Shine for the Departed

Su Qianxue, the eldest daughter of the vice minister of revenue, was stopped by bandits while coming down a mountain. The bandits drugged her. A man in gold armor rode in and got her away from them, and the two of them spent the night together. The man was Zhao Jingchen, emperor of Great Xia, and she did not know it. His attendant came with word that the empress dowager had summoned him, and he left first. Su Qianxue was pregnant from that night. She gave birth to twins, was put out of her father's house and struck from the clan register. Six years later the empress dowager used her own birthday banquet to select consorts for the emperor. Su Qianxue entered the palace during the selection by accident. It came out in front of the court that she had borne children unmarried, and the empress dowager had her punished there.