Reborn as a Middle-Aged Couple Who Resented Each Other

Marriage First, Love Later | Love and Hatred Intertwined

Four years after her younger brother ascended the throne, the empire was unstable. To help him consolidate imperial authority, Princess Xiao Xu volunteered to dissolve her engagement to her childhood sweetheart and marry the great general Yan Zhuqing, using their marriage to win him over.

Xiao Xu thought theirs would be a political marriage, with each spouse keeping their own counsel. She also hated Yan Zhuqing.

She hated that he commanded the army and acted without restraint;

she hated that he always wanted more from a marriage forged for political gain;

she hated that he risked his life to save her, and hated herself for falling for him.

But the daughter she gave birth to after a difficult labor was taken away by Yan Zhuqing before she could even look at her for more than a moment before dying.

*

In his previous life, Yan Zhuqing had hated Xiao Xu just as much.

He hated that she had used marriage to manipulate him;

he hated that she clearly loved someone else, yet pretended they were a loving couple;

he hated that she had risked her life to manipulate him, and had even used their child as a pawn in a scheme to drive him to his death.

After Xiao Xu died, he went to the Great State Temple to light an eternal lamp for her, but found a red lacquer plaque blown down by the wind.

Weathered by wind and sun, its date could no longer be made out.

But Yan Zhuqing recognized Xiao Xu's handwriting:

"Wherever you sit or stand, being near you feels like standing in a fire."

How absurd. His wife, the one who had asked to marry him, had never forgotten another man, yet she had left their daughter in his care alone.

*

When they opened their eyes again, both had returned to their wedding night.

They stared into each other's hateful eyes.

Xiao Xu: This time, I will never fall for him!

Yan Zhuqing: I will never again show that heartless woman the slightest mercy!

Blurb saved on February 21, 2026.

Theme: Cherish the present