Once, she was merely a guest at the capital's grand banquets, a pawn for a powerful minister to toy with as he pleased. After years of playing along, her dignity ground into dust, Luo Yuchi refused to remain trapped in a gilded cage. She fled for her life on a rainy night and made her way into the mountains to the Jingxin Temple.
She had hoped to spend the rest of her days in the peace of morning bells and evening drums. But pursuers kept coming from below, and the chancellor pressed closer at every turn, swearing to drag her back. At the ancient temple, she met Shen Yan, a close friend of the abbot. He moved between the mortal world and the monastic one, cool and aloof, wielding power hidden from the world. He watched everything with detached eyes, yet repeatedly made exceptions for her alone.
The sacred grounds of the Buddhist temple could shelter her from wind and rain, but not from the strife of the secular world. Hiding was no lasting solution. The wounded woman slowly shed her timidity and honed her resolve beside the ancient Buddha and lamplight. When courtly schemes struck again, she no longer chose to flee. Instead, she resolved to use everything she had seen and heard in the past and stand shoulder to shoulder with the man beside her.
She would escape her shackles and break free of fate. She would have to walk this road, from the mire to peace, on her own. Others often called her A Chuan, but only he called her A Chi.
