A Marriage of Strategy

The night Shen Wantang took her elder sister's place in the bridal sedan, she knew what she wanted wasn't a husband, but the title of “Madam Chancellor.”

Three years ago, her father died by suicide after being framed. No one in the household dared touch the old case. As a concubine-born daughter of a general's family, she couldn't reach beyond the high walls. Three years of investigation had turned up nothing. Then an imperial edict pushed her into the arms of Gu Yanzhi, the most powerful man at court. At last, the chance she had been waiting for had arrived.

On her wedding night, the groom never showed. She didn't cry or make a scene. Instead, she turned to the official documents on his desk.

Gu Yanzhi, the chancellor of the realm, was deep, suspicious, and capable of killing without spilling blood. He thought he had married a meek, obedient ornament. Instead, he found that this woman who had married him in someone else's place dared to search his study in the dead of night, expose the forged evidence he had hidden for three years to his face, and rush out with a pair of scissors to stop his bleeding when he was attacked.

He went from testing her to admiring her, then from admiration to doting on her. Until she gave him three conditions. The last was this: once everything was done, she wanted a divorce agreement.

He held the cup of tea that had gone cold and remained silent for a long time.

Married first, love later × political intrigue and a substitute bride × clear-headed heroine

She goes from a pawn to the one moving the pieces, and the most dangerous man in the capital ultimately becomes her greatest trump card.