Synopsis
An ambitious schemer and a lovesick ruler. The one in power keeps bowing his head.
The armies of Jing have massed at the border. Yan's Prince Ji An is about to become the ruler of a fallen kingdom.
And the King of Jing, Xiang You, has entered the city. He is the old lover she once abandoned after leading him on.
Ji An knows when to bow her head. She sends him fine wine, hoping to repel the enemy with the old rites.
Xiang You presses his lips together, refusing to humor her. “You think a cup of wine will make my army of Jing retreat?”
She has lost, completely and utterly.
She says she would never dare offend him, yet remains nonchalant, still drawing his attention.
Just like back then, when she disguised herself as a man and entered Jing as a hostage. With no one to rely on, she had no choice but to depend on him.
Back then, Xiang You truly believed her.
He taught her music, archery and horsemanship, and the art of politics. He even protected her.
In return, she abandoned him without a second thought. When she shot an arrow straight at his heart, her hand never trembled.
Xiang You fell into a pool of blood. Watching her retreating figure, he swore he would conquer Yan and make Ji An kneel at his feet, weeping and begging for mercy, before subjecting her to the cruelest humiliation.
Now she is standing before him again, just as he swore she would.
She gazes at him with eyes that seem to hold the affection they once shared.
Xiang You sneers. Does she think he will fall for her tricks again?
The ministers of Jing are all waiting for their king to personally execute the ruler of the fallen state of Yan.
But they wait and wait, and Ji An is still dressed in finery, living in the palace and feasting day and night.
Worse, Xiang You even issues an edict appointing her queen.
The ministers are going mad. “Your Majesty, please come to your senses!”
He replies expressionlessly, “Why the rush? I have my own plans.”
The ministers can only wait in silence, until Ji An is seated on the dragon throne, with Xiang You himself helping her up.
Until the tiger tally is placed in her hands, delivered by Xiang You in person.
Until memorials from the entire court pile up on her desk, while Xiang You sits at her side, playing the perfect confidant.
At last, the ministers understand: their king has been bewitched!
Ji An lowers her head to review memorials, her brush stirring up storms.
Xiang You, meanwhile, asks her day after day, “Do you love the tiger tally, or do you love me?”
Ji An raises an eyebrow. “It's just an object. How could it compare to you?”
Xiang You smiles, but deep down he feels aggrieved. She simply cannot do without that object.
Everyone says Ji An is a wicked queen, a femme fatale.
But the words recorded in the history books tell how she united the world.
From hostage of Yan to emperor of the Yu Dynasty, Ji An is the greatest of all ambitious schemers.
Coming soon:
[Love at first sight / mistaken identity and a sham marriage / younger man]
When it came to love at first sight, Zhou Zechuan thought it was all utter nonsense.
But at the height of his youthful confidence, at sixteen, he met a celestial maiden.
Zhou Zechuan, Prince of Xiang of the Southern Jing Kingdom, was the Empress Dowager's youngest son and the emperor's younger brother. He had been born into a life of luxury.
But when he secretly went to the border, hoping to distinguish himself, he never imagined that the border's sandstorms could be deadly.
His first meeting with Xu Yuzhou began with a heroic rescue.
The hero's sword was dripping with blood, but Zhou Zechuan could only feel his heart going mad.
“You must be a celestial maiden!”
But she was no celestial maiden. She was a woman of the mortal world.
Xu Yuzhou was the young mistress of the Shuangxi Mountain Manor of the Northern Yu Kingdom, famed throughout the martial world for her Three Swords of the Pure Moon.
Zhou Zechuan desperately sought news of her, only to learn that she was already in love with someone else.
In his youth, he acted impulsively and begged for her love out of jealousy. All he got in return was, “I already have someone I love.”
He thought that for the rest of his life, he could only gaze at the moon in the distance.
But then turmoil swept through the martial world and brought her right before him.
And when she woke, she had forgotten everything.
The moment Zhou Zechuan held the woman in his arms, the guilt and regret in his heart vanished.
“Ayu is my princess consort.”
Ayu had entrusted herself to the wrong man. He was simply setting things right.
He and Ayu were the ones who truly loved each other, the ones who had fallen in love at first sight.
The story of the loving Prince of Xiang and his princess consort spreads throughout the capital. Only Zhou Zechuan knows the truth behind the enormous lie he created.
In her dreams at night, his wife calls someone else's name.
And one old acquaintance after another appears, each boasting to him of how close they once were to her.
Zhou Zechuan forces a smile through gritted teeth. “It's fine. I'm used to it.”
Then that man dares to come to his door, even calling his wife by a pet name Zhou Zechuan has never heard.
“Jiaojiao, I'm the one you love. You were meant to be my wife.”
Worse, he has brought a child with him, a child who looks like Zhou Zechuan's wife!
Zhou Zechuan cannot bring himself to look at her. He only clutches her sleeve tightly.
“Are you going to abandon me?”
Reader's guide: 1. The heroine is not a virgin, the hero is. 2. Everyone loves my wife, with a touch of a reverse harem. 3. One-on-one romance, happy ending. 4. Martial-world storyline.
Theme: Love can overcome every hardship.
