The courtyard of the Liang residence had never looked so resplendent.
Crimson silk lanterns dangled from the branches, dancing to the summer breeze like ribbons caught in a slow waltz. Tea tables lined up like fresh leaves in an imperial garden, releasing the fragrant mingling of blossoms and jasmine. Servants moved among the guests with practiced grace, bearing porcelain-blue dishes filled with delicacies: red bean cakes, lotus buns, and peach blossom jam.
At the heart of this beauty sat the elders and relatives of the Liang family, their eyes reflecting a mixture of joy and cautious relief. They had survived. The heir, Liang Sun Wu, and his future bride, Tao Hua, had both returned safely—despite a poison that nearly swallowed the imperial court in silence.
Everyone knew this feast was more than celebration; it was a subtle declaration that the Liang family still stood strong… and that the heir's marriage was now irreversible.
Under a shaded alcove, Ru Lan Lianh sat clad in a robe of bamboo green, her hair swept up beneath a crown of white gold. As Tao Hua approached, the mother rose and opened her arms—not as one greets a guest, but as if welcoming a daughter returning from battle.
She embraced her warmly.
— "I don't know how I'll get through next week without you... I'm more excited than Sun Wu himself for your marriage into our family!"
Tao Hua smiled, though her heart played a different melody.Does Sun Wu even realize this marriage is more than alliance? More than a strategy for survival? Did he—if only for a moment—feel how close he came to losing her?
She tucked the thought beneath a veil of poise and replied gently:
— "Mother-in-law... I brought a remedy that might help him sleep, until the Imperial Physician returns from his travels."
Ru Lan Lianh looked at her, her eyes shimmering like pearls beneath the morning light.
— "A daughter-in-law who brings healing and thinks ahead of us all... How proud I am to call you ours."
Then came a voice from behind—weighty, edged with a quiet bitterness:
— "And I… I apologize, my daughter, that you are to marry such a wayward son as Sun Wu."
It was Liang Jian, observing his future daughter-in-law with the knowing gaze of a man who understood the mountain she was about to climb.
But Tao Hua smiled softly, and answered with the calm of ancient philosophers:
— "It's quite all right, father-in-law. A rebellious child must be understood, not condemned. We must seek the source of his delight... and the root of his defiance. Only then can we guide him."
Ru Lan Lianh clapped lightly, laughing:
— "Good, good, good! You've even read Confucius! Such eloquence... You truly are a philosopher, my dear."
Tao Hua sat down with them, and the conversation blossomed like lotus petals upon still water. This was no mere introduction—it was the beginning of a new chapter in the book of alliances, where emotions would be written in the ink of patience, and smiles drawn with the caution of seasoned hearts.
Amid tea cups and soft laughter, time moved slowly, as if aware that this quiet young woman... was no passing guest, but the future matron of a house once brought to the brink by poison—then saved by a phoenix.
The pale light of morning poured across the veranda where Liang Sun Wu sat, playing chess against himself—sliding white and black pieces as though dueling his own shadow. Moments later the doors opened and Emperor Zhao Wen Yan entered, Xiao Lian at his heel. One curt gesture; the servants vanished, leaving the two childhood friends alone.
Emperor (his voice a drawn sword)"I bring you a decree that cannot be evaded. The war of the Seven Houses is upon us."Sun Wu (eyes on the board, feigned indifference)"Leave me out of their intrigues. Let politics devour itself."
A single, angry step shook the floor.
"No more hiding behind curtains. The Empress and I have decided: a marriage edict will be issued."
The black stone froze between Sun Wu's fingers, then clattered onto the board.
"Marriage?!"He stammered: "Spare me a command I cannot obey. I dread disloyalty—but wedlock—"
The emperor's brows flashed like thunderclouds.
"Would you defy an imperial edict?"
Sun Wu fell to his knees.
"I dare not. Yet I'm unfit for hearth or husbandry. I cannot flatter pampered ladies, nor rise at dawn to chase coin like a merchant!"
The emperor laid a steady palm on his friend's shoulder.
"Of seven great clans, only two remain loyal. Wed Shen Tao Hua and both of you will stand under our shield. The Empress herself praises her: keen mind, eloquent tongue, an unstained heart.Your wedding—fifth of May—will distract our enemies; executions follow two moons later. Order returns."
He turned to the table and dictated, each word chiseled like basalt:
"I, Zhao Wen Yan, command the marriage of the heir of House Liang, Liang Sun Wu, to the lady of House Shen, Shen Tao Hua, on the fifth day of the Fifth Moon…"
The wax‑sealed scroll burned cold in Sun Wu's hands. He had dreamt of love penned by his own hand, not fate inked by the court.
Back home, his mother Madam Ru Lan Lianh had already raised the household to feverish celebration. Sun Wu barred himself in his room and slept two straight days, fleeing a reality he could not rewrite. He woke among drinking companions in a chess tavern, clutching the last tatters of rebellion.
Returning, he learned his fiancée had arrived to survey the manor for a week. The main courtyard—normally bustling—was silent; his parents were off settling yet another dispute at merchant Sang's shop. Curiosity drew him to the meeting hall, where he saw Tao Hua for the first time: slender, dawn‑featured, eyes holding silk and steel.
From the corner of his eye he spotted the accuser girl hiding a crimson hairpin. He lunged, but steel flew faster: the pin pierced his shoulder and loosed the venom of the "aubas" tree into his veins. He fell into a darkness of flame and carrion crows.
For three nights fever dreams clawed at him—until a soft voice threaded through:
"It's only a nightmare… breathe… open your eyes."
He surfaced to a tired, lovely face—Tao Hua—watching a heartbeat, then slipping away like a monk's shadow.
At the survival banquet, Sun Wu confessed his nightmares. Tao Hua offered a temporary antidote until the palace physician returned. She led him to the kitchen; he followed, boasting:
"Ginger, top drawer. Lotus root, front pantry. Ginseng, out in the garden…"
Reaching for a wine jug, his hand was rapped by her wooden spoon.
"No wine until you're cured; alcohol feeds the poison."
While she brewed the potion he grimaced at the scent.
"How can you swallow this?"
She drank hers without flinching and recited like an old couplet:
"One who has tasted life's bitterness finds medicine sweet."
He scowled.
"Spare me riddles and poetry—I can't read a line!"
Their eyes met, a quiet lightning.
"Is illiteracy a badge of honor? Enjoy your taverns while you can; there'll be none after the wedding. Tomorrow another ledger begins."
She set the bowl before him—porcelain trembling—then left.Watching the door close, Sun Wu realized the chessboard he once ruled in leisure had become the board of life itself—and the hand that now moved the pieces belonged to a woman who knew the disease… and carried the cure.