Caged Lark

[The male lead is treated as a substitute + the male lead uses coercion to get what he wants + the second male lead gets his comeuppance] [The main romance storyline from the blurb begins in Chapter 25] When Yun Ning was fourteen, a mad old Daoist came to her village and declared that she was born under an ill-starred fate. She would have no luck in love before she turned eighteen, and would bring misfortune to her husband and family. Yun Ning refused to believe him. But then the childhood friend from next door, the older brother she grew up with, died on the battlefield. The man she loved, A Jing, fell off a cliff and disappeared. Gradually, men from the surrounding villages began avoiding her as if she were a snake or a scorpion. Later, Yun Ning found a young merchant covered in blood. He had sharp, stern features and a terrible temper, but his face... looked so much like that of her former lover, whose fate remained unknown. Yun Ning had a wicked idea. She might as well treat him as her lover's substitute, and consider his offering himself to her a repayment for saving his life. Though he always wore a cold expression, he wasn't too bad to her. Sometimes Yun Ning would drift off, almost thinking she could make do with this life. Until news of her lover arrived from the capital, just as the father who had abandoned her years ago decided to bring her back there. After much thought, Yun Ning handed her substitute husband a letter of divorce: “A substitute will always be a substitute, no match for the moon in my heart.” “After we part today, if we meet again, let us pretend we never knew each other.” She left her convenient husband behind and returned to the capital. ** Emperor Ming's beloved daughter, Princess Zhaoyu, was frail and often ill. To ward off disaster, he needed to find a strong-willed woman with a compatible birth date and hour to take her place. The Duke of Anguo volunteered, bringing back his eldest daughter, Du Yunning, who had been raised elsewhere for many years, and sending her into the imperial palace. She was granted the title of Princess Zhaoning. At her first palace banquet, Yun Ning finally saw the man she had longed for. But he was dressed in fine silk, smiling warmly, with eyes and heart devoted entirely to the real little princess, Zhaoyu. When he looked at Yun Ning, all that remained was distance and impatience. Only then did Yun Ning learn that her lover was Xiao Xunjing, the eldest legitimate son of the Xiao family and the nephew of Consort Xiao. The A Jing who had once loved her as deeply as she loved him had been nothing more than a beautiful dream. Yun Ning stumbled away from the banquet, but someone clapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her into the Cold Palace. In the darkness, a man pinned her roughly to the bed. His fingertips were icy as they traveled inch by inch over her skin. When her thin robe was pulled away, Yun Ning's eyes brimmed with tears. By the moonlight streaming in, she saw the man's sinister face. Terrified and confused, Yun Ning wondered: Why was the substitute husband she'd abandoned in the north here in the palace!? In her panic, she felt his belt token and finally understood. He wasn't a merchant at all. He was Prince Qi, Su Xuan! Winter, the twenty-first year of Chengjia. The Imperial Star changed places. Prince Qi, Su Xuan, ascended the throne, declared the era name Pingjia, and spent three days purging the imperial city in blood. That year, the First Prince died in confinement, and the struggle for the throne ended in defeat; That year, the eldest legitimate son of the Xiao family married Princess Zhaoyu, and the splendid bridal procession stretching ten miles dazzled the capital; That year, Princess Zhaoning, Du, passed away. The new emperor suspended court for seven days and attended her funeral dressed in mourning clothes. In early spring of the third year of Pingjia, the new emperor toured the south. When the imperial procession returned, it brought back a woman who looked just like Princess Zhaoning, hidden away in the depths of the palace, in the pepper-scented chambers. The court officials whispered that the emperor missed his sister so terribly that he had sought out a substitute to comfort himself. Only the palace maids serving before the hall knew that the woman locked inside looked exactly like Princess Zhaoning, Du Yunning. Notes: 1. The male lead uses coercion to get what he wants midway through the story. 