Xue Yuan's husband was dead.
When the news arrived, she felt an uncanny calm.
There was only one reason: Xue Yuan had lived three lives already, and every one of her husbands had met a terrible end.
In her first life, she married a brilliant scholar in white. He was gentle and considerate, and though an undisclosed ailment made him unusually needy and eager for her, she could find no fault in him otherwise. They were well matched and lived a happy life.
Later, her husband came first in the imperial examinations and earned the emperor's favor. His future looked bright, but in the blink of an eye, he was caught up in a massive corruption scandal amid the struggle between the old and new factions, and was assassinated.
Xue Yuan was also inexplicably forced to die for love.
In her second life, knowing how dark officialdom could be, she avoided the mistakes of her previous life and chose the heir to the Marquis of Zhenyuan, a man with a powerful army at his command.
The heir was young and handsome, with a superb figure and a spirited bearing. He could be a little too vigorous at night, but Xue Yuan was generally satisfied.
Then foreign forces invaded. The Marquis of Zhenyuan was killed in battle, and the heir went off to war in armor. A year later, the city fell and its people were slaughtered.
After his death, he was branded a traitor, and Xue Yuan was implicated, too, and given a cup of poisoned wine.
In her third life, Xue Yuan gave up trying and fell for a dissolute young nobleman.
Though he had no official position, he was charming and handsome, his looks every bit as good as those of her first two husbands. He also had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and pleased Xue Yuan in every way, both in and out of bed.
Her husband was neither a scholar nor a warrior, and kept well away from trouble. Their life together was quite pleasant.
She thought this time, at last, things would be safe.
Who could have guessed that he would encounter river bandits while going out to check the accounts, and die when his boat was destroyed?
As for Xue Yuan, a group of assassins from who-knows-where broke into her home and killed her.
Xue Yuan opened her eyes once more: Are you kidding me? Is this ever going to end?
Thinking of how every choice in her first three lives had led to death, she furiously flipped the table and made a bold decision.
This time, she would marry the emperor.
But she had only just sneaked into the imperial summer palace and hadn't even seen the emperor when someone blocked her way.
She looked up and saw that it was her first husband, the man she had never known before their marriage.
Later, she discovered that he wasn't the only one who had returned. Her second and third deceased husbands were back, too.
Reader's guide: 1. All the male leads are virgins.
2. The entire plot serves the romance, so please don't read too much into its values.
Theme: Your fate is in your own hands
