Hate Shocks the Palace

Bickering enemies / secret identities revealed / the husband chases his wife after losing her

Coming soon: Buddha's Dust, a passionate, cunning heiress x a cool, celibate monk

Before the chase:

[Fragile, clingy crybaby vs. brash, sharp-tongued girl]

Sheng Changzhi was born into a wealthy family. Her parents doted on her, and she wanted for nothing. Many people envied her.

She had been taught proper etiquette from childhood and was skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Her parents had also already chosen a husband for her. Once she came of age and married, she would have a carefree, comfortable life.

But she fell for Lu Guinian, a poor scholar she had met only once, and cruelly abandoned Pei Zhiheng, the childhood friend who had grown up by her side. She pleaded with her father on Lu Guinian's behalf at every turn, all to pave his road to success.

Who could have known that Lu Guinian was so heartless? After passing the imperial exams, he divorced her and petitioned the emperor for permission to marry a princess. She had been nothing but a pawn he used to climb the ladder of success.

Just as she was utterly disillusioned, she met Pei Zhiheng, her sworn enemy and the man who should have been her husband.

She married Pei Zhiheng. She didn't love him, though she felt more for him than friendship. She tried to be a good wife, and she really did a good job of pretending.

He thought she loved him too.

But her act didn't make him trust her completely.

He said he was poor, and that neither of his parents held office, yet he had bought an entire restaurant and had an old friend in the palace helping him.

He said he was a commoner with no official post or reputation, yet the officials at court treated him with respect.

He also said...

She had forgotten what else he said. He was a liar, so remembering didn't matter.

He lied to her, and she lied to him.

She thought they could keep deceiving each other for the rest of their lives, until he revealed his identity to save her.

He was the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince who stood high above everyone.

Everyone knew, except her.

"Pei Zhiheng, let's divorce."

After the chase:

[Obsessive, unstable, dark little mad dog x clear-eyed, independent, contented young wife]

Three days after the divorce, Pei Zhiheng went to the palace to ask for an imperial decree. As soon as the emperor issued it, he brought twenty-one people from the Eastern Palace to her home to ask for her hand in marriage.

Sheng Changzhi kept the doors shut and refused to see him. No one in the household dared say a word.

Visitors passing by, unaware of what was really going on, shouted in the street, "The Sheng family is being raided! His Highness the Crown Prince came in person!"

Afraid of tarnishing the Sheng family's reputation, Sheng Changzhi finally invited him inside.

He was thrown out in no time, leaving his things behind.

Within three days, everyone in Yishui County knew that the Sheng family's daughter had refused the Crown Prince's proposal.

It became the first entry in the history books of the dynasty.

Sheng Changzhi paid no heed to anything outside her window. She devoted herself to enjoying the company of her handsome lover.

The servants she had chosen herself weren't as refined-looking as Pei Zhiheng, but they were young and sweet-talking, which made them far better than him.

But she couldn't understand why the matchmakers of Yishui came by every day to introduce suitors: scholars, young masters, dancers, generals, you name it. Pei Zhiheng never got angry, and she never saw him show up.

It wasn't until one scholar showed up wearing a dancer's outfit and speaking in a general's voice that she finally understood.

"Pei Zhiheng, how is it always you?!"

Reading guide:

1. The male lead is a virgin, the female lead is not. One-on-one romance, happy ending.

2. There are mildly angsty scenes after the male lead's identity is revealed, purely to serve the plot of him winning his wife back.

Theme: Love isn't about one person saving another, but about both people choosing each other