The Young Lady of the Noble House Went Off Track

Xie Ru was born into a family renowned for four hundred years of integrity and loyalty, yet she grew up to become a treacherous villain.

Throughout her life, she allied herself with the powerful, colluded with foreign enemies, and deposed an emperor. Once, she drove a sharp sword into the grand plaque in the Hall of Purple Star and declared to all under heaven, "The Xie family has upheld its integrity for four hundred years, but that doesn't mean we blindly obey. If the person sitting on the throne can't do the job, then let's give someone else a turn."

Her path to becoming a great villain was fraught with hardship, until one day she met a bold and carefree general who had never known defeat.

During the Changjing coup, the general raced a thousand miles to the banks of the Miluo River, where he found her trying to poison her own younger brother.

At the Dufeng Mountain hunt, the general traveled all the way to the southern lands, where he found her in a maple forest, leading a group of assassins on some grand scheme.

At the autumn tea gathering by the Chaohai Sea, the general went to visit a friend late at night, only to find her setting fire to the friend's ancestral shrine.

The general was at a loss. "Can't you at least stay out of my way when you're killing and setting fires?"

She replied, "What, you think you're the King of Hell? You're sticking your nose into everything."

Later, the King of Hell left the two of them alone, but the Matchmaker brought them together.

But Xie Ru was still the same old scoundrel. When the general raised an army to fight for the throne amid the rival warlords, she betrayed him again. She married a young master of the Qinghe Xun clan, a family known for its upright virtue, with an elaborate bridal procession and a lavish wedding.

But on their wedding night, she froze.

The refined, elegant young master before her, fanning himself with a white jade fan carved from bone, looked exactly like the general she held dear. Was she going blind?

The groom waved his fan and smiled with a raised brow. "Didn't see that coming, did you? Turns out I've got a secret identity!"

Coming soon: The Top Scholar Is a Villain

The top scholar was a villain, and the empress had taken a fancy to him as her consort. This left the ministers in a terrible bind: they were afraid their empress had become a lovesick fool.

One day, the empress and the top scholar woke up in the same bed.

The empress remarked, "I took the throne when I was young and have fought plenty of wicked ministers. You lasted longer than any of them."

The top scholar touched the delicate little bite marks on his neck, his face darkening. "Did you tame them the same way?"

The empress's eyes widened. "Of course not! They were all old men. You're the only young, promising one I've met in all these years."

From then on, the top scholar turned over a new leaf and vowed to become a loyal subject.

The ministers rejoiced, thinking, Our empress is still our empress. What a masterstroke!

But then, one day, everything took a sudden turn. The top scholar came to court with a long sword in hand, his presence terrifying.

"Your Majesty has never been sincere with me. The Three Departments urged you to choose a consort, and you merely took the opportunity to tame me."

The empress swallowed as she looked at the sword. "Actually, Your Lordship, there was one more reason."

"What was it?" The top scholar looked hopeful.

"Out of all the officials at court, you're the most handsome."

The top scholar spat blood and stormed away. From then on, he went further and further down the path of villainy, plunging the capital into chaos.

The ministers were terrified and sent memorials to the empress, begging her to go back to being a lovesick fool.

The empress had no choice. With her belly swollen, she went to the top scholar and pleaded, "How about waiting until the baby is born before you rebel? It won't make much difference to wait a little longer."

The highest art of an empress fighting her ministers: give him a child to be the crown prince, and see if he still dares to rebel.

Theme: In troubled times, every step must be carefully planned