Not a Smart Lady

Shen Mingyue, the eldest daughter of Yongning Houfu, is famously "not smart" in the capital. When it comes to poems and books, she can't recite the entire "Girls' Commandments" and can't write decent verses, and she can count her income as expenses when comparing her accounts; when it comes to women's red, the mandarin ducks she embroiders look like wild ducks, and the gold handkerchief can be smeared into a paste; when it comes to circumstances, she's often talked about by the maids in the palace, and when something goes wrong, she just stares at her clear almond-shaped eyes and can't say a word of defense for a long time. The noble ladies in the capital privately laughed at her for being stupid, and the young men from aristocratic families only thought of her as a harmless vase. Even the nun in the Hou Mansion was so worried that her temples turned white, saying that this girl was probably not worthy of a husband. But Shen Mingyue herself was not annoyed. She would squat in the garden all afternoon and watch the ants move, and she would share the snacks she saved with the old servant at the concierge. She would rely on intuition to avoid traps when others were plotting against her, and she would also inadvertently use her unadulterated sincerity to break into a heart wrapped in intrigue. When the storm in the capital was rising, aristocratic families were quarreling, undercurrents were surging in the court, and everyone was scheming for fame and fortune, and planning for the future, this noble girl who was regarded as "not smart", followed her own rhythm, step by step, and walked out on a path that no one expected. It turns out that behind "unsmartness", there is the most transparent purity; the seemingly clumsy perseverance turns out to be the most rare sobriety in troubled times. She may not be a virtuous and talented woman praised in history books, but she lives a more open and comfortable life than anyone else in her own small world - there are thousands of kinds of wisdom in this world, and her kind only comes slowly, but is warm enough and lasts long.