[Features household intrigue. The male lead is chaste. The leads are cousins in name only, with no blood relation.]
[The heroine is a native of this world, somewhat of a heartthrob, calculating and finely self-serving. She loves herself most and absolutely won't suffer in silence for anyone.]
[The heroine will have plenty of career-focused storylines.]
After Wei Lingyi died, she learned that she had been killed off by the plot.
She had been living inside a novel, where the heroine was her spoiled legitimate older sister. Her sister resented Wei Lingyi for standing in her way and used her golden finger to kill her.
She died at fifteen, just as her life was beginning, and it was cut short in an instant. Her birth mother cried herself blind, but still couldn't bring her back.
Heaven took pity on her and gave her another chance at life.
So Wei Lingyi changed.
When her older sister slapped her, Wei Lingyi threw herself into the water. Her sister was caught red-handed, had no way to defend herself, and could only kneel in the ancestral hall and take a beating on the palms.
When the head wife tried to kill her, Wei Lingyi brought down her family and drove her to take her own life in despair.
When her former best friend couldn't stand to see her doing well, Wei Lingyi simply had her husband rebel, then made her former friend drink poison, turning her into the last empress of the previous dynasty.
Wei Lingyi's motto: Sorry, I'm ruthless to myself, and even more ruthless to others.
*
Later, everyone watched as she rose from general's wife to the wife of a marquis, then to the wife of a duke, and finally became empress, the most honored woman in the realm.
It turns out that only by loving yourself can you live a life that goes your way.
The writing is good and the emotions are delicate, please give it a try