He descended from the thick fog.

At eighteen, Wen Ning experienced love for the first time, beginning a ten-year secret relationship with Mu Tangsheng, one of her father's subordinates. But when her brother died in battle and her father fell critically ill, she begged this man, eight years her senior, to marry her to appease her brothers and father for the tenth time. Mu Tangsheng refused again, turning instead to his childhood sweetheart, Ye Wanxin, who was the same age as him. This time, Wen Ning didn't cry or make a scene. She knelt before the Buddha, drew lots, and chose Zhou Ye, the infamous captain, as her bride, setting the earliest possible wedding date.