Duan Yuan returns to the estate covered in military honors. After taking a poisoned arrow for the Third Prince, he could not join the Great Qian army at the palace gates to receive his title.
Emperor Qian is troubled over how to reward him, since his military achievements are simply too great.
The Chancellor and the Ever-Victorious Marquis, two of Emperor Qian’s favorites, compete to marry their daughters to him.
But his family thinks he spent three years in the army without earning a single merit. His wife wants to divorce him, and his family wants to cut ties with him!
Wife: “I waited for you for three years. You have no military achievements, and now you’re a cripple. I want a divorce!”
Duan Yuan: “I don’t have a divorce agreement for you, but I can write you a letter of repudiation, even in my sick condition.”
Wife: “Fine! Just wait until Li, the Second-Place Scholar, makes you pay!”
Father: “You unfilial brat! Li, the Second-Place Scholar, said that if you don’t hand over the divorce agreement within three days, he’ll make sure our Duan family can’t survive in the capital! Write it obediently, then go to the estate and wait to die.”
Older Brother: “You useless wretch! Why didn’t you just die on the battlefield? You come back and cause trouble right away!”
Mother: “You lowborn child of a servant! Are you trying to get our whole family killed?”
Duan Yuan: “Father, have you already forgotten how our Duan family ended up like this?”
“Brother, if you hadn’t gotten drunk and talked nonsense, I would have passed the imperial exams years ago. Then an earldom wouldn’t be left without an heir, and we wouldn’t be so afraid of one Second-Place Scholar.”
“Mother, have you already forgotten how you knelt and begged me to take my brother’s place on the battlefield?”
