The Demon Stepmother Torments the Whole Family, Then Steals the Emperor's Heart

[Feel-Good Story + Not Reborn (Just Looking Gorgeous) + No Transmigration + Tormenting Scum and Face-Slapping + Long-Laid Plans + Chasing His Wife to the Crematorium + Imperial Power Struggles]

Shangguan Zhongyi has no intention of becoming some virtuous, refined young lady.

She lives by one rule: If you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you. If you do, I’ll make you pay.

Cast aside by the Duke of Yan’s household as a child, she learned one thing all too well: trying to please people won’t earn their respect!

She has always acted decisively and ruthlessly, repaying every injury in kind. She never answers cruelty with kindness!

Ten years later, her eldest sister, Empress Shangguan, dies of an illness, and Xuanzong issues an imperial decree appointing Zhongyi as his new empress.

To investigate her sister’s death, she leaves Jiangnan and returns to the Duke of Yan’s household.

Armed with the imperial decree, she throws her weight around, settling every grievance and avenging every wrong.

She turns the whole household upside down, leaving everyone furious but too afraid to speak.

If they can’t afford to offend her, can’t they at least avoid her?

Everyone gives her a wide berth, as if she were a tiger.

But for some reason, Xuanzong loves exactly that sort of thing.

He had long had his eye on the bold and decisive Shangguan Zhongyi. Step by step, like a hunter, he patiently lay in wait, using retreat to advance until he finally lured Zhongyi into his trap and made her his empress!!!

But before Zhongyi could discover the truth, her one-year agreement with the Empress Dowager came to an end.

She turned on her heel, took the baby, and decisively left Xuanzong behind.

Furious, Xuanzong led five hundred thousand cavalry on a ten-thousand-mile chase to win his wife back…