The Marriage Branch Revealed

A novice author wrote this historical romance out of boredom. I'm not very good at writing novels, but I still hope for your support and comments.

[An Alternate Historical Setting]

[Devoted to Each Other + Imaginative + Writing Wherever the Dream Takes Me]

Li Shuyao, daughter of the chancellor, catches the emperor's eye when her father gets into trouble. To silence public criticism, the emperor wants to bring her into the palace as a concubine. On a whim, Li Shuyao decides she'd rather enter the palace as a female official. She says women shouldn't be confined to their boudoirs, nor should their only role be managing a household and raising children. Li Shuyao enjoys her work as an official so much that she even sets her sights on climbing higher.

Lin Mo is Li Shuyao's childhood sweetheart. She loves him until she turns nineteen. After that, even looking at him disgusts her. All she wants is to focus on her career.

[Chancellor's Daughter | Head of the Female Officials & The Seventh Prince Who Kills Without a Second Thought | Prince Ning]

As for Mu Yunyan, he publicly declares that he wants to marry Li Shuyao on the Autumn Moon Festival. Li Shuyao can hardly believe it. That was the first time she'd ever seen him, but years later, Mu Yunyan tells her, "We met before. You just forgot." Li Shuyao only believes him when he shows her a handkerchief embroidered with her childhood nickname.

Mu Yunyan proposes to Li Shuyao three times. Only on the third does she accept. With an eight-palanquin wedding procession and a formal match, Li Shuyao waits in red robes for the man who will marry her. Together, they travel through Quzhou, where the crops are plentiful, and Yongzhou, blanketed in flowers. They also witness the epidemics ravaging Qizhou and Liuzhou...

In the end, Li Shuyao even becomes Empress Dowager of the Great Ning.

(That's what I have in mind, but I don't know how it'll turn out.)

(The ranks are: Answering Promise, Attendant, Noble Lady, Talented Lady, Worthy Lady, Concubine, Consort, Noble Consort, Imperial Noble Consort, Empress.)