After Asking My Archrival to Marry Me

[A sharp-tongued, soft-hearted, pampered girl x a jealous, puppy-like, hopeless romantic]

[The male lead is the more devoted one | Childhood sweethearts | Bickering couple]

For the first nineteen years of her life, Xiao Mingjing had everything go her way.

Her father was a duke, her mother a princess, and her imperial uncle gave her a county lady’s title at birth. The only thing that troubled her was Cui Xun, the little menace from the Duke of Zhenguo’s residence next door, who was always picking fights with her.

The two of them fought from childhood, giving each other bloody noses and shouting until they were red in the face. Their feud continued until the emperor arranged for Xiao Mingjing to marry someone else.

Her husband was the heir to the Prince of Beijing’s title, handsome as a piece of jade and graceful in bearing. He looked at her with tenderness, carried out every order she gave, and obeyed her every whim.

For three years after the wedding, everyone in the capital praised County Lady Duan Ning, saying her life was blessed beyond measure and everything always went her way!

That is, until her husband launched a rebellion, killed the emperor, imprisoned the crown prince, exiled her mother to the northern frontier, and stripped her father of his title and rank.

For the first time in her life, she lowered her head and begged in desperation. The man only sneered, gripping her chin as he said, “Xuanxuan, do you know that when Cui Xun was pierced through the heart by a spear, your childhood nickname was the last thing he murmured?”

“Do you dare claim there was not the slightest bit of affection between you and him?!”

Xiao Mingjing removed all her hairpins and jewelry and followed her mother to the northern frontier, where she eventually died of illness, consumed by bitterness.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back at the time her former husband had just arrived in the capital, the year she and Cui Xun had fought the most fiercely.

On the second floor of a restaurant, Cui Xun put down his wine bowl, wiped his mouth, and scoffed, “Xiao Mingjing is spoiled and stubborn. Whoever marries her will spend the rest of his life as a fool and a misfortune magnet!”

Xiao Mingjing suppressed the smile that had risen halfway at the sight of an old friend. She ordered the screen removed and said with a sneer, “Young Lord Cui is so eloquent. If Director Fang heard you, he would surely be delighted.”

Cui Xun, who had skipped class with his friends: “...”

-

Three months into their marriage, a friend asked Cui Xun if County Lady Duan Ning really was as spoiled and overbearing as the rumors claimed, hitting and scolding him at every turn, summoning him whenever she pleased and dismissing him just as easily.

Cui Xun: “...You don’t know a damn thing! My wife is kind, virtuous, intelligent, gentle, and the best girl in the world!”

Ever heard of marital banter? You lonely bachelor with no wife!

Reading guide:

1. The official systems and dynasties are a mix, so please don’t scrutinize the history.

2. One-on-one romance, light and sweet, with both leads outspoken and direct.

Coming next: When the Powerful Official’s Wife Returns. Add it to your favorites on my profile if you’re interested!

[Widower romance | Gentle ghostly husband | Both leads sexually inexperienced]

Lin Wanzhu, the legitimate daughter of the Earl of Yongning’s household, had been frail since childhood. When she was seventeen or eighteen, her loving parents found a penniless scholar with nowhere else to turn and brought him into the family as a live-in son-in-law, hoping the marriage would bring her good fortune.

Her husband, Shen Zhao, was young and handsome, and he cared for her in every way. He did, however, go around with a frown on his handsome face, looking thoroughly unhappy.

Lin Wanzhu called him a little prig, but she couldn’t bear to see someone so young living such a miserable life.

So the servants of the Earl of Yongning’s household often saw the young lady teasing her stern-faced little husband until his ears turned red and he fled in embarrassment.

As the days passed, things got better.

Lin Wanzhu’s chronic illness gradually improved, and Shen Zhao overcame the burdens in his heart. With his wife’s encouragement, he went to sit the spring imperial examinations.

Unfortunately, a sudden late-spring cold snap took her life, and she never got to see Shen Zhao pass the exams with flying colors and earn his place on the honors list.

When she opened her eyes again, she had become Yuzhenzhu, the cook in charge of the kitchen at the Minister of Rites’ residence.

On a snowy winter day, meat soup simmered over the stove in the small kitchen. A-Zhu huddled with a few older maids, whispering together.

They said the household’s Master Shen was eccentric and reclusive, and that he was nearly thirty but still unmarried.

There was also a rumor that when someone once tried to arrange a match for Master Shen, they mentioned that he had been a live-in son-in-law before he had made a name for himself. He had darkened his expression and thrown the person out on the spot, cutting ties with them thereafter.

A-Zhu hunched her shoulders, bewildered.

How had the lively little husband who used to blush as soon as she teased him turned into this?

-

Shen Zhao grew up poor. He passed the provincial examination at thirteen and came first in the metropolitan examination at sixteen, then climbed the ranks steadily over the next ten years.

But he had three regrets in life.

First, as a child, he had been so devoted to his books that he failed to notice his mother was seriously ill. By the time he realized, nothing could be done, and they were separated forever.

Second, at sixteen, he left his gravely ill wife behind and threw himself into the spring imperial examinations. By the time he came out, the woman he loved was gone for good.

Third, when he was twenty-nine, he accidentally spilled hot soup on the arm of the wife he had lost and found again.

I love you, A-Zhu.

From now on, I wish only to share a bed with you in life and a grave in death, our flesh and blood forever intertwined, never to part.