Marrying Again

[Complete] In the first year of Dong Ling's marriage to Wen Jian, he brought a beggar home. The beggar was covered in mud, utterly wretched, and lowly as dust. If Wen Jian hadn't been castrated as a child and destined to have no heirs, he wouldn't have wanted Dong Ling to conceive a child with such a filthy beggar. Dong Ling was made drunk. The next morning, she woke up in the beggar's bed. But she didn't conceive. Before Dong Ling could forget that humiliating memory, the Qilin Guards, dressed in flying-fish robes, took her away to bring good luck to the Southern Prince, who was gravely ill. Forced to lie prostrate on the ground, Dong Ling saw the hem of a robe embroidered with clouds. The owner of that splendid robe was the Southern Prince, rumored to be vicious and tyrannical, with countless deaths on his hands. Wei Huan looked down at Dong Ling. No one knew that he'd once been dressed up as the lowest sort of beggar and sent to a woman. Fortunes turn. It was time to collect his debt. ~ Coming soon: Born to Be Empress (Reborn) Gu Jun was the true daughter of the Marquis of Chang Geng, a noble girl born to greatness. Yet she suffered endless torment and died on the street, wrapped in a straw mat. After her death, Gu Jun received a book of fate and learned that she was the true child of destiny in this world. Her cousin, Xue Yi, had stolen the happy, peaceful life that should have been hers. Xue Yi possessed a treasured artifact called the Mandate Jade. By drinking Gu Jun's blood, the jade could change the words in the book of fate. [Gu Jun has a koi-shaped birthmark on her wrist. She meets the Marchioness of Chang Geng by chance at the Xiangguo Temple, and mother and daughter are reunited.] In the autumn of the eighteenth year of Jian'an, the Marchioness of Chang Geng goes to the Xiangguo Temple to pray. Gu Jun is struck by an arrow. Xue Yi drinks her blood, and the Mandate Jade glows red. [Xue Yi has a koi-shaped birthmark on her wrist. She meets the Marchioness of Chang Geng by chance at the Xiangguo Temple, and mother and daughter are reunited.] Gu Jun watches helplessly as an identical birthmark appears on Xue Yi's flawless wrist. Xue Yi takes her place, becoming the long-lost pearl of the Marquis of Chang Geng's household. [The Third Prince falls in love with Gu Jun at first sight in a wine shop and asks to marry her as his consort.] In early spring of the nineteenth year of Jian'an, the Third Prince visits a wine shop outside the city to make inquiries. Gu Jun's leg is cut by an axe. Xue Yi drinks her blood, and the Mandate Jade glows red once more. [The Third Prince falls in love with Xue Yi at first sight in a wine shop and asks to marry her as his consort.] Inside the wine shop, the handsome and dashing Third Prince sees Xue Yi, and his eyes light up. [The Emperor dies, the Third Prince ascends the throne, and Gu Jun is made Empress.] In the twelfth month of the twenty-first year of Jian'an, the Emperor dies. In the palace, Xue Yi drives a dagger into Gu Jun's heart, opens her veins, and drinks the last drop of her blood. [The Emperor dies, the Third Prince ascends the throne, and Xue Yi is made Empress.] In the lavish palace, Xue Yi sits upon the phoenix throne, smiling as she receives the court officials' homage. Gu Jun is so consumed by hatred that she faints. When she wakes, she hears Xue Yi's gentle voice beside her: "Little Jun, let's go to the Xiangguo Temple to pray together." Gu Jun's gaze falls on the jade at Xue Yi's waist. The jade has one weakness: it craves the blood of the child of destiny and fears her tears most of all. If it is touched by her tears of emotion, the fate written by the jade will correct itself automatically. Gu Jun smiles. "Cousin, let's go." She wants to see how much the Marchioness of Chang Geng will hate Xue Yi, the impostor pretending to be her daughter, once she discovers the birthmark on her wrist has disappeared. Theme: Healing the sick, saving lives, and practicing medicine for the benefit of all.