I'm Staying at the Duke's Mansion for Good

The thing Du Xinyan regretted most in this life was getting divorced.

Before the divorce, she was always picking fights like a rooster, making herself unbearable to everyone. Her husband loathed her, her son was estranged from her, and her parents-in-law resented her.

But life was even worse after she returned to her parents' home. Her brother and sister-in-law looked down on her, her parents couldn't hold their heads up, and every man she was introduced to was worse than the last.

Then she had a prophetic dream. In it, she died horribly at a manor, becoming a foil to her ex-husband and Lu Lianxue's happy life.

So...

When Xie Rongyu proposed that they remarry, she agreed in a second.

She had only one thought: cement herself in the Duke's Estate and never leave, even if she had to die there.

Isn't it nice to live a life of leisure and luxury? Why bother seeking a man's affection?

She finally got it.

When her mother-in-law brought her cousin home, she greeted her with a smile. "You can stay in this room, near your cousin."

When her husband met his old flame, she said with utter sincerity, "My husband, why not take her as a concubine?"

When her mother-in-law offered to hand over the household affairs to her, she hurriedly refused. "Mother, you're so experienced. I still have a lot to learn."

When her son said she wasn't as good as Aunt Lu, she immediately sent him to Lu Lianxue. "From now on, she's your mother."

She smiled with gentle grace, putting her new survival rule into practice: act.

But the more she acted, the darker Xie Rongyu's expression became.

Note: This is an alternate setting. There's no need to look too closely into official titles and historical details.

Upcoming story: Escaping Famine with Eight Concubines

Blurb: I've transmigrated, my husband is dead, and the household has eight concubines, a father-in-law, and four little ones.

After three years of severe drought and no harvest, the whole family has to flee the famine.

Su Zhuo takes out paper and pen, expressionless:

"Anyone who can cook, stand on the left. Anyone who can sew and mend, stand on the right."

"Work well and you get to eat your fill. Work badly and you'll eat last."

"Anyone looking to cause trouble can leave the group right now."

This isn't a household power struggle. It's a KPI assessment on the road to escape famine.

Su Zhuo's golden finger is tiny: a one-cubic-meter space that randomly refreshes with modern-day junk every day.

She has to lead this group of old and young, men and women, out of their desperate situation.

So what if she transmigrated? A workaholic can hustle anywhere and make a life for herself.

Grandma Su's Alzheimer's has reached the moderate-to-severe stage. She's confused most of the time and lucid only rarely.

She's forgotten even her son and daughter-in-law, yet she still remembers to stockpile things for her little granddaughter.

She stuffs all kinds of strange things into her old camphorwood chest.

A maple leaf, a bag of apples, damp crackers, broken toys...

"This is for Zhuozhuo..."

Upcoming story: I'm Just After His Body

Feng Yuan, the little princess of the Nanzhao Kingdom, has only two great loves in life: fine wine and beautiful people.

The year she accompanied her elder brother on a diplomatic mission to Great Zhou, she met the most beautiful man she'd ever seen.

The capital's top scholar, Chu Xi.

Cool and refined, so lofty he seemed untouchable.

And so the most noble young lord in Great Zhou got his first taste of what it meant to meet a shameless temptress.

At the spring banquet, in full view of everyone, she carried a bunch of vivid flowers straight up to him and said with a bright smile:

"Young Master Chu, I've taken a liking to you. Be with me!"

The whole room erupted.

Chu Xi's face turned icy, and he swept away.

She wasn't annoyed. Gazing after him, she called out, "Chu Xi, you can't escape me!"

Chu Xi thought she was crude and brazen, and wanted nothing more than to avoid her.

But what happened later was beyond his control.

At a palace banquet, someone set him up and drugged him with an aphrodisiac. As his consciousness faded, those bright, mischievous eyes drew near, along with a uniquely feminine fragrance.

A night of reckless passion.

The next morning, Feng Yuan dressed, looked back at the man sleeping on the bed, and poked his cheek.

"Well, we've slept together."

Then she set off home to Nanzhao with her diplomatic party, leaving without a backward glance.

When Chu Xi woke, the warmth left on the bed had already faded.

She hadn't left even a single word behind.

A year later, envoys returning from Nanzhao brought back a rumor:

The little princess of Nanzhao was seeking a husband throughout the kingdom, and there was a child by her side whose father was unknown.

The child was as lovely as jade and snow, but... but... looked exactly like someone.

When Chu Xi heard, he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.

He traveled thousands of miles to Nanzhao and saw the woman he hated with a passion once more, in a palace filled with exotic flowers and plants.

She held a beautifully adorable little child in her arms, looked up at him, and smiled brightly.

He took a deep breath. "I'll marry you."

She looked up at him, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment. It was still that top-tier beautiful face, with no substitute.

"You can stay in Nanzhao." She lowered her gaze and soothed the little child in her arms.

For the first twenty-three years of his life, Chu Xi lived like a carefully copied classic. He was well-versed in the sages' teachings, and every word and action of his was held up as a model for the world.

He kept away from women. While the young men of his age from noble families already had wives and concubines, he didn't even have a maidservant.

Lady Chu was frantic. She'd brought it up countless times, directly and indirectly, but her son always replied, "There's no rush."

Until one day, her son walked into the main hall and announced that he intended to resign from office and travel far away.

Lady Chu froze. The Duke slammed the table and cried, "Have you gone mad?"

Chu Xi's expression was calm, but his tone brooked no argument.

"Don't you want a grandchild? I'll bring her back."

Lady Chu's hand slackened, and her teacup fell.

The Duke's anger froze on his face too.

Upcoming story: The Poor Little Thing Turned Dark After She Died

A dazzling, fiercely protective big sister and a gloomy, unhinged little wretch

Shen Wanwan, the leader at Yiyun Brothel, has only ever protected two men in her life.

One was a down-and-out scholar. She gave everything she had to support his studies, only to hear that he'd come top in the imperial exams and married into a powerful family.

The other was a pitiful newcomer to the brothel: beautiful, broken, beaten in the mud, and forced to serve drinks and clients.

She shielded him from punches and kicks, endured slaps for him, and even gave her life for him.

In the great fire, she pushed him outside and stayed behind.

She said, "You're the purest person I've ever met."

After she died, he remembered everything: who he was, and who had driven him into the mire.

He returned to the Gu family and reclaimed everything he'd lost.

He tore out every trace of his years at Yiyun Brothel, root and branch, as if they'd never happened.

He became the emperor's sharpest blade, and the coldest person in the world.

A female doctor came to the capital. She was quiet and had exceptional medical skills.

Gu Linyuan, the emperor's most trusted hound, came to find her.

After the female doctor finished treating him, she turned to leave.

He suddenly said, "Your back looks like someone I once knew."

She replied calmly, "You've mistaken me for someone else, my lord."

"Have I? Then why don't you dare look me in the eye?"

In three years, everything had been turned upside down.

The one who once knelt in the mud now stood among the clouds.

The one who once shielded others from wind and rain now didn't even dare light a lamp.

Theme: When you bloom, the butterflies will come.