2. Both leads have only been with each other, and the female lead's child is the male lead's. 3. The dynasty and place names are an invented blend. Please don't scrutinize them. Coming soon: Longing That Never Fades Shen Yi was known in the capital as a cold beauty. She was only brought back to the Left Chancellor's residence after coming of age. Though born on the frontier and raised amid sandstorms, she was poised and cool. Snow-white skin, dark hair, eyes like icy stars: proud and aloof, yet breathtakingly beautiful. The capital's powerful families all competed to marry her, but she took a fancy to none of them. In the end, she chose Jiang Zhaoye, heir to the Marquis of Pingnan, and the most scandalous playboy in the entire capital. Jiang Zhaoye was arrogant, unruly, and a notorious womanizer. Everyone sighed, “How could such a pearl choose to be buried in the dust?” But in the two years after their marriage, the young marquis seemed to have changed his ways. He watched the snow and brewed tea with her, and refused every other woman for her sake. Everyone said the cold beauty had tamed a wild horse. Until one night, Shen Yi went looking for him at a brothel and happened to hear the young marquis joking with his friends outside: “What high-and-mighty beauty? She's just as wanton in my bed.” “She adores me now and does whatever I say. Honestly, it's gotten boring.” After that, he went even further and tried to take the brothel's top courtesan as a concubine. Everyone thought Shen Yi wouldn't put up with it this time. But she did. Jiang Zhaoye's friends all praised him for marrying such a sensible, virtuous wife, while Jiang Zhaoye himself grew more and more uneasy and irritable inside. It wasn't until Jiang Zhaoye got into a fight and a scar was left on his face. The scar crossed his brow, changing his once-jade-like features beyond recognition. That night, Shen Yi looked at him, unable to hide the disgust in her eyes any longer. “You can't even manage to look like him now.” Only when the divorce papers were placed before him did the young marquis learn that he had been a substitute for his own elder brother. Everyone knew that Jiang Zhaoye, heir to the Marquis of Pingnan, was the most carefree playboy in the capital. But no one knew that a red silhouette had been burned into his heart all along. When he was young, his mother returned to the capital from the frontier with his elder brother. His brother often spoke of a girl: He said she rode like the wind and blazed like a flame, unlike any of the capital's gentle, refined young ladies. Later, he secretly followed his brother to the frontier and finally met that girl. She came riding through the sand in a red dress, like a fierce eagle. He was ambushed in the wilds beyond the border and left on the brink of death, but she broke through alone on horseback and rescued him. They parted in haste. Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. His brother died on the battlefield, and the girl in red vanished like dust swept away by the wind, never to be seen again. Later, he married Shen Yi, the cold beauty of the Left Chancellor's residence. He also took a top courtesan raised on the frontier as a concubine. Everyone knew the young marquis was a womanizer, always chasing novelty and abandoning the old. But they didn't know... He doted on his concubine only because the familiar wildness in her features could, for a fleeting moment, piece together a vague image from long ago. He traveled thousands of miles with her to the frontier to look for her family, but it wasn't because he doted on her. He wanted to return to the windswept sands where she had been, hoping to find even the faintest trace that she had once existed. And his wife, Shen Yi, was cool, obedient, and dull, like an exquisitely carved jade statue. He was tired of the stillness in her eyes, never disturbed by a ripple. Until a scar appeared on his face. Until his always-aloof wife looked at him with nothing but cold disgust. “Jiang Zhaoye, you can't even manage to look like him.” Until he received the divorce papers. Until he learned the truth: She came from the frontier. She had once loved his elder brother. She and his brother had a child. At that moment, Jiang Zhaoye's whole world came crashing down. The girl in red he'd been searching for was the very wife he had neglected, humiliated, and cast aside. She had long ago broken her own wings, taken off her red dress, and put on mourning clothes for his elder brother. The person he'd spent ten years searching for across the windswept sands, hoping to meet again, had been by his side all along, quietly watching him make a fool of himself. Theme: Perseverance brings victory.