The Peerless Minister

Coming soon: Plucking Cardamom. After I rise to become Empress Dowager, the former fiance I broke off my engagement with comes back to get me. The blurb is at the bottom. Here's the blurb for this story~

Fu Zheng is a pitiful little thing whom Crown Prince Huo Ting finds in the rain.

She's only living under someone else's roof, and Fu Zheng knows her place. Every day, she diligently plays the role the Crown Prince likes.

The Crown Prince is wary of women, so she dresses as a man.

The Crown Prince dislikes people who show too much talent, so she willingly pretends to be mediocre.

The Crown Prince is naturally suspicious, so she discreetly hides her many skills.

She keeps up the act until the Crown Prince gives her his heart and falls for her, until even she begins to waver.

At last, the Crown Prince is pushed out of the center of power. When an order summons him back, Fu Zheng becomes a favorite at court and cuts ties with Huo Ting without a second thought.

Who could have guessed that a coup would soon break out, the late emperor would die, and Crown Prince Huo Ting would take the capital by storm?

Fu Zheng thinks her life is over. But the new emperor, still covered in blood, pins her against the throne. His sinister eyes hold a trace of tenderness as he says, "I can give you everything my father could. I'll give you one more chance. Don't choose the wrong man this time."

[Blurb for the coming-soon story Plucking Cardamom]

Jiang Tang is the current emperor's second empress.

If nothing unexpected happens, just as her father predicted, she'll quietly remain a decorative Empress Dowager until the sickly emperor breathes his last.

Sure enough, less than two years later, the emperor dies. With the crown prince still young, the various factions begin to stir, until the Prince Yi's heir, who has always stayed out of worldly affairs, leads an army into the capital.

Life's circumstances can always get worse. Who is this Prince Yi's heir? He was once Jiang Tang's fiance. He waited for her full of hope for four years, only for her to abruptly break off the engagement and enter the imperial palace as empress. That slap certainly landed hard.

As the one with the strongest army, he's the last person Jiang Tang wants to fall into the hands of.

In the misty rain of that year, Xue Bu Shu enters the hall in silver armor. This is the first time he's had a close look at his former fiancee.

The Empress Dowager is in the prime of her youth. Dressed in white, she leans against the late emperor's coffin, her luminous eyes nervously surveying everything around her. She looks utterly pitiful.

Irritably, he closes his eyes, then steps forward and looms over her. "Does the Empress Dowager want to hold on to this throne? Then trade yourself for it!"

At first, one secures the court while the other commands the inner palace. They occasionally cross paths, but otherwise leave each other alone.

That is, until the Empress Dowager takes pity on how hard he works and sends him money, jewels, and beautiful women.

Xue Bu Shu's brow twitches as he looks at the dozen beauties, each with her own charm. That night, he storms into the forbidden palace with a glowering face and lays the matter bare. Holding her by the waist, he corners her until her eyes redden and she has nowhere left to retreat. "I said you had to trade yourself for it. Does the Empress Dowager understand now?"

Theme: Never give up in adversity. The sunlight is just ahead