short series

Self-Discipline Grants Freedom—But Not Freedom From Her

share time: 2026-01-22 00:37:39

Lin Zhao, a poor scholar in ancient China, has maintained strict self-discipline for a decade—rising at dawn to study classics, practicing calligraphy at sunrise, with only one goal: to pass the imperial exam and change his fate. A chance encounter leads him to save Chu Ning, the crown princess pretending to be a beggar. This “little devil” from the palace is determined to break his routine: dragging him to night markets for sugar figurines at midnight, pulling him to watch street acrobatics at dawn, even replacing his Confucian books with storybooks. Lin Zhao is helpless yet conflicted—he should stay away from this “troublemaker,” but instinctively shields her from assassins; he should focus on studying, yet unconsciously thinks of her dimples while writing essays. When Chu Ning suddenly disappears, Lin Zhao discovers her “disturbance” was to help him avoid the emperor’s suspicion of poor scholars. Finally holding the top scholar’s edict in the imperial palace, he kowtows to the emperor: “My self-discipline was never for the country. It was to stand beside her and protect her ‘unruly freedom’ for a lifetime.”

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