Whatever Happened to the Sickly Beauty?

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[Blind, Exiled Heiress to the Throne x Doting Young Marquis and Her Guide Dog]

Yan Kongyun was born blind and frail. To stay alive, she went to Yujing in search of medicine. Along the way, she ran into a young wastrel who was peeking at her while she bathed. He even put his arms around her, nearly earning himself a knife to the throat!

And this wastrel wasn't afraid of dying. He even declared that he wanted to marry her.

She thought he was unreliable, but as they traveled together, he became her most steadfast ally.

She held out her slender hands, hands that could still guide the fate of the realm. "Bai Huaizhou, would you like to travel with me?"

He took her hands, his peach-blossom eyes smiling with warmth and tenderness. "Since you've invited me, of course I will."

Bai Huaizhou had never met a woman like Yan Kongyun.

The Empress was wary of the Bai family, so he had to pretend to be an idle wastrel who knew nothing, despite possessing considerable martial skills.

Yet Yan Kongyun could stand firm in a troubled world, even in her frail condition, with the whole realm in her heart.

He was won over by her cool pride and integrity, moved by her steadfast sincerity, and willingly became her eyes and her guide.

He accompanied her through every danger, all the way to Yujing, and helped her uncover the truth of her birth.

She was supposed to be the heir to the realm.

Nineteen years ago, the Empress seized the throne and poisoned her mother, leaving her to wander the martial world.

Nineteen years later, she arrived in Yujing and put an end to everything that had gone wrong with her own hands.

When the dust settled, she helped a virtuous ruler ascend the throne, then strolled away from court, fanning herself with a folding fan.

When she came from the martial world, she was alone, accompanied only by two attendants.

When she left Yujing, a young man whose heart and eyes held nothing but her was by her side.

-

Yan Kongyun had always known that Bai Huaizhou was a terrible person.

He was always taking advantage of her blindness to steal kisses.

At first, he was afraid of making her angry, so he only dared to kiss her cheek and the corner of her lips.

She indulged him every time, until he became bolder and bolder, and eventually wouldn't stop until the corners of her eyes were red.

Even on their wedding night, he deliberately teased her, calling to her over and over in his jade-clear voice.

Through her blurred vision, she suddenly longed to see his face.

Much later, she repaid him in full for his "offense" on their wedding night.

With their damp hair entwined, she finally saw his face for the first time.

His handsome features framed eyes as intoxicating as peach blossoms, filled with rippling light and deep affection, making her heart burn.

When Bai Huaizhou saw her bright eyes, no longer veiled by mist and clearly reflecting his image, his own eyes reddened in an instant.

She kissed the moisture at the corner of his eye. "Bai Huaizhou, your eyes really are beautiful."

Even when she couldn't see, she knew he had a pair of exceptionally beautiful peach-blossom eyes.

She had thought about them for so long, always wanting to see with her own eyes what they looked like.

Now, at last, her wish had come true.

-

Reader's Guide:

1. Both leads are devoted only to each other. Happy ending.

2. The heroine is genuinely blind and frail. She will be cured later.

3. This is not a story centered on an all-powerful heroine. The leads grow together hand in hand.

4. The story features an Empress ruling the realm, but it is not a matriarchal setting. The law allows both men and women to hold office and head households. The setting is entirely fictional, so please don't overanalyze it!

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[Disgraced Minister's Hidden Pearl x Frontier General]

Before Yue Yan entered a brothel, she was the envy of everyone in the capital, a noble young lady from an illustrious family. Her grandfather had served as Chancellor, and her family was uniquely distinguished.

Gentle and refined, she excelled at the four arts of the zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting. Every word and action of hers conformed to propriety, making her the ideal wife sought after by countless young masters from noble families.

It all ended the day the Jing family was convicted of treason and sentenced to execution in its entirety.

Her maid, who had been by her side since childhood, took her place and went to her death. Yue Yan concealed her identity and fled all the way to the northwestern frontier, where she became a courtesan who played the pipa, barely managing to survive.

One day, a drunken soldier harassed her, and a general came to her rescue like a god descending from the heavens.

After that, Mu Yuzhao often came to listen to her play. When she was forced to receive clients, he bought her freedom and took her into his household as his wife.

He kept her by his side, but never touched her.

He only watched her play the pipa. Now and then, he would sleep beside her. Years passed like this.

Until her general died on the battlefield.

That day, snow blanketed Yuancheng, just as it had on the day the Jing residence was massacred.

Everyone said her husband had lost the city and died because he was a poor commander.

Only by chance did she learn that the Emperor had feared him and secretly ordered his assassination.

She stole the evidence and returned to the capital alone, determined to clear her husband's name.

But then she learned that the Jing family's treason case had also been fabricated by the Emperor.

Bearing two great blood feuds, she entered the palace.

On the night she was summoned to the Emperor's bed, a fire consumed the entire bedchamber.

Amid the flames, she saw the snow falling all around her once more. She saw her husband lying in a pool of blood, clutching a jade plectrum.

Before the flames completely consumed her, she prayed to Heaven: if she could have another life, she wanted to be his wife again and ask him, "Mu Yuzhao, do you really love me?"

-

The night Yue Yan was reborn was one year before Mu Yuzhao's death.

That night, he had drunk too much and fallen asleep beside her.

Her sobs woke him. She burrowed into his arms, weeping as she asked, "Mu Yuzhao, do you really love me or not?"

He pressed his lips tightly together, not daring to answer.

She stroked his smooth, unscarred chest, remembering the bloody holes that had covered his body when she gathered his remains. Tears streamed down her face. "Mu Yuzhao, can we become a real married couple?"

As the red curtains fell, she gazed at him through tear-filled eyes. "Mu Yuzhao, I love you so much. Don't die."

He gently kissed away the tears at the corners of her eyes and promised, "An'an, I won't die."

Yue Yan froze.

Jing An was her real name.

Only then did she realize that he had known everything all along.

In her previous life, after returning to the capital, she had met Prince Wen, a childhood friend of Mu Yuzhao's. He told her that the Emperor himself had framed the Jing family for treason.

Prince Wen said someone had asked him to clear the Jing family's name.

It turned out that the "someone" was Mu Yuzhao.

-

Jing An didn't know that the Jing and Mu families had once planned to unite through marriage.

If Mu Yuzhao's father hadn't died in battle.

If the entire Jing family hadn't been executed.

They would have been childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable, growing up to marry young and spend their lives in love.

Theme: In a troubled world, how can anyone stand apart? Only when all hearts are united can the realm be brought to peace.