The Grand Princess

[A story about enemies becoming best friends, then lovers] Blurb: Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan married when they were eighteen. Li Rong valued the connections his family could offer to help her escape danger, while Pei Wenxuan wanted to use her status as a princess to turn his fortunes around. It was a political marriage, with no affection involved. Later, she indulged in music and a life of wine and pleasure, while he was in love with someone else and wouldn’t even enter his own home. In thirty years of marriage, they had nothing but power. In the end, they were manipulated by others and died at each other’s hands. It was hardly surprising. Yet when they woke up, they had returned to the age of eighteen, the most difficult time in both their lives. So Pei Wenxuan went to see Li Rong. “Your Highness, do you think we should get married again?” “Fine...” “Then I’ll have to get rid of your ‘adviser’ first.” “You think I’ll let your sweetheart off the hook?!” After a long silence, Pei Wenxuan spoke again. “How about we put up with each other for a couple of years? Once we’ve got real power in our hands, you and I can divorce. Then we can settle our grievances and repay our debts. What do you say, Princess?” Li Rong hesitated, then said, “All right. Let’s make do for now...” Later, Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong gained power over the court. One day, he saw Li Rong at home writing up their divorce papers. After much deliberation, Pei Wenxuan finally walked into the study. “The children are grown up now. How about we make do with each other a little longer?” Content warning: [Readers who are firmly on the male lead’s side, firmly on the female lead’s side, or insist on chaste characters should proceed with caution.] Recommended next novel: The Canglan Path Before she turned nineteen, Luo Wanqing was a renowned young lady from a family of physicians in Jiangnan. She had a courteous and gentle fiancé, Jiang Shaoyan, and kind, generous parents. Her future seemed settled, and her life was full of security. Then, in the year she turned nineteen, soldiers stormed her family estate. All the men in her family were executed, and the women were exiled. In prison, she waited desperately for her only hope. She thought Jiang Shaoyan would clear her name and rescue her from her dire situation. She waited and waited, only to receive a dagger and a packet of poison. Jiang Shaoyan told her that the road to the border was long, and that she must remain chaste for him. So, on the night before she left prison, she took the dagger and turned back. To get revenge, she disfigured her face, took the place of a condemned prisoner, and fought her way through bloodshed. She entered the Censorate under a pardon for death-row convicts. The day she reported to her superior, news arrived that her stand-in, “Luo Wanqing,” had died in an accident on the road to exile. That night, the third prince Jiang Shaoyan returned from the countryside and set up a memorial tablet for his dead wife at his residence. And in the courtyard, Luo Wanqing, covered in blood, knelt and heard the cold voice of the Censorate’s commissioner, a man revered as a god despite being mortal. “Once you enter the Censorate, you belong to me, Xie Heng. Now tell me your name.” Luo Wanqing slowly closed her bloodstained hand around the token on the ground, then lifted her clear, blade-sharp eyes. “Your subordinate, Liu Xiniang.” #To everyone else, he is a demon. To me, he is a god.# #I set out by boat for the clear stream, only to find myself lost on the Canglan Path.# Theme: Pay attention to mental health