After I Miswrote the Imperial Betrothal Edict

Marriage first, love later | Nine-year age gap | The old flame reignites, updating daily~

Clueless, slow-witted, and pampered sweetheart VS cold, calculating (and imagining things) Commissioner

Because the late emperor left behind an imperial decree granting a marriage with the wrong name written on it, Zhu Wanning married her childhood friend's uncle.

Gu Zhi, the Commander of the Censorate, is ruthless in his methods and cold toward others. Everyone in the capital keeps their distance from him.

No one thought this marriage was a good idea. For a time, the whole household was shrouded in gloom.

Wanning looked at her tearful mother, took a bite of the pastry in her hand, and asked in confusion, "Isn't it just getting married? Mother, why are you so sad?"

Madam Zhu: "...You don't like your Brother Gu?"

Wanning nodded vigorously. "Of course I do. But what does that have to do with me getting married?"

Madam Zhu: "..."

The good news: Her daughter isn't heartbroken.

The bad news: She still hasn't figured out what love is.

*

After they married, Wanning discovered that having a husband was wonderful.

When she couldn't finish her late-night snacks, someone took care of them.

When she bought new treats, someone tried them first.

When she bought something on a whim and later found she didn't like it, someone dealt with it.

When thunder kept her awake because she was scared, someone soothed her to sleep.

The only imperfection was that her husband had someone he loved, and would divorce her in a year.

*

Gu Zhi had always thought Zhu Wanning was in love with him.

While he was still trying every way he could to get out of the marriage, he heard her tell someone with his own ears, "I like Gu Zhi. I'm in love with Gu Zhi. I want to marry Gu Zhi."

On their wedding night, she eagerly held out a little booklet and said they should consummate their marriage. Unable to cross his own moral line, he coldly told her they would pretend to be husband and wife and divorce after a year. She cried all night.

After the wedding, she became even bolder. She not only catered to his tastes to please him, but also kept making excuses to throw herself into his arms, often doing things to seduce him and thoroughly testing his patience.

Whenever he couldn't take it anymore and spoke harshly to her, her eyes would turn red and she would look terribly aggrieved as she softly asked, "Could you please stop yelling at me?"

He had never met a girl so delicate and prone to tears.

Actually, being a beast like this didn't seem so bad.

But just then, Wanning gathered portraits of all the eligible young men in the capital and laid them before him. Looking up at him with sparkling eyes, she said, "Didn't you say before that you wanted to divorce me, Uncle? The year is almost up, so I need to find a new husband. Could you help me decide?"

Gu Zhi: "???"

Little scene:

Wanning picked up a portrait of the third son of Grand Tutor Li's family. Gu Zhi glanced at it and calmly looked away. "I hear he drinks too much and tends to hit people when he's drunk."

She pointed to the young master of the Chen family beside it.

Gu Zhi: "He doesn't like bathing."

"What about the grandson of the Northern Garrison General?"

Gu Zhi: "His grandfather is plotting a rebellion. That's a crime punishable by the execution of the entire clan."

Wanning trembled with fear. At last, she placed her hand on the portrait of her childhood friend, Gu Qi.

Gu Zhi gave a cold laugh. "He's impotent."

Wanning: "..."

Gu Zhi: "Since you haven't found anyone suitable, why don't we just not get divorced?"

Reading guide:

1. Both leads are each other's first and only, happy ending.

2. The heroine is clueless and slow-witted, often doing things that invite misunderstanding. The hero is cold and calculating, and a little conceited. He thinks she really is in love with him and slowly talks himself into being a beast, only to discover that he's the real clown.

3. A silly, sweet story. Please don't overthink it. If you drop it, there's no need to tell me.

4. The setting is fictional, so please don't nitpick historical accuracy.

Check out my upcoming novel, Her One Wish Is to Die

| White moonlight | Marriage first, love later | Healing |

A depressed princess who longs for death VS a self-effacing, devoted regent

After a military defeat, Qi Yunzhao was forced to marry into the Southern Barbarians.

After enduring many hardships, she became cold and indifferent, wanting nothing and caring about nothing, not even her own life. She even desperately hoped someone would kill her.

Five years after returning from her political marriage, Qi Yunzhao once again became a pawn in a power struggle. Her imperial brother arranged her marriage to Mo Wang, the regent who had just won a great victory and was at the height of his power.

Mo Wang was a man of few words. After they married, apart from their nightly marital duties, they hardly spoke during the day.

Qi Yunzhao thought she would have to spend the rest of her life in this joyless way.

But because of a casual remark, Mo Wang publicly executed one of the imperial consorts at the hunting grounds.

At that moment, Qi Yunzhao's heart, dead for so long, began to beat again. She thought she had found a savior who could help her escape her suffering.

She began deliberately provoking him. Every time she drove Mo Wang into a fury, all she got in return was even rougher treatment in bed.

After another half-night of being worn out, Qi Yunzhao finally couldn't take it anymore. She shouted at Mo Wang, "Could you please just kill me?"

*

Mo Wang had a white moonlight, and his white moonlight had a dead white moonlight in her heart.

Even though he had gone to great lengths to marry her, she never once looked at him with any affection.

Still, he thought everything about her was wonderful. Even when she came up with all sorts of excuses to make things difficult for him, he accepted it willingly.

But one day, his white moonlight actually begged him to kill her.

What he found even harder to accept was that she had stayed alive all these years only to fulfill the last words of the man in her heart.

After Qi Yunzhao was stopped from seeking death yet again, Mo Wang finally broke down. He held her tightly in his arms, eyes bloodshot, his voice almost pleading. "You stayed alive for him for so many years. Can you live for me now, just once?"

Theme: Live each day well