skilled in martial arts but not a bad person. Whenever she goes up the mountain to gather flowers or into the valley to find stones, she runs into him whenever she's in danger.
Hengwu's heart flutters a few times, but when she remembers her husband, whom she's never even met, she steels herself. "Stop following me. I have a husband!"
The man just grins foolishly. "Hehe, even better, hehe."
Hengwu: ???
Theme: Promoting cultural soft power
