Zhaozhu

30,000-word preview. Starts posting over winter break.

Everyone says Elder Sister is the empress of the Great Yong Dynasty, but why was I the one who ended up taking the throne?

Before leaving home, my elder brother gently stroked my cheek. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Zhaozhu, wait for me. Wait for me..."

I looked at my brother's face, at his tightly furrowed brow and tearful eyes, and nodded.

Father told me when I was young, "Xie Su is your elder brother. He is the one who will stay by your side for the rest of your life."

He was a person, a man.

The servants in our household always said he belonged to me.

He was my elder brother, my man, and my future husband.

But he was the one who sent me to the imperial palace with his own hands.

I took the place that was supposed to belong to Elder Sister.

My husband was unpredictable. He despised me, tormented me, and drew close to me all at once.

I hated him and feared him, but I didn't dare defy him.

I wanted to run away, but I didn't dare. I was afraid the tyrant would take out his anger on my father and brothers, so all I could do was obey him in every way.

At last, when he led his troops to the border, I found my chance.

That Xianbei princess set the whole palace ablaze, then said she would take me away, to find my elder brother.

We traveled a long way, and at last we found him.

He looked at me through his tears, just as he had on the night before I married.

We embraced beneath the boundless starry sky.

There was no underfloor heating or hand warmer.

His embrace was the warmest thing I had felt in my twenty-two years of life.

Who could have guessed that this happiness would last less than a month?

The iron cavalry of the Great Yong Dynasty found this hidden paradise.

Murong Xuan pointed his sword at Xie Su and asked me softly, gently, "Zhaozhu, whose child are you carrying?"

A few warnings:

1. Two male leads.

2. The heroine gradually grows.

3. Extremely, extremely vulgar, with a female lead who grovels to men and plenty of dark drama.

4. Updates are irregular, but I will keep writing.

5. The main story is written in third person.

Theme: A world of freedom