After Being Reborn as My Nemesis's Childhood Sweetheart

Cui Heng has two greatest dreams in life:

First, to help Prince Changxuan ascend the throne.

Second, to kill her nemesis, Xie Lingwen, who knows she is a woman disguised as a man.

Both come true quickly. After Prince Changxuan takes the throne, Cui Heng, his most trusted minister, is named Marquis of Zhen'an.

To enjoy a life of comfort and security, she ignores the objections of the entire court, strips Xie Lingwen of his post, confiscates his family home, and drives him out of the capital, hoping he'll be penniless and die on the road as soon as possible.

A title, wealth, and a dead nemesis. What more could life offer?

Before Xie Lingwen can die, the emperor she trusts most does something momentous.

He trades her life for the life of the woman he loves.

After spending half her life serving him, Cui Heng plays on his feelings to save her own skin.

She accepts the imperial decree and flees the capital at night, only to be shot through by an arrow before she can even leave the imperial city.

At the start of the new year, with only a breath of life remaining, Cui Heng sees Xie Lingwen in the vast white snow. She had schemed to get him dismissed from office.

He is in a worn blue-green robe, and she is soaked in blood.

When enemies meet, both are in a wretched state.

As she is about to breathe her last, a still-warm outer robe envelops her, shielding her from the snow and wind and preserving the last of her dignity.

In her twenty-five years, Cui Heng never imagined that her first tear would be shed for Xie Lingwen, the man she once regarded as a thorn in her side.

When she opens her eyes again, she has become Aheng, the only daughter of the Cui family's tavern in Qingzhou.

And Xie Lingwen, the powerful minister reviled by countless people in his previous life, is now huddled beneath her family's eaves to shelter from the rain, clutching half a dried steamed bun.

-

Xie Lingwen is cold and heartless. The youngest powerful minister in the land, he is hated by countless people, who also wish they could be him.

But he is stubborn and inflexible, believing in neither gods nor Buddha, and trusting no one around him. He has not a single weakness.

Later, Xie Lingwen is no longer a powerful minister. His life is hard, but incense is always burning on his desk.

One offering is for the gods and Buddha. The other is for Cui Heng, the nemesis who made him lose everything.

Once, when someone tried to find Cui Heng a match, she turned them down drunkenly. "I'm a wanderer. I don't need a family, a career, or children. After I die, I'll be a lonely ghost. If some kind soul happens by and burns a couple of incense sticks for me, that'll be enough."

Xie Lingwen remembered, and burned incense for her every day.

He prayed to the gods and Buddha to protect her, and for her... to visit his dreams once more.

-

For the first half of his life, Zhao Yan was blinded by hatred and thought that power would bring him peace.

When he finally reached the highest position, he realized he wanted more.

A wider realm, for example. And Cui Heng.

After decades at her side, the possessiveness in his heart began to grow and spread wildly from the moment he accidentally discovered Cui Heng's true identity.

The more freely she lived, and the more people surrounded her, the more jealous he became.

He was jealous of her brilliance, and resented that she would not obediently follow him as she had when they were children.

The mad thoughts in Zhao Yan's heart could no longer be contained. He wanted to clip her wings, yet could not bear to hear her cry out in pain.

His heart softened. He wanted to let his little bird go, but became the one indirectly responsible for her death.

From then on, throughout his long life, no one would ever again take his hand in a moment of crisis and say,

"Your Highness, Aheng is here. Aheng will always be here."

[Reading Guide]

1. In her previous life, the male lead knew the heroine's true sex.

2. The heroine's mother changed her fate, so the heroine is reborn, not someone who transmigrated into another person's body.

3. 1v1, both physically and emotionally pure, a sweet story about saving each other, with a little make-believe political scheming. It starts in childhood.

4. Fictional setting, with lots of original worldbuilding.

5. Plenty of chapters are available. Dive in!

Theme: Live for yourself