My Dead Husband Returned with a Blade

Coming soon: I Didn't Know My Prince Consort Was a Woman. Synopsis at the end. Please add it to your reading list!

[Honest, charming widow vs. sinister man who rises to power]

On the night Yin Hui made up her mind to die, a strange man came to her home.

The man was called Shen Chen. He claimed to have been a friend of her husband, and said he had come to look after her at her husband's request before he died.

Yin Hui was skeptical, but in the end she pulled her neck back from the rope.

At first, she considered him a friend, a member of the family. That was until news came that Shen Chen had been made a marquis. She was so happy she drank a few too many cups.

When she woke, the man was lying beside her.

Shen Chen told her to take responsibility for him. What could a blind widow like her do?

Yin Hui resigned herself to marrying him.

Unexpectedly, on the day of their wedding, her dead former husband came charging into the wedding hall with a knife.

"Shen Chen, you treacherous, despicable bastard! I treated you like a brother, and you climbed into my wife's bed? I'll fight you to the death today!"

*

Shen Chen was a filthy rat, a bug born in a gutter, living in darkness where no sunlight could reach, until he met Li Cheng on the battlefield.

His big brother took good care of him, sheltering him from wind and rain and sharing every little detail of his family life with him.

That was how Shen Chen learned his sister-in-law's name and what she looked like, and even came to know her likes and dislikes by heart.

Over time, Shen Chen grew greedy. He wanted to make his brother's wife his own.

And that was exactly what he did.

Wearing a gentle mask, he used every means at his disposal to get into his sister-in-law's bed.

At last, she agreed to marry him.

But he never expected his big brother, who should have disappeared, to come back alive.

*

When Shen Chen learned his sister-in-law had gone missing, his eyes turned bloodshot, and he nearly lost control, almost killing someone on the spot.

He searched all of Great Sheng from top to bottom. At last, when he found her, he saw his usually honest, timid sister-in-law shielding his big brother behind her, and saying resolutely:

"I will not go back with you. You will have to kill me first."

At her words, the gentle mask on Shen Chen's face shattered, revealing a sinister smile.

Since his sister-in-law had seen his true colors, that was fine. He didn't want to keep pretending, either.

Content warning: The female lead has had previous partners; the male lead has not.

The next book will be I Didn't Know My Prince Consort Was a Woman.

[Woman disguised as a man as prince consort X sinister, ruthless emperor]

After transmigrating into a world torn by war, Shen Qinghui nearly lost her life.

To repay the eldest princess for saving her, she disguised herself as a man and became her prince consort. To outsiders, the two were a couple blessed with perfect harmony, the envy of everyone.

The only one dissatisfied with her was the eldest princess's younger brother, the reigning emperor, Xiao Chengyou.

His hostility toward her at court went without saying. Even when they met in private, he never gave her a kind look.

Once again, Shen Zhihui risked her life to plead with the emperor for her friend's sake.

The emperor flew into a rage. His long, narrow black eyes filled with murderous intent, and she was thrown into the imperial prison.

After the eldest princess got her out, Shen Qinghui noticed that the emperor's gaze had grown increasingly dark and unreadable...

Afraid her secret would be exposed, Shen Qinghui arranged to fake her own death and escape.

Everything went smoothly, until she changed back into women's clothing and stepped onto the deck, only to find the man who should have been sitting on the dragon throne calmly seated in the ship's cabin.

The man's tall, shadowy figure completely enveloped her. His cold hand clamped around her jaw, leaving two sharp red marks.

"You've been playing tricks on me for so long. You still think you can run?"

*

Xiao Chengyou had seized the throne by stepping over the corpses of his siblings. He was a cold, merciless emperor, yet the only person he truly cared for was his elder sister, the Grand Princess Jianing.

The trouble was that his brother-in-law, Shen Qinghui, was a pretty boy living off his wife, with nothing but a handsome face. He was obsequious and ingratiating, and had the princess completely under his spell.

In private, he even put his arms around the maids in the household, with no sense of propriety.

Xiao Chengyou had long regarded him as a thorn in his side. And now this fence-sitter, Shen Qinghui, had even dared risk his life to speak up for someone unrelated to him.

Surprised, Xiao Chengyou had shown him no mercy and thrown him in prison.

Then he uncovered the secret she had been hiding...

His brother-in-law was actually a woman...

From then on, Shen Qinghui's every move easily stirred his emotions,

and he even let her appear in his vivid dreams night after night.

And after tormenting him like this, she actually dared to try to run away.

The moment he caught her, Xiao Chengyou wanted nothing more than to break her bones and devour her whole.

And that was exactly what he did.

*

The prince consort at court, whose bearing was as graceful as a breeze and bright as the moon, was gravely ill. It was said she would not live much longer, and everyone in the capital mourned her fate.

No one knew that a slender figure, almost exactly the same build as the prince consort, had appeared in the dimly lit Golden Throne Hall, among the red candles.

The man he had once disdained now had him utterly captivated, night after night...

*

Shen Qinghui had had enough of being confined in the dark, sunless inner palace. This time, she managed to escape.

Three years later, in a misty water town in Jiangnan, oars rocked a boat gently.

A little girl as pretty as a doll was helping her mother attract customers when she realized something was strange today.

"Huh? Mother, all the people on the shore are gone. There's only one strange uncle."

Shen Qinghui's heart sank. She looked up...

Those black eyes, the pair she could never forget even in her dreams, bore down on her, terrifying without a hint of anger.

When the man spoke, his voice sounded almost pleading:

"Niannian, have you had enough?"

"Come back to the palace with me and be my empress."

Theme: Love can make flowers bloom even in the mud.