The Crown Prince's Consort

[Main Story Complete] [Coming Soon: The Green Hills Betray Me, The Crown Prince's Daily Pursuit of His Wife, The Princess Royal of Jing'an. Please check them out! Blurbs below.] Zhao Heng was just a laundry maid in the Eastern Palace, diligently keeping to her duties. Her greatest wish was to make it out of the palace and support her grandmother, the only family she had. Unexpectedly, she wound up spending one night with a strange man. After fleeing in a panic, she thought their paths would never cross again. But on the day she was at her most desperate, that man held her close and kissed the tears from her face. "That night, I was reckless. What compensation do you want?" Zhao Heng had no grand ambitions. She only wanted not to be bullied and to avoid the hardest, dirtiest work. "Your Highness, give me a title." The Crown Prince granted her the rank of Zhaoxun. Everyone who had bullied her before said she had struck it lucky, rising from nowhere to become the Crown Prince's Zhaoxun. Others said that a lowborn laundry maid like her could never rise any higher than Zhaoxun. They were green with envy and waited eagerly for the day she would finally fall from grace. They waited and waited, watching her rise from Zhaoxun to Liangyuan, and then, when she became pregnant, receive the title of Liangdi. A Crown Prince's Liangdi! An ordinary woman could strive for dozens of lifetimes and never attain such a position. Later, someone heard that the Crown Prince feared she might grow arrogant from his favor and advised her, "If you give birth to the eldest imperial grandson, I will make you a Crown Princess Consort. But given your station, Crown Princess Consort is the highest you can hope to reach. Do not dream of more. Do you understand?" Zhao Heng meekly agreed. Later, she gave birth to the eldest imperial grandson, the child most eagerly anticipated by the Emperor and Empress, and took her place as Crown Princess Consort. Her rise through the Eastern Palace ended there. She could climb no higher to become the Crown Prince's Side Consort or Crown Princess. Because the Emperor died, and the Crown Prince ascended the throne. The new Emperor, who had once arrogantly warned her not to dream of too much, now pressured and coaxed her every day. "Be my Empress." The Crown Prince's Daily Pursuit of His Wife Clear-eyed, proud young lady x sharp-tongued, bold and carefree Crown Prince Only after her father died did Pei Shiyue learn that her engagement to Chu Zhao had been bestowed by the Emperor because her father had called in a favor. And Chu Zhao already loved someone else. The moonlight in his heart was the delicate Third Miss of the Liu family. After she "made things difficult" for the Third Miss Liu in the street, Chu Zhao flew into a rage and came to her home in person to demand an explanation. Three days later, Pei Shiyue accompanied her mother into the palace. Everyone assumed she had come to ask the Emperor and Empress to settle things in her favor, but instead she knelt before them and requested that the engagement be annulled. She wanted no marriage forced upon her, and she had no interest in a man whose heart belonged to another woman. Chu Zhao finally got the Pei family to release him from the marriage they had forced upon him, and the pent-up frustration in his heart at last vanished. Later, Pei Shiyue entered the palace to teach the princesses, and they met on a palace path. Chu Zhao frowned and stopped her. "Lady Pei, let me remind you: playing hard to get doesn't work like this." He expected this sanctimonious, vicious woman to fly into a rage, but she merely waved the horsetail whisk in her hand and silently disappeared around the corner of the palace wall, her green robes lending her an ethereal air. The whisk swept across the cheek of the exalted Crown Prince. He was the one who flew into a rage. "Pei Shiyue, how dare you!" #After breaking off the engagement, the scheming woman plays hard to get with me, the Crown Prince# #How did she get away while I was trying to catch her?# #Unbelievable! I have to chase her down and make her keep trying to catch me# The Green Hills Betray Me After rising to power again, Regent Wenren Ling sent for Rong Yu, the only daughter of a deceased former subordinate who had been left behind in the world. Everyone said she was incredibly lucky. Out of respect for her father's unwavering loyalty, Regent Wenren Ling not only brought her back to his manor, but even arranged for her to marry his younger brother, Wenren Xian, whose radiance was like the sun and moon. He had secured her a lifetime of wealth and honor. Rong Yu was gentle and well-behaved, and everyone in the manor praised her. Even the Fourth Young Master, who had been extremely unwilling to accept the marriage at first, now had eyes only for her, eagerly awaiting the regent's return so he could officiate their wedding. After more than half a year of waiting, the regent finally came home. At the welcoming banquet, Rong Yu caught sight of the regent, whom the common people had lined the streets to greet, and froze. No one knew that she had once dragged a man, barely clinging to life, out of the mud. He chopped wood, hunted, washed clothes, and cooked for her, taking care of her in every way. So, one year, when the lotus flowers were in full bloom, she returned from picking lotus seeds, dazzled by the shimmering lake, and said to him, "Marry me." The man looked at her steadily. After a long silence, he agreed. "All right." But just as Rong Yu was happily making wedding preparations, he disappeared. The villagers all said he had run off with a passing foreign woman. Rong Yu felt wronged for a long time, but there was nothing she could do. Now, the old madam pointed at the heartless man who had run away and introduced him with a smile. "This is Regent Wenren Ling, your future elder brother-in-law." ** At his lowest point, Wenren Ling thought he would die in the mud. Instead, a young girl dragged him back home. The girl was a chatterbox. Even knowing he was unconscious, she often rambled in his ear about her chickens and ducks, and the wildflowers on the mountain... That night, the rain poured and thunder rumbled. The young girl tremblingly slipped under his blanket and hid behind him, pleading softly, "Can you get up and protect me? I'm so scared." Perhaps her crying sounded too pitiful. He opened his eyes and answered hoarsely, "All right." His girl was timid. She was afraid of bugs, thunder, her family's mortal enemy coming for revenge, and the village bully... So he summoned his former subordinates, stirred up the chaos of the age with his own hands, and helped the new Emperor ascend the throne, becoming The Outcast, a regent second only to the Emperor and above all others. He thought that now his girl would never again have to fear the village bully. But he never expected that they would meet again at the welcoming banquet in the prince's manor. His only younger brother took her hand and led her right up to him. "Brother, this is the woman I've often mentioned in my letters. My betrothed, Rong Yu." Theme: Life is vast. Choose a path and walk it with conviction and courage.