[Resilient, clear-eyed commoner heroine vs. brooding, possessive chancellor, one-on-one romance]
At the imperial consort's offhand remark that she craved lychees, every town in a county south of the Yangtze suitable for growing them was planted with lychee saplings, ruining everyone's livelihood. Three years later, when the lychees ripened, she declared she was sick of them, leaving the townspeople with no way to survive.
No one outside the town knew why nobody had grown lychees there for centuries.
That is, until Ye Anning clutched her parents, who had inexplicably taken their own lives, and wept. Strange, ink-like words appeared before her eyes, as if a storybook were writing out her life.
Everyone in town was dead except Ye Anning and her younger sister. The two fled to the capital, but their paths diverged.
When her red bridal veil was lifted, she was reunited with the mysterious man she'd once saved by chance. He was now the chancellor, with power over the entire court.
To borrow his power to avenge herself on the imperial consort, and to uncover the link between the strange words and the tragedy in her hometown, she willingly became his personal maid. She kept her head down and concealed her true intentions, waiting for the day she could take revenge.
He grew increasingly dependent on her. But as Ye Anning pieced together the clues, she realized that the true mastermind behind the tragedy years ago was the very man standing before her.
She sought refuge with her childhood friend, only to be abducted and taken back by force along the way, then imprisoned in a secluded estate.
When she opened her eyes again, cold chains were wrapped around her ankle.
He still wore the same aloof, superior expression. "Stay here, and I'll give you anything you want."
She curled her lip into a cold smile. "I want you and her dead."
He was silent for a moment. "Anything but that."
She had expected as much and lowered her eyes in scorn.
Fine. She would take revenge herself. Not only would she kill the imperial consort, but she would also kill the man before her.
(Inner monologue: The heroine is a pure-hatred warrior bent on killing her husband, while the lovesick chancellor casually wipes out women to manage his emotions. They love and fight each other.)
