A Lifetime of Ninefold Peace for You

[Clear-headed, rational, sweet-looking heroine × scheming, theatrical emperor]

Revenge / redemption / supporting one another / joining forces as equals

Blurb:

Luo Jiu'an was born into an ordinary family, but her peerless beauty brought about the massacre of her entire household.

“An ordinary man is not guilty, but possessing a treasure is.” Treacherous officials wanted to use her as a pawn and send her into the palace as a spy, while keeping her seven-year-old younger brother as a hostage. If she was to be used as a pawn, why not disrupt the game?

No one could threaten Luo Jiu'an. At worst, she would die, and take a whole group of people down with her!

But who could have guessed that the emperor in the palace would be such a consummate actor? Wasn’t he supposed to be a puppet emperor?

Mu Yanheng, the “puppet” emperor who had yet to seize power, was deeply calculating and mercurial. The “assassination” she had arranged was nothing special to him, but she was useful, wasn’t she?

Sure enough, he seized the opportunity to form an alliance with her.

Mu Yanheng needed a capable blade. Luo Jiu'an needed the power in his hands to rescue her brother and avenge her family.

They hit it off at once: one pretended to be a tyrant blinded by a woman’s beauty, and the other played the part of a scheming, innocent-looking beauty. Together, they drew all manner of snakes, demons, and monsters into the court and the inner palace.

Luo Jiu'an embarked on a triple-agent mission, keeping the Empress Dowager, Prince Rui, and corrupt officials at court at bay while gathering information from every side.

As the emperor and his consort kept up their act, their feelings became real. They were comrades, and they were lovers.

Theme: Turning the tables in desperate circumstances and growing through adversity.