The Premarital Story of a Marriage by Imperial Decree

A short story with two female leads. When the new emperor ascended the throne, he had no one he could trust and no one he could use, so he set his sights on the newborn Zhang Jinyan. From the moment Zhang Jinyan was born, she had no say in her gender, in becoming the emperor's moneymaker and the court's informant, or even in her own marriage. To keep up appearances, she had to pretend to be a man. Zhang Jinyan counts on her fingers: “I took down Duke Qin, the Third Prince, and Cao Guojiu...” Zhang Jinyan counts on her fingers again: “My businesses include tea, cosmetics, and restaurants...” Zhang Jinyan raises her long, fair hands and says, “These hands of mine can stir up storms at court and sweep all before them in the business world. I'm pretty impressive.” Chu Qingyan: “Those hands of yours are pretty impressive...”