Phase 1v1: Pretty widow x gentle older brother x rugged younger brother
Sang Hua is famous for being the prettiest woman in the surrounding villages. While washing clothes, she finds a handsome young man. His face is deathly pale, he's badly injured, and he's lost his memory. The only thing he remembers is his name: Shen Yanqing.
She cares for him devotedly, and before long, they fall in love.
Shen Yanqing gently takes her fingertips in his. "Hua Niang, let's get married."
Looking at his jade-like face, she shyly agrees. After they marry, Shen Yanqing is considerate in every way, and they live together in perfect harmony.
Sadly, their happy days don't last long. Just as their love is at its most passionate, Shen Yanqing dies. With a white flower in her hair, Sang Hua keeps up appearances and mourns him for a year.
An uprising breaks out, and the army charges into the village. She falls to the ground. A young man in black armor emblazoned with a lion sits astride a fine horse, looking down at her with his nostrils flared. After a long moment, he dismounts.
She jumps to her feet, her eyes reddening as she taps his chest with her handkerchief. "You told me you were dead! A whole year has passed, and you've finally decided to come back."
The young man moves her aside and glares at her, his voice cold and hard. "I don't know you. Get out of my way."
He's tanned, sturdier, and more rugged now. If he isn't her dead husband, who is? And yet he refuses to acknowledge her.
Furious, she gets someone to dig up his grave that very night. The coffin is so empty, it doesn't even have a single piece of clothing in it.
She sits on the grave mound and cries her heart out. She even burned paper money for him for a whole year.
That only makes her more certain that the young man is Shen Yanqing. She knows all too well how stubbornly he keeps up appearances.
While the young man is still staying in the village, she puts her beauty and sweet talk to work. After smiling at him a few times and trying a few tricks, she finally wins him over.
His strong arms lock around her slender waist, his gaze dark. "Hua Niang, who am I? If you get it wrong again this time, I'll have to punish you."
His passionate kiss leaves her breathless. "Xie Qu... you bastard."
He bends down and kisses away the tears on her cheek. "Tomorrow, we'll bow to Heaven and Earth."
"Again? We've already done that once." He punishes her again that night.
Xie Qu refuses to admit he's Shen Yanqing, so she has no choice but to marry him again.
At the wedding hall, a refined and elegant gentleman steps in front of the couple and calls her tenderly, "Hua Niang."
Sang Hua lifts her veil and sees her husband's face again. She looks back and forth between the two similar faces.
"Who are you two, exactly?"
The two men each seize one of her hands, their faces growing darker by the second.
"Shen Yanqing."
"Xie Qu."
Phase 1v1
Theme: Don't love the wrong person
