After dying from overwork, Jiang Hui was bound to a System for a melodramatic dark romance. She had to torment the male lead through all kinds of suicidal antics, making him hate her despite his love, and ultimately achieve the grand finale of a love-hate relationship.
Things were going smoothly enough, if you didn't count that NPC who kept inexplicably butting in:
As a princess, Jiang Hui was deeply in love with the man who had saved her life. She showered an opera performer with affection after he falsely claimed to have rescued her in the prince consort's place. The thoroughly disillusioned male lead was supposed to usurp the throne and meet his confinement KPI, but the performer turned out to be a prince of an enemy kingdom and called out from afar, demanding that they hand over the princess or face war.
As a divine official, Jiang Hui slandered the male lead, a knight, to gain power and influence, causing him to die horribly. The male lead was supposed to return from the dead, corrupted and formidable, and meet his confinement KPI. Instead, a demon king who wasn't supposed to exist abducted Jiang Hui first.
As a rogue cultivator, Jiang Hui was cold and heartless. To save her own life, she pretended to have lost her memory in front of the immortal male lead she'd betrayed, then stabbed him in the back again on their wedding day. But the person she'd betrayed twice wasn't the male lead?
As a young lady, Jiang Hui was willful and reckless. After eloping with the male lead, she couldn't stand the poverty of their rented home and cheated on him with a rich young master. The male lead, an illegitimate son of a wealthy family, was supposed to gain immense power after being acknowledged by his family and then severely restrict her freedom. Instead, the rich young master and the male lead started fighting.
Jiang Hui couldn't take it anymore, so she told the System, which was on the verge of collapse: Two men count as two targets. Give me double the small goals.
The male leads are sexually inexperienced. Lots of competition for the female lead.
"Please save my upcoming story!"
Widowhood
Thanks to her mistress's arrangements, Pang Xiangzhen was fortunate enough to marry a gentleman who could read and write and was well versed in the classics. Her husband did not love her and was somewhat cold, but he had never spoken harshly to her, and she was quite content. Sadly, it was a turbulent era, and he died among the refugees.
She didn't dare linger. Taking on someone else's identity, she brought along a man she had rescued and made her way to Qinzhou. At last, she escaped the mire and became a maid, able to earn enough to eat. The man was handsome and strong, and even though he was simple-minded, he treated Pang Xiangzhen as the person closest to him and cared for her tenderly. She began to consider marrying again...
But she never expected that the first thing the man who had been by her side for so long would do after regaining his memory was betray her. He exposed her identity as a runaway slave, and the master of the household, who had come to Qinzhou as a guest, seized her. She became a prisoner along with the child in her womb.
Nor did she expect that the important man whom her master treated with obsequious smiles had exactly the same face as her husband, whose body had never been found.
Bonus scene:
One night, years later, the drunken Zhuang Hua was fast asleep, completely unaware. Zhao Jin arrived under cover of darkness, travel-worn, and took her hand, coaxing her: If you don't come with me, there'll be no empress at the coronation. I'll become a laughingstock across the whole realm.
After hesitating for a long time, Pang Xiangzhen finally gave in and agreed to take her daughter back to Chong'an with him.
When Zhuang Hua woke the next day, her head was splitting. She opened her eyes to find that her wife and daughter had left without a word. Enraged, he rode day and night to the imperial palace. Along the way, he imagined ten thousand ways to make her beg and cry. But when he finally saw her, all he did was give a cold snort and, in indignation, slip a heavy gold bracelet onto the wrist of the woman who guiltily lowered her eyes.
Core theme: Strive and persevere
Shouldn't a sinecure not even have to go to court?
It's really uncomfortable to lose my glasses when I'm highly myopic [covering face and laughing]
[Orange candy] I got it [Orange candy] I got it [Orange candy] I got it