The Obsessive Power Minister Is the Ex-Husband Who Broke Off Our Engagement

Bold, quick-witted, status-conscious beauty x gentle, refined nobleman x calculating, cold-faced secret police officer

A melodramatic, satisfying read. No need to overthink it. Both male leads are hopeless romantics.

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Synopsis One:

The new deputy minister of the Court of Judicial Review is the new empress's blade. He established the Office of Investigation for her. On the surface, it accepts reports and clears the wrongly accused; behind the scenes, it specializes in uncovering secrets about officials throughout the capital, all to help the empress eliminate rivals and purge her political enemies.

People in Chang'an call the head of the Office of Investigation the Jade-Faced Demon. He has a beautiful, bewitching face, but his methods of torture are vicious. No official who enters the Office of Investigation ever comes out on his own two feet.

Lin Qingyun's husband attends a banquet and is arrested on suspicion of guilt by association, then taken to the Office of Investigation.

Lin Qingyun has no choice but to visit him in person. There, she runs into her former fiancé, Pei Songzhi.

So he is the Jade-Faced Demon.

Back then, she was determined to marry up. She looked down on Pei Songzhi for his humble origins and repeated failures in the examinations. While his father was in mourning, she broke off their childhood engagement, then turned around and attached herself to Cui Shiqing, the third son of the Boling Cui clan.

Several years have passed, and the times have changed. Pei Songzhi now holds power over everything, while Cui Shiqing has become a prisoner.

“It's been a long time, Miss Lin. Or should I call you Madam Cui?”

Pei Songzhi looks at her with an amused smile, idly playing with a handkerchief.

It's embroidered with clouds.

She embroidered it.

They found it on Cui Shiqing.

Lin Qingyun's scalp prickles. Watching his fingers run over the cloud pattern, she can only force a smile and say, “Please, Deputy Minister.”

“Or perhaps I should call you my lady...” Pei Songzhi moves closer, step by step, and laughs softly in her ear. “It sounds more intimate. Don't you think, my lady?”

He's doing it on purpose, deliberately tormenting Cui Shiqing just to make her come.

Lin Qingyun backs away warily, but still has to swallow her pride and ask, “I beg you, Deputy Minister Pei, please spare my husband...”

Pei Songzhi scoffs. “Oh? Why should I?”

Lin Qingyun's voice grows quieter, and she can only say, “For my sake...”

Pei Songzhi presses closer, sneering. “For the sake of the engagement you broke off?”

Lin Qingyun keeps retreating. “I only ask that you spare my husband. What would it take, Deputy Minister Pei?”

Pei Songzhi smiles as he replies, “You have two choices: divorce him, or separate from him. Surely you don't want Cui, a court official, to lose his life over this, do you?”

Qingyun's eyes widen. She grabs a jar of wine and dumps it over Pei Songzhi from head to toe.

“Ugh! You shameless villain! Don't push me too far!”

[Short Scenes]

Pei Songzhi: “My lady, you wouldn't want Cui San to suffer, would you?”

Lin Qingyun, splashing him with wine: “Don't push me too far!”

Pei Songzhi: “My lady, I've already forced Cui San to write a divorce letter. There's nothing good about the Cui clan. Come with me.”

Lin Qingyun, smashing a vase over Songzhi's head: “You forced and tempted him into it! You're the real culprit!”

Just as Qingyun finally prepares to escape Chang'an, she is intercepted at the city gate and learns that the friend who obtained travel papers for her has been arrested, imprisoned, and tortured.

Out of loyalty to her friend, Qingyun has no choice but to follow Pei Songzhi into the Office of Investigation.

Pei Songzhi: “My lady, that bastard helped you escape. Doesn't he deserve to die?”

Lin Qingyun: “Then you deserve to die too.”

A gold hairpin pierces his throat. As Pei Songzhi lies dying, he finally understands that a good marriage takes effort.

He has to win his wife back.

Synopsis Two:

Qingyun's mother was a woman from one of the Five Great Clans. She fell for Qingyun's father's good looks and eloped with him, and Qingyun was born.

Unfortunately, both her parents died young, leaving Qingyun an orphan. Her aunt took her in, and she grew up living with the Cui clan.

From childhood, Qingyun wanted nothing more than to return to the Five Great Clans and enjoy the riches her mother had once known.

In this world, a woman who wants to change her fate has to marry up.

The fiancé her father chose was too lowborn, but Cui Shiqing was a son of the Boling Cui clan with a respectable, comfortable official post. He was the perfect match.

Then Pei Songzhi appeared out of nowhere and ruined that path to success, leaving her no choice but to seek another way forward.

But she never imagined that she would eventually obtain the wealth she had always dreamed of by a completely different means.

[Background Notes]

1. Set in an imagined world modeled on the early Tang dynasty. One heroine, two male leads. The heroine is the only one who isn't sexually inexperienced. This is a melodramatic, satisfying read. Yes, a satisfying read.

2. The heroine is a genuine, brash, down-on-her-luck rogue. She only loves wealth and luxury, and she can fight and curse people out. She is not meek, patient, kind, and gentle.

The male leads are ruthless officials who will do anything for power and aren't afraid to use their hands. They have zero romantic experience, though, so they're rather innocent hopeless romantics.

3. The heroine and her husband are truly married and have a real relationship. They have feelings for each other and get along well in every way. The heroine is generally happy with her marriage. The hero completely steals her away.

4. Not your typical forced romance. The early story features possession and taking by force; later comes the reckoning and the heroine's career arc. Ex or current, both male leads will pay the price, while the heroine ultimately gains wealth and status.

P.S. While the heroine is still married, she will have neither romantic feelings nor an intimate relationship with Pei Songzhi. The three-way relationship only begins after she and her husband divorce.

Theme: Better to rely on yourself than on a man.