Love Beneath the Phoenix Canopy

Hu Shen grew up on the grasslands. Her elder brother was favored by the khan, and her own life was fairly comfortable.

Until one day, after her brother launched a campaign into the Central Plains, he returned with a captive from there.

They said the man was the legitimate heir of a powerful Central Plains family, of noble birth.

They said that though he was a civil official, he fought with great courage and had tremendous potential.

The khan wanted to bring him into his service, but the man would rather die than submit. No amount of torture or humiliation could make him bow his head.

With no other options, someone suggested that he be given a wife.

A wife and child might soften his heart. It would also be a show for the emperor of the Central Plains.

Would anyone believe a man who refused to yield under torture would give up his loyalty just because he married and had a child?

The woman’s status had to be just right:

If she ranked too low, she would be no different from a concubine in the Central Plains.

If she ranked too high, why would the khan’s own princess agree to serve as bait?

Later, her brother came to her.

Later still, she brought Xie Xixiao a bowl of deer-blood wine.

She thought Xie Xixiao hated her. Otherwise, why would his gaze be so cold, and why would he force himself to resist her advances when they shared a bed?

And why, after secretly joining forces with the Central Plains to kill the khan, would he throw their infant son to his death?

Five years later, Xie Xixiao held great power.

He had proved his loyalty by killing his own son, and his methods were ruthless. He was the emperor’s closest confidant.

Yet in the dead of night, he was haunted by those three nauseating years in captivity.

Then unrest broke out at the border once more. He led troops to suppress it, only to encounter the woman who had repeatedly humiliated him.

She was dressed like a Han Chinese woman. Though remarried, she was now a widow, clutching the child she had with her late husband protectively to her chest.

Her frail body trembled as she looked at him in terror.

At last, the hatred that had consumed Xie Xixiao for years found an outlet...

The tables had turned.

Now she was the prisoner at his mercy.

[Reader’s Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, both leads have only ever been with each other.

2. The child did not die, and the male lead never intended to kill him. No innocent child is harmed; the blurb reflects a skewed point of view.

3. This is not a story about the male lead abusing the female lead. Please don’t judge it by stereotypes after reading only the blurb, and don’t complain halfway through because it isn’t the kind of female-lead torture you wanted.

4. The child the male lead sees after their reunion is actually his and the female lead’s.

(It’s a girl.)

5. This is a fictional setting. Official titles and forms of address are inspired by the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties, but the geography is invented.

(This story is entirely fictional, entirely fictional, entirely fictional! It’s tagged as fiction and categorized as fiction, so why insist on comparing it to history and then say some setting is unrealistic? How am I supposed to explain what a fictional setting is?)

6. The grasslands draw on a composite of ancient nomadic peoples. The grassland language in the story is based on Mongolian homophones. (For example, the heroine’s name, Hu Shen, sounds like Husen, meaning “hope.”)

7. Romance-focused, bittersweet and sweet. (Bittersweet and sweet, okay? Not one word says this is angst! And don’t ignore the sweet part!)

[Content Warning]

The male lead was engaged before setting out on his campaign, and after he was captured, the woman he was engaged to married someone else.

(This is relevant to the plot. Before the male lead left for war, he had already returned the betrothal token. He never intended to marry her and had no feelings for her. The author cares about both leads being each other’s only partners. If you dislike that, or hope the male lead will return to the Central Plains and marry someone else, please avoid this story.)

Coming soon.

Lu Yushuang and Du Yicheng couldn’t stand each other, but an imperial marriage decree forced them to become husband and wife.

Two years into their marriage, they still argued constantly. She ran the household and managed its finances, while Du Yicheng handled everything outside and upheld the family name. Their life grew better and better, and was quite satisfying in its own way.

Then, in the eighth month of her pregnancy, turmoil erupted in the palace, and Du Yicheng entered the palace to save the emperor, facing danger at every turn.

The night before he left, she buckled his armor onto him. For the first time, she saw undisguised, irrepressible affection in his eyes.

He clasped her hand tightly. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time. I was too proud to say it, and I’ve owed you these words for years... If I make it back alive, I’ll never be stubborn with you again. I’ll listen to you even more than Chengcheng does.”

Chengcheng was the mongrel dog they had raised together after getting married.

Then, before his men, all solemn and ready to face death, he gave her a fierce kiss.

The emperor was rescued, and Du Yicheng was carried back covered in wounds, with a huge bump on his head. At least he was alive.

Worried about him, Lu Yushuang couldn’t help blushing when she remembered what he had said. They were an old married couple. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to see each other again after all that?

But when he woke, the imperial physician said he seemed to have a blood clot in his brain and had lost three years of memories.

He looked at her with the same arrogant eyes he’d had as a young man and blurted out, “Get married? I’d have to be an idiot to marry you.”

Lu Yushuang was so angry she nearly went into premature labor.

Wait, is this guy putting on an act?

Du Yicheng had genuinely hated Lu Yushuang once, so learning that he had married her felt as if the sky had fallen.

Fortunately, the servants said they were an unhappy couple who argued all the time. That sounded about right to him.

But the moment he saw Lu Yushuang, he realized something didn’t quite add up.

She wore a married woman’s hairstyle:

The mandarin-duck hairpin in her hair was a gift from him.

He had designed the intertwined-branches motif on her earrings.

The red-jade bangle on her wrist was something his mother had left for the woman he loved.

And the baby due in just over a month was his, too. (Of course it had to be his.)

Weren’t they supposed to be an unhappy couple who argued all the time? Then how had that baby gotten there?

The male lead’s diary:

First day without my memories:

She’s so mean. She named the dog after me.

Fifth day without my memories:

She’s so mean. She woke me in the middle of the night to rub her legs, and I didn’t get to sleep again until dawn.

First month without my memories:

Something’s wrong with me. Why was I so terrified when she went into labor? I held her and cried louder than our newborn daughter.

Second month without my memories:

How do you make a second baby? I don’t know how. She said she’d teach me herself... Hmm, not that I’d mind. I’ve always been diligent and eager to learn.

[Reader’s Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, both leads have only ever been with each other.

2. The second-baby storyline in the diary is about how they try to make a second baby, not the outcome. (They don’t have one in the end.) Also, having two children within three years can be hard on the mother, so please be careful.

3. The male lead says he hates the heroine, but he’s really just a late bloomer who mistakes jealousy for hatred.

4. Added December 6, 2025.

Theme: Keep fighting to live, even in adversity