[No transmigration, no rebirth + strong heroine's rise + face-slapping the scumbag top scholar + identity reversal + devoted nobleman + groveling ex + pure love with a general]
The entire household of the Marquis Who Guards the Nation's general died defending their country, leaving eight-year-old Lin Changning an orphan. She found shelter with the Li family, where she became a child bride.
Her childhood sweetheart, Li Mingyan, came from a poor family but once solemnly promised to marry her when he passed the imperial examinations.
After ten years together, who could have guessed that once Li Mingyan passed the exams and became the top scholar, he would break his promise in public, demote her from child bride to concubine, and turn around to marry Du Fang, the true daughter of the Minister of Rites, as his principal wife?
The whole village laughed at her. Li's mother humiliated her, threatening to marry her off to a butcher from the marketplace and condemn her to a life in the mire.
Everyone said she was a nobody living under someone else's roof, unworthy of the top scholar's glory.
No one knew that this country girl and child bride was the only daughter of a family of loyal martyrs, the sole disciple of the reclusive scholar Dongbo, and a student of martial arts under the honorable and loyal Lu Meng. She excelled in both the literary and martial arts.
Lin Changning would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. She devised a plan to reclaim the Lin family's jade pendant, then left without looking back.
Back in the capital, she won the sincere favor of the eldest princess and the emperor's compassion, and was granted the title of county princess. With her intelligence and courage, she made many steadfast friends and fought her way through every obstacle, turning the tables at every step!
The scumbag top scholar pursued her relentlessly. “A Ning, come back to me. I'll make you my principal wife, equal to Du Fang!”
Lin Changning gave a cold laugh. “I, Lin Changning, have too much pride to be anyone's concubine, and I have no love for scumbags!”
Only that dissolute Third Young Master Shen Limo wandered into the countryside and fell for her at first sight. He sank deeper with every step, loving her with stubborn devotion. He proposed again and again, refusing to give up until he won her heart.
The logic is confusing.
The heroine has the kind of temperament that cannot be kicked out of her. She is meek, weak and has no mouth. She is cowardly and aggrieved.
The plot is okay.