The General's Widow

Next up: After Pretending to Be the Younger Sister of a Powerful Official

[Faux Siblings ✘ Fake and Real Heiresses ✘ Mild Coercion ✘ Secret Identity Revealed]

Blurb:

[Beautiful Young Widow ✘ Younger, Obsessive Emperor]

After three years of widowhood, Pei Zhaoyun finally got her wish and married the man she had loved since her youth, the one she had once missed her chance with. The emperor had granted the match, and the wedding was to be a grand affair.

On the eve of the wedding, she took her beloved by the hand and went with him to the palace to thank the emperor.

The empress dowager had meddled in government for years. The young emperor had bided his time, and only recently had he wiped out her faction in a coup, taking sole control of the realm. His methods were so ruthless that even the wives and daughters of officials knew of them, and all who heard of them were chilled to the bone.

Pei Zhaoyun felt a little nervous, but fortunately, her beloved held her hand tightly. She thought that it was only a formal visit to offer thanks. It would soon be over.

But that day, when she accidentally raised her eyes and caught sight of the emperor above, her heart gave a jolt. Her legs turned so weak that she could barely stand.

She saw a familiar face, its cold eyes fixed on the hands clasped between her and her beloved.

Xie Ming had spent years plotting the coup, all to escape the empress dowager's control. But even so, something went wrong during the coup.

He had no choice but to flee to a commoner's home.

A beautiful woman took him in and cared for him attentively.

He had never known such tenderness, though whenever she looked at him, she would always seem to drift off for a moment.

But in the end, she knocked him unconscious and left him at an inn.

After taking power, he searched everywhere for her, but found no trace. Still, he was now the undisputed ruler of the realm. One day, he would find her...

Jiang Linchuan was a cousin on Xie Ming's mother's side and had made great contributions during the coup.

When Jiang Linchuan asked to marry a widow, Xie Ming agreed without a second thought.

That was until the day they came to the palace together to offer thanks. He saw their hands clasped together, and his cousin's brows and eyes, so much like his own.

On the wedding day, Xie Ming abducted the bride and took her to the palace.

He ignored Jiang Linchuan's demands from beyond the palace doors. Instead, he held the woman in his arms and said to her terrified face, "Be good. Tomorrow, tell him that the man you love isn't him."

Reader's Note:

The heroine is not a virgin, and she has a daughter.

Next up: After Pretending to Be the Younger Sister of a Powerful Official

[Faux Siblings ✘ Fake and Real Heiresses ✘ Mild Coercion ✘ Both Leads Are Virgins]

As head of the Wen family, Wen Xiuheng rose to the highest ranks of the court at a young age. He was noble and upright, admired by all.

The only stain on his life, one he could never speak of, was that after being drugged, he had been intimate with his newly reunited younger sister.

Afterward, he often found himself recalling his sister's misty eyes and the smooth, warm feel of her pale skin.

Each time the memory came to him, his shame and anger grew.

He thought it would be best to find his younger sister a husband as soon as possible.

Shu He had spent ten years as a maid in a merchant's household in Jiangnan. One day, the Wen family found her and brought her home, making her their young lady.

But no one knew that the Wen family's real daughter was already dead. Shu He had claimed her identity using a keepsake.

Madam Wen was overjoyed to have found her long-lost daughter. Though Wen Xiuheng usually kept a cold expression, he also doted on Shu He, his fake little sister.

The kinder the Wen family was to Shu He, the more uneasy she felt.

Then one day, she saw a familiar face on the streets of Chang'an.

It was the Wen family's real heiress!

Shu He began to think about running away. As it happened, the Wen family had chosen a husband for her: the young son of the Minister of Revenue. Their engagement had already been set.

Madam Wen looked at the real daughter who had come to their door, then at Shu He, and said helplessly to Wen Xiuheng, "She's already engaged to the Minister of Revenue's family. Why not recognize both girls as daughters of the Wen family?"

The man's cold voice quickly extinguished the hope rising in Shu He's heart.

"No."

Shu He thought she was surely doomed this time. Fortunately, the young master of the Minister of Revenue's household didn't mind that she was a fake heiress and wanted to elope with her and leave for good.

That night, Shu He filled a bundle with gold, silver, and jewels and climbed over the wall. On the other side, she saw Wen Xiuheng's livid face.

Wen Xiuheng said coldly, "Did you think you could just run away after pretending to be a Wen daughter?"

Later, her usually proper fake elder brother pulled her slender ankle toward him on the bed.

"Since we're not real siblings, now that we've been intimate, you can only marry me. Understand?"

Shu He nodded woodenly, tears in her eyes. "I'll do whatever you say, Brother."

Theme: Defy power and dare to fight back.