The top scholar was a notorious villain, yet the Empress took a liking to him while choosing a consort. This left the ministers deeply worried. They feared the Empress had become a lovesick fool who would hand the dynasty over to someone else.
One day, the Empress and the top scholar woke up in the same bed.
The Empress remarked, "I ascended the throne when I was young and fought against plenty of wicked ministers. You held out longer than any of them."
The top scholar touched the small teeth marks covering his neck, his face livid. "Did Your Majesty subdue them this way too?"
The Empress's eyes widened. "Of course not! They were all old men. In all these years, you're the only young man of such promise."
From then on, the top scholar reformed and vowed to become a loyal minister.
The ministers were delighted. Our Empress is still our Empress. What a masterful move!
But then, one day, everything took a sudden turn. The top scholar came to court carrying a long sword, looking truly terrifying.
"Your Majesty has never truly cared for me. You only urged me to become your consort because the Three Departments kept remonstrating with you. You merely wanted to use this opportunity to subdue me."
The Empress swallowed as she looked at the sword. "Actually, my dear minister... there's one more reason."
"What is it?" A trace of hope appeared in the top scholar's eyes.
"Of all the court officials, you're the best-looking."
The top scholar spat blood and stormed off. After that, he strayed further and further down the path of villainy, wreaking havoc in the capital.
The ministers were terrified and repeatedly submitted memorials to the Empress: Your Majesty, perhaps you should just be a lovesick fool after all.
The Empress had no choice. With a large belly, she went to the top scholar and begged, "How about waiting until the baby is born before you rebel? It won't make much difference to wait a little longer."
The highest level of an Empress's struggle against her ministers: give him a child to be the crown prince and see if he still rebels.
Ongoing novel: The Noble Family's Daughter Went Astray
Xie Ru was born into a noble family with four hundred years of an untarnished reputation for loyalty and integrity, yet she grew up to become a treacherous official.
In her lifetime, she made alliances with the powerful, became a turncoat, colluded with foreign enemies, and deposed the emperor. She once drove a sharp sword into the grand plaque of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and brazenly declared to the world, "The Xie family's four hundred years of loyalty and integrity were never blind devotion. If someone is doing a poor job as emperor, then why not let someone else give it a try?"
The path of villainy was a difficult one, until one day she met a victorious, bold, and free-spirited general.
During the Changjing mutiny, the general rode a thousand miles to find her and encountered her by the Miluo River, as she was trying to poison her own younger brother.
During the hunt on Dufeng Mountain, the general traveled far south and found her in a maple forest, leading a group of assassins in a major operation.
At the autumn tea banquet in Chaohai, the general went to visit a friend late at night and found her setting fire to the friend's ancestral hall.
The general was at a loss. "Can't you stay away from me when you're killing people and setting fires?"
She replied, "Who do you think you are, the King of Hell? You're pretty interfering."
Later, the King of Hell left them alone, but the Matchmaker got involved.
But old habits die hard for Xie Ru. When the general raised an army to contend for the realm, she betrayed him again. She married a young master of the Qinghe Xun clan, renowned for his upright character, in a grand procession with eight sedan bearers and ten miles of wedding gifts.
But on their wedding night, she froze.
The elegant young master before her, waving a white jade fan carved with bones, looked exactly like the general she held dear. Was she seeing things?
The groom waved his fan and raised an eyebrow with a teasing smile. "Didn't expect this, did you? I've got a secret identity too!"
Theme: Love comes from nowhere, yet runs deep
