This novel is also known as: The General's Little White Flower Is Surprisingly a Layer Cake
A woman who's gentle and flirtatious on the surface, but cold, ruthless, and career-minded underneath x a frail, seductive little white flower of a man on the surface, but a madman with self-destructive tendencies underneath
When Mo Yunzheng was ten, she was thrown into prison.
By the time she was released, she heard that her older sister had colluded with the enemy, and her entire family had been sentenced to death.
To show her benevolence, the empress spared Mo Yunzheng from the death penalty alone and sent her to the frontier to atone for her crimes through military service.
Burdened by a blood feud and a heavy, inescapable reputation for disgrace, she survived on the battlefield and clawed her way up by any means necessary.
She once swore to find the person who had truly colluded with the enemy and clear her older sister's name.
She should have stayed focused and unwavering, but as she was about to return to the center of power, she met an exception.
He was frail and spoiled, yet obedient and endearing.
They first met amid the vast snow of the frontier, where she saved him.
They both had their own motives. Mo Yunzheng tested him several times, but he revealed nothing.
At last, she promised him with heartfelt devotion: I only love you.
They met again at a brothel, where she bought him from among a crowd of people.
They didn't recognize each other, but she still took his hand and said, I only want to build a home with you.
Xiao Qi'an: "So you sweet-talk everyone you meet. I was a fool to keep longing for you."
Mo Yunzheng: "You call that longing for me? You choked me in the middle of the night, then left without a word."
What should have been a romantic tale of a hero saving a beauty instead turned into a story of a couple who only appeared to get along, each harboring their own schemes.
Xiao Qi'an once saw the whole world as a chessboard, and himself as a discarded pawn in the game.
He didn't care about his own worthless life or broken body, and was determined to make everyone who betrayed him pay.
He was mad and cold-blooded. He had never imagined that anyone could have tenderness and love shining in their eyes.
Their first meeting was like a game of chess, every move and countermove full of schemes.
No one knew whether the whispered words between them held any sincerity.
Only the warmth she bestowed on him, a faint light in the mist, traced the outline of a brief, illusory dream.
From then on, Xiao Qi'an plotted to win her love,
like someone drinking poison to quench their thirst. It kept him lucid as he sank, until he finally drowned in the whirlpool named Mo Yunzheng.
This is a story of two people using each other to uncover the truth and take revenge, only to find true feelings amid their false pretenses.
Note:
1. The heroine is cold-hearted and pretends to be a flirt. She doesn't marry or flirt indiscriminately. It takes the hero's persistence and jealousy to bring about a happy ending.
2. Although they use each other, the hero falls in love first. This novel mainly puts the hero through emotional angst. Expect a brooding man who is mad with jealousy but has no standing to complain, and is forced to swallow the bitter consequences of his own actions.
3. The overall tone is bittersweet. There are love rivals, including plenty of male ones, and misunderstandings. The ending is happy.
4. There is a male pregnancy storyline!!! (The characters have normal male and female anatomy. The idea that men can give birth is an original setting involving medicine.)
5. Both leads have only been with each other. The dynasty is fictional, and the heroine's country is a matriarchal society.
Theme: Even a flower can bloom in a crack in the stone
