Also known as The Joyous Orioles: Floating Flowers and Drifting Petals, an Unfeeling Emperor
Forced love | Second male lead takes the top spot
(A little Wei Xiaobao-style suicide-for-love literature (^_^))
"If I, Xie Yuxian, were to kill myself, I wonder how many of my lovers would come with me. My ex-husband definitely would, but the emperor definitely wouldn't. As for the others, we'd probably have to roll dice to decide who lives and dies.
Yu will definitely cheat while rolling, making me, the dead one, the sucker."
And now, the proper synopsis
Yuxian was the emperor's first love as a boy.
She was beautiful in every way, and everything about her was lovely.
The only problem was...
Her father was Grand Councilor Xie, a powerful official whose very name made the young emperor turn pale.
The emperor had taken the throne at a young age. He was sensitive, suspicious, and short-tempered.
Whenever he saw her, he was reminded of her father and felt dread and resentment at the prospect of power slipping out of his hands.
He had always known that he felt an instinctive physical revulsion toward the Xie family.
And yet she was both his nightmare and the subject of his sweetest dreams.
The young emperor didn't dare admit that he had fallen for a daughter of the Xie family, and couldn't tolerate the thought either.
Once he seized power, he cast aside the Xie family, along with his longing for her, as though they were worthless.
Years later, the boy of old had consolidated his power and ruled the realm with an iron hand.
Yet one regret still lingered in his heart.
The princess arranged a banquet, and the emperor saw her again.
Yuxian was married now and had a daughter, but she was still as beautiful as ever, with luxuriant, glossy hair, graceful brows, and bright teeth, just as she appeared in the emperor's dreams night after night.
After trying every way she could to petition for an official post for her ineffectual husband, and getting nowhere,
she finally came to the emperor.
"Aying, when you ask for a favor, you need to soften your stance."
The emperor smiled as if amused. "I'll only teach you this once."
Reading guide:
1. The female lead has been married before and has a daughter.
2. The female lead has strong agency. The ex-husband isn't just a disposable character.
3. This is a companion story to The Joyous Reunion, the neighboring work.
4. I can't think of anything else for now. I'll add more later.
5. Synopsis screenshotted on September 19, 2025.
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