A Marriage for the Ages

A Marriage for the Ages is a classical alternate-history web novel by Muying of Yuewen Group, first serialized on Qidian Women's Network on October 16, 2015, and completed on July 31, 2016, with 473 chapters of main text and about 1.52 million characters. The protagonist, Mu Qingyun, was originally the third daughter of the Anding Earl's household, and after rebirth (or transmigration) returns to this tottering earldom: disliked by her grandmother, mistreated by her stepmother, with scheming half-sisters and full sisters, she, a legitimate daughter, lives harder than anyone, even punished and slighted while copying family precepts and sutras in the family chapel, and nearly killed by a needle hidden in her food. The household had been demoted after pleading for her maternal grandfather's Jiang family, and everyone hopes to regain the marquis title, sacrificing daughters to that end—her elder sister Mu Qingling was married to the paralyzed eldest son of the Duke of Dingguo's household. Now it is Mu Qingyun's turn: she must escape being used as a marriage pawn and carve a path for herself amid layer upon layer of schemes. Through her medical skill she meets and cures the male lead, whose origins are a secret, and the two support each other through family strife and court turmoil, gradually uncovering the truth and turning the tables. With details such as the chapel's family precepts and household quarrels, the book depicts the power struggles within a feudal grand family and portrays a woman who moves from endurance to self-reliance under a rigid hierarchy, ultimately mastering her own marriage and life. It is one of the representative works of the women's classical household-strife rebirth genre.