My Ex Calls Me the Emperor's Aunt (Reborn)

As the eldest granddaughter of the current Grand Chancellor, Zhang Yining has a status no less noble than a princess's. There is even a saying that whoever marries a woman of the Zhang family will gain the throne.

When she came of age, the eldest prince, Gu Yuanqing, asked for her hand. The legitimate firstborn son of the empress, he was renowned for his virtue and was unquestionably the heir apparent. He and Zhang Yining had also been childhood sweethearts.

Everyone said theirs was a match made in heaven. Zhang Yining believed so too, and happily married him.

She thought her days would continue to go smoothly. But after the emperor and empress died and Gu Yuanqing ascended the throne, what awaited her was not an imperial edict naming her empress, but an accusation listing her grandfather's "ten crimes," followed by a cup of poisoned wine.

As it turned out, Gu Yuanqing had a true love who had been living outside the palace all along. He married Zhang Yining only to use the Zhang family's influence to secure his throne.

Now that her grandfather was old and the Zhang family was no longer useful, Gu Yuanqing could naturally depose her and make room for the woman he loved.

When Zhang Yining opened her eyes again, she was sitting in a carriage on her way to the palace. Her grandfather had just completed his period of mourning, and the whole family was attending a banquet.

At the feast, Gu Yuanqing smiled and asked for her hand, just as he had in her previous life.

Thinking back on a life spent paving the way for someone else, Zhang Yining rose to her feet. Her gaze passed over him and landed on the least conspicuous corner of the banquet hall.

"Your Majesty, this subject's daughter already has someone in her heart. I cannot accept the eldest prince's proposal."

The whole hall erupted.

Everyone followed her gaze. In the corner, Prince Qin, Gu Jingyao, was idly turning his wine cup. At her words, he lifted his eyes with an unreadable smile.

Prince Qin was the late emperor's youngest son and the Empress Dowager's darling. Aside from his looks, he was good for nothing.

Why turn down the chance to be empress and choose instead to become the wife of an idle prince? Everyone in the capital waited to see Zhang Yining make a fool of herself.

But they waited and waited, only to see Zhang Yining appear at the coronation ceremony, dressed in a phoenix crown and red wedding robes.

*

At first, when Zhang Yining used Gu Jingyao as an excuse at the banquet, she had chosen him because he kept his distance from women. She knew he would refuse her, which was why she said it.

She never expected Gu Jingyao to play along. Not only did he fail to refute her, he went along with her words. "My younger brother and Miss Zhang are mutually in love. I beseech Your Majesty to grant us your blessing."

Zhang Yining: "...What?"

She turned stiffly to meet those smiling, enchanting eyes. There was only one thought in her mind: this world had gone mad.

Theme: Take your fate into your own hands.