A Pampered Concubine Becomes Empress (Transmigrate into a Book)

My other novel, The Emperor's Concubine (Over-the-Top Drama), is now available. I hope you'll show it lots of support. ----- Synopsis ----- [One] After transmigrating over a decade ago, Jiao Fu became the most famous courtesan in Yuzhou City. Third Master Zhao held a high official rank, enjoyed generous privileges, and commanded a mighty army. All of Yuzhou lay in his grasp. Who could have guessed that Jiao Fu would let her guard down for a moment and get involved with a man she should never have provoked? Taking advantage of her desperate situation, he coerced her into becoming his beloved concubine. Rumors said she was doted on, but in truth, Jiao Fu was plagued by nightmares day and night. Then, in a sudden haze, she remembered her past life, and many things came back to her. She hadn't simply transmigrated. She had transmigrated into a book! She had become the male lead's beloved concubine, a woman destined to die an undeserved death. Jiao Fu was willing to keep her head down and play the submissive concubine, but that didn't mean she was willing to die. She'd better pack her things and run. Only, she hadn't expected to escape with Zhao Yu's child in her belly... That child was a real problem. [Two] Everyone in Yuzhou City knew that Third Master Zhao had lost a treasure and personally surrounded the city with a huge army. The gates were shut, and the search went on for three whole months, but the treasure was never found. Later, the gates of Yuzhou City opened, and life seemed to return to normal. Some said Third Master Zhao had fallen ill. Others laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. Third Master Zhao was still Third Master Zhao, the general who commanded the four corners of the realm under Yongning, defending the Great Zhou dynasty and the people of Yuzhou City. But Zhao Yu knew he really was sick. His heart was rotting away, and perhaps it would never heal for the rest of his life. [Bonus Scene 1] At a garden party, someone sneered that Zhao Yu was too ruthless to be a general. The Great Zhou won the world through virtue, yet he had ordered the burial of a hundred thousand prisoners of war. Wouldn't their restless spirits haunt him at night? Jiao Fu crouched down and asked the toddler beside her, "Zhaozhao, do you remember what Mother told you?" The two-year-old's voice was childish, but clear and loud. "Mother said the general can't sleep peacefully, but he lets countless people of Great Zhou sleep peacefully. The barbarians are stubborn and unruly, burning, killing, looting, and committing every evil. They've slaughtered far more than a hundred thousand people of Great Zhou. Letting a tiger return to the mountains would only hurt the people of Great Zhou." When those words reached Zhao Yu, stationed on the border, his hand trembled on the hilt of his sword. He wished he could return to the capital at once. The person he'd spent three years searching for had once been so close, and had even borne him an adorable, clever son. [Bonus Scene 2] Zhao Yu thought Jiao Fu had spoken up for him and taught their child to defend him because she still cared about him. Who knew that when Jiao Fu saw him, she'd push the child forward and say, "If you want the child, take him." Zhaozhao walked up to Zhao Yu, tugged at his robe, and patted his chest reassuringly. "Don't worry, Mother. Zhaozhao won't get in the way of you finding a second spring." Zhao Yu ground his teeth in anger. ...Who told you to raise the child to be so sensible? A second spring? Dream on! [Reader's Guide] 1. This is meant to be sweet and doting, one-on-one, with both leads' first love. 2. The male lead suffers. Feel free to criticize the characters, but don't criticize the author. 3. A groveling chase to win back his wife. 4. Bookmarks and comments are the author's greatest motivation to keep updating. -- The Emperor's Concubine (Over-the-Top Drama) -- Spring had come to the capital. Orioles flew, grass grew, and all things revived, driving away the chill of winter. Yet Jiaofang Palace remained as cold as an ice cellar, no longer full of life as it once was. After falling into the water in winter, Du Futing had been bedridden ever since. The emperor paid her no heed, and everyone assumed she had fallen out of favor. Jiaofang Palace grew more and more dilapidated. No one knew that the emperor they revered and feared would, as dusk fell, slip into the chambers of his disgraced consort and force himself on her. Du Futing seemed to have grown used to the emperor's extremes. But when he once again ignored her illness, tormenting and humiliating her, Du Futing suddenly smiled. She no longer wanted to cling to this obsession. - Her relationship with the emperor had been a doomed affair. She had been his childhood companion, and she had shared his vows of eternal love, but none of it could change the fact that she was only a supporting character, or that the heroine needed only a few words to win him over. In the end, she had been the one forcing this relationship. Du Futing asked a palace attendant to deliver a letter to the emperor. She wanted to say goodbye to the young man she had known in her girlhood, the boy who had once been hers and had been nothing but gentle. When the emperor heard the attendant's report, he ignored Du Futing's request. At the time, he did not yet know that for the rest of his life, every time he thought of her, his heart would ache as if his insides were being torn apart. He would feel as though his heart were about to be crushed, and would fear going to sleep at night. - That night, a great fire consumed Jiaofang Palace, lighting up half the sky and rousing the entire palace. The emperor rushed there in a panic, without even stopping to put on his shoes and socks. But Du Futing retreated deeper into the sea of flames. She gazed calmly at the red-eyed man trying to rush inside and silently mouthed, "Goodbye." She had no regrets. The raging fire burned everything to ashes. At last, snow fell with the chill of spring, covering the ruins. As if she had never been there. Outside the palace, only a red plum tree remained, along with the emperor, who stayed beneath it as snow settled on his shoulders. It seemed to say: If one day frost and snow cover our heads, then in this life, we will have grown old together. Theme: Born human and beset by suffering, yet still turning toward the light and doing what one can.