Romance of the Noble House

Ji Hanyi, the daughter of a once-powerful family that has fallen from grace, enters a marriage of convenience with Xie Yuheng, a rising official known for his upright character. Three years prior, with her father imprisoned and her family’s estate confiscated, Ji Hanyi had boldly pursued Xie Yuheng with a ten-year-old betrothal certificate. He agreed to the union to preserve his own reputation, though his heart belonged to his cousin, Li Mingrou. Throughout their marriage, Ji Hanyi has endured Xie Yuheng’s emotional neglect and the subtle hostility of his family, who favor Li Mingrou. She manages the household with diligence and grace, suppressing her own needs to maintain peace, while Xie Yuheng consistently prioritizes Li Mingrou’s comfort over his wife’s well-being.

The central conflict crystallizes during a harsh winter night when Ji Hanyi and Li Mingrou return from a hot spring visit. A blizzard strands their carriage, and when Xie Yuheng arrives on horseback, he chooses to take the frail Li Mingrou home, leaving Ji Hanyi to endure the freezing temperatures alone for hours. He offers only a cold explanation and a dismissive attitude, viewing her suffering as an inevitable duty of a sister-in-law. This incident serves as the final catalyst for Ji Hanyi’s emotional detachment. She realizes that her husband’s indifference is not a temporary lapse but a permanent state, and the love she once held for him evaporates completely. Instead of despair, she feels a profound sense of relief and clarity, deciding that the only path forward is to end the marriage.

Upon returning to the Xie estate, Ji Hanyi undergoes a significant transformation in her demeanor. She ceases to perform the traditional wifely duties, such as greeting Xie Yuheng in the mornings or preparing tonic soup for him. When Li Mingrou visits to taunt her about the begonia flowers Xie Yuheng had uprooted from Ji Hanyi’s courtyard, Ji Hanyi responds with calm indifference rather than the jealousy and tears that would have been expected. She confronts Li Mingrou directly, accusing her of lacking decency for coveting another woman’s husband. This shift unsettles both Li Mingrou and Xie Yuheng, who is accustomed to Ji Hanyi’s submissive behavior. Xie Yuheng interprets her silence as sullenness and her lack of jealousy as pettiness, failing to recognize that she has simply stopped caring.

As Ji Hanyi’s health deteriorates due to the exposure and stress, she receives urgent news that her cousin, Gu Xun, has been arrested by the imperial secret police. Desperate to save him, she considers writing to the powerful Shen family for intervention. However, when Xie Yuheng returns home, he misinterprets her actions and confronts her, accusing her of neglecting his ill mother to sulk over the previous night’s events. He demands she apologize to Li Mingrou and threatens to reduce her allowance. Ji Hanyi, realizing that Xie Yuheng will never understand or support her, decides to finalize the divorce. She attempts to present him with a divorce agreement, but he assumes she is begging for help regarding her cousin and refuses, telling her there is no room for negotiation. He leaves, unaware that she no longer seeks his aid.

The narrative concludes with Ji Hanyi visiting her maternal relatives, the Gu family, to address the crisis involving her cousin. Her interactions with her cousin Yan reveal a complex history and potential new alliances. Meanwhile, Xie Yuheng begins to notice the absence of Ji Hanyi’s attentiveness, feeling a vague sense of loss but attributing it to her stubbornness. He learns from his mother that Ji Hanyi had actually been caring for her throughout the day before collapsing from illness, a fact he had missed due to his bias toward Li Mingrou. This revelation causes him to pause, but by this point, Ji Hanyi has firmly resolved to leave the Xie family. The story sets the stage for her eventual departure and the potential consequences for Xie Yuheng, who must now face the reality of losing the wife he took for granted.