How to Be a Good Empress

1.

Before Wang Zhaorong's mother died, she forced her to make a terrible vow before the Bodhisattva.

She would never become anyone's concubine.

But from the day Xiao Ji's men captured her and brought her back to the palace, she knew that even as Xiao Ji's first wife, she would never become empress.

If she couldn't become empress, then there was little difference between being one of his concubines.

Wang Zhaorong refused to be a concubine, so she fought and schemed until she secured the position of empress.

But she was a wife who had once betrayed her husband, a woman who had nearly sent him to the executioner's blade to save the lives of her family and relatives.

So even after becoming empress, she found no peace.

Xiao Ji tormented her in every way he could, repaying her for betraying him years ago.

Then one warm spring afternoon, she ruined a painting his beloved consort had made for him. To punish her, he forced her to eat a whole box of particularly awful pastries sent by a minister.

The pastries poisoned her to death.

As she lay dying, she thought, Oof, this hurts. And I'm so angry.

2.

When Wang Zhaorong was reborn, she returned to the time when she and Xiao Ji were hiding in the countryside of Jizhou, back to the day she had betrayed him in her previous life.

A cold blade pressed against her snow-white neck. Several of her clan's young siblings were bound like silkworms. The leader held a greatsword in front of her, forcing her to report Xiao Ji and confess that he was guilty of rebellion.

She stared at the blade.

It was as if she could see her fate from her previous life all over again.

Then, the leader's head was cut off and rolled, bloody, to a stop in front of her.

In the dead silence, Xiao Ji approached her gently and pressed his bloodstained sword into her hand.

Then he looked at the other men, who stood frozen in shock.

"Didn't you want so badly to become empress?"

"Good girl. Getting rid of those who threaten you is the first step to being a good empress. Kill them."

3.

After being reborn, Wang Zhaorong no longer wanted to be empress.

She didn't even want to be Xiao Ji's wife.

She had achieved a beautiful state of mind and refused to fall for Xiao Ji's empty promises.

She only wanted to toy with him, to have this bastard dancing in the palm of her hand.

So she pretended to love him while doing everything she could to sabotage him. She got him publicly caned outside the county office, had him beaten up by local gentry, and nearly got him killed in the backwater town of Jizhou.

But, to her surprise, Xiao Ji didn't hate her.

Because he knew she was doing it on purpose.

"What husband would hold a grudge against his wife?"

"I'm not like you. I don't hold grudges."

In the middle of the night, Xiao Ji would chuckle softly and whisper in her ear.

Reading Guide:

1. A story about a woman who wants to be empress and a man who wants to be emperor, who happen to be married to each other. The growth of a fallen imperial couple.

2. A sweet-and-angsty romance. Both leads are in a rather beautiful state of mind. In their previous lives, they tore at each other like rivals, and made quite a spectacle of themselves.

3. Both leads are sexually inexperienced. The male lead has only one beloved consort, who loves a minister instead of him. The male lead knows this and doesn't love her either. There is no romantic interest between them at all.

Theme: Becoming an empress