Warming You Through

Everyone says that Li Shu, the gorgeous guy in Class 3, Grade 10, is pursuing Yu Liangliang.

Yu Liangliang denies it. "...He's not."

The usually aloof Li Shu says, "Right, I'm not pursuing her. I'm just madly in love with her."

Everyone: "Ooh."

Yu Liangliang fumes. "...Stop following me."

Li Shu: "When I stop breathing."

In her past life, Li Shu was a naturally cold-hearted swordsman. Yu Liangliang spent sixteen years by his side before finally realizing that when someone doesn't love you, they simply don't love you.

You can't warm a person's heart.

In this life, she decides to have nothing to do with him.

But then he remembers their past, and gains the one unforgettable obsession of his life: to use every means at his disposal to win her back.

#So love means heartache: seeing her makes your heart ache#

Note 1: The heroine remembers her past life, but the hero only remembers later.

Note 2: Angsty melodrama, she pursued him in their past life, and he pursues her in this one. Happy ending.

++++++++++++

Xu Mingyue is the most overlooked concubine-born daughter in the Grand Tutor's household, until two noble guests arrive

One is the esteemed "Crown Prince," and the other is the blind "Ninth Prince."

While her sisters compete to win the Crown Prince's favor, Xu Mingyue feels a special tenderness for the "Ninth Prince," as she sympathizes with his plight.

The gentle notes of her zither accompany him through countless dark nights.

But one day, the Ninth Prince suddenly disappears. Everyone tells her that she imagined the whole thing.

Just as she begins to believe them, the Crown Prince's wedding arrives. She sees the blind boy, now seated high in the grand hall, about to marry her elder sister, his legitimate-born sister-in-law.

Xu Mingyue lowers her eyes, holding back tears. So the "Ninth Prince" was the real Crown Prince all along. The former "Crown Prince" had merely been his stand-in.

And she was nothing more than a diversion for him.

Much later, Xu Mingyue finds true love: Mu Qingyang, heir to the Duke's estate. He is sincere and straightforward, and would never deceive or mistreat her.

When Rong Ze learns that Xu Mingyue has married someone else, he sits outside the palace hall that night and crushes the cup in his hand.

Shards pierce his palm. Blood spreads and drips onto the cold stone steps all night long.

-

Rong Ze finally gains supreme power, and no one dares question him. He visits the Duke's estate to see the young widow.

By then, Xu Mingyue is pregnant with Mu Qingyang's child. "It's too late. You can never, ever compare to him again."

Rong Ze's eyes are dark as he grips her chin, his voice terrifyingly hoarse. "Didn't you want revenge for his whole family? Bear me a child. I'll make you Empress, and you can kill whoever you want."

A zither with broken strings is always kept in Rong Ze's bedchamber.

On a snowy night, palace attendants hear the emperor sitting alone before it, murmuring, "Mingyue, I can't see again..."

But the Empress is in the palace, tending to her child. She never comes to keep him company again.

▲ The hero grovels to win her back + coercive love

▲ The hero looks cool and aloof, but is skilled at schemes and weighing his options. He is a born emperor.

▲ No second male lead gets the girl. The heroine and the hero have a happy ending, but she never falls in love with him again. They simply stay together, while he goes mad. [Emphasis added]

▲ The heroine married the second male lead and had his child. He remains the one she cannot forget, her moonlight and cinnabar mark.

▲ Both male leads are virgins. The heroine marries both of them in turn and has children with them.

Theme: Knowing that the future can still be changed