What Did the White Lotus Ever Do to You?

The ironclad rule of romance novels: Childhood sweethearts can never beat the one who appears out of nowhere... The perfect, accomplished young lady from a distinguished family, well-read and skilled in everything, somehow just isn't likable. She's kind and dignified, yet people call her boring and bland... Wait, what did our original pure-hearted heroine ever do to deserve this? Li Fukuang comes from a prestigious family and noble bloodline. She can recite the Four Books for Women backward, and etiquette and propriety are engraved in her bones. At fourteen, she was selected to be the Crown Prince's secondary consort, but she fell out of favor before she ever won it. When He Muqing entered the palace and gained favor, Li Fukuang's heart died. Her husband liked a coarse, ill-mannered woman like that? It wasn't just enough to kill her heart; it made her whole world collapse and shattered everything she believed in! In her rage, she let herself go. She would rather offend her husband than let the crooked influence of the He family spread. But the very man who had always looked down on her was now coming to cling to her? **Bonus Scene** "Your Highness, Secondary Consort He was telling His Highness that everyone is born equal, and servants are people too. Why shouldn't their lives count as lives? His Highness was deeply moved and said she was clever and kindhearted!" "Oh? Go ask His Highness this: when Father Emperor had a young eunuch beaten to death this morning for blocking the light, was His Highness dissatisfied with him and making a veiled criticism?" Yan Lixuan: "The He woman has no filter. Confine her to her quarters! Send a matron over to teach her proper manners!" Spotlight note: The second female lead is a transmigrator who has read plenty of Mary Sue fiction. She is determined to be a true-to-herself heroine, unlike all those flashy women out there, only to be thoroughly outclassed by the real heroine without ever realizing it. The real heroine is a completely native-born person, with no transmigration, no rebirth, and no golden finger. Theme: Subverting tropes