Next story: My Own Substitute. A horror and supernatural romance
The True Successor, Historical Arc
Purity police, misogynists, men with the mindset of women, and black-and-white thinkers, keep out.
This isn't really a romance. It's the heroine's personal biography. If you like strong heroines and plot-driven stories, come on in. Male-lead fans and readers who are fixated on the romance, proceed with caution.
Liu Zhuqiu, a young woman from an official family in Shu, is the daughter of Liu Bangyan, then serving as Vice Minister of Works.
She has studied poetry and the classics since childhood, and never forgets anything she reads.
Empress Zhang is then enjoying the emperor's favor, while her overbearing, arrogant relatives, the Zhang clan, are a great scourge to the court. In the year Liu Zhuqiu turns sixteen, Song Qiang, the Censor-in-Chief, submits an impeachment against the empress's brother, Zhang Haolin. Instead, the Zhang clan's allies frame him, imprison him, and confiscate his family estate. Song Qiang dies a terrible death, his wife takes her own life, and their daughter, Song Miaoxian, is sold into government service as a courtesan, left in a miserable plight.
Liu Zhuqiu and Song Miaoxian once swore sisterhood. After disaster befalls the Song family, Liu Zhuqiu secretly finds a way to help her. She then disguises herself as a man, calls herself Wen Xiao Han, a scholar from Shu, and goes to the music academy where Song Miaoxian is staying. By winning a poetry contest, she "claims" Song Miaoxian for herself, keeping others from harassing Miaoxian. To her surprise, she quickly becomes a celebrated talent in the capital.
One day, a noble young man surnamed Chu arrives at the music academy to visit Wen Xiao Han.
When Liu Zhuqiu sees the peerlessly beautiful Young Master Chu, he exposes her as a woman on the spot.
Young Master Chu uses this as leverage, threatening Liu Zhuqiu that she must answer his summons whenever he calls from then on. Liu Zhuqiu reluctantly agrees. To her utter surprise, the prank-loving Young Master Chu is none other than Crown Prince Zhu Yunxi, famous for his rebellious nature and beauty.
Early on:
Liu Zhuqiu: This man is so beautiful and upright. How can I spend a night with him without having to take responsibility?
Zhu Yunxi: This woman is rude and licentious, but clever and capable. She'd be worth winning over.
Midway:
Liu Zhuqiu: My dream came true, but I only want to be an official. I don't want to enter the imperial harem.
Zhu Yunxi: I can't live without her now. I'll give her an official's hat in public, and secretly have a phoenix crown made. Be my beloved consort and bear me a child.
Later on:
Liu Zhuqiu: I'm tired of love. I want to achieve greatness.
Zhu Yunxi: I can't be without you. I'll use imperial power to keep you bound to my side.
Liu Zhuqiu: ...Then don't blame me for making you eat your words.
Early on:
Liu Zhuqiu: I don't mind a matchmaker setting me up, but I have no feelings for this man.
Xiao Qizhen: I kind of like her.
Midway:
Liu Zhuqiu: He'd make a good husband, but unfortunately his awful mother stands in the way.
Xiao Qizhen: I like her a lot.
Later on:
Liu Zhuqiu: He's loyal and honorable. He's worth marrying.
Xiao Qizhen: Sob, sob, my duties to family and country keep me from finding true love.
Liu Zhuqiu: Then, bye...
Early on:
Liu Zhuqiu: Poor little fool.
Chen Shangzhi: Boo-hoo.
Midway:
Liu Zhuqiu: He's such a cutie.
Chen Shangzhi: Boo-hoo.
Later on:
Liu Zhuqiu: Not one of these men can be relied on.
Chen Shangzhi: Let me be your little cutie.
Liu Zhuqiu: All right!
This is an alternate history set after the mid-Ming period. Some events are drawn from historical sources, but the story is unrelated to actual history. Please don't nitpick the historical details.
The heroine's biggest flaw: She's a lecher.
Don't ask me who the male lead is. The heroine loves her career more. No spoilers, please.
Theme: Oppose feudalism, imperial power, and male dominance
Loyal Souls of Xiaoling (Free)
I'm My Own Replacement
Best Buddies in the Same Boat
The Structural Engineer Strikes Back
Lucky Partners
The True Heir
The Duoxi Family
Unorthodox Romance Between Men
Chasing the Wind
Tales of Dreams in Kanto
The False Phoenix and Fake Emperor
A Guide to Flame Wars in the Online Voice-Acting Circle, Part Two: Peak Acting (Enter with Caution: Angst)
At the end of the first part, I was just filled with melancholy, feeling bad for Zhu, and feeling the same regret as Chen Shangzhi. With the second part, the one that will be more memorable in the future will be "Liu Zhuqiu..." "I will always be by Your Majesty's side when His Majesty calls me." I'm really grateful to the author for writing a second volume. Waiting to return.
I reread some chapters of the first part today and found out that when Sister Qiu's female identity was exposed, Gu's attitude among the three explanations was: regretting that she had the eyes of Shuangliang Shanbo and did not discover that Sister Qiu was a daughter and missed a marriage. This is also paving the way for the second part of Lao Gu's thief.
The second part is better written than the first one. Although the first part has novel ideas, such as the heroine can always remain rational, never lose herself and stick to her original intention, and is still a model of independent women nowadays, but she still does not break away from the old cliché of women dressing up as men. The heroine's ideal of benefiting the world is still based on the feudal scholar-bureaucrats in the upper part. It is nothing more than the emergence of one or two so-called wise kings and powerful political figures to implement it with an iron fist. Can this really achieve the Qingming and prosperous age in the minds of those scholars? Obviously not. From Shang Yang to Zhang Juzheng, and even to the reforms implemented by some emperors, as long as they involve the interests of the powerful and nobles, as long as the successor is changed, everyone will die in the end, and the promoters and followers will meet the tragic end of being liquidated. In the final analysis, what is more needed is an ideological change from top to bottom, from concepts to systems. If the heroine is like other career-oriented women and pursues a purely technical career, and is adopted as a wife by an emperor, prince, or some powerful person, she will eventually have a happy ending. Since ancient times, powerful ministers have never had a good end. Her ideals and power are all based on the emperor's willingness to decentralize power. The emperor is not motivated by political ambitions, but by personal relationships, which means that the heroine and related people are destined to have a difficult road ahead. Not to mention that she also has the biggest hidden danger - an illegitimate child. The Tian family is ruthless, and brothers with the same mother can show no mercy. Who would tolerate an outstanding illegitimate child? Sure enough, the emperor's children, including the prince, are hostile to Liu Yu in the article. It is probably very difficult to write the rest of the story, and it is likely to be unfinished.
I have an urgent task and I won't have time to update the article in the next few days. I'm really sorry for everyone. I will finish the project and come back to write the article as soon as possible. I'm really sorry~~Please forgive me~~
I found it from True Successor. I am leaving a message here to ask if the author has any plans to write new articles in the future? I really like the modern career articles you wrote. It's hard for me to find a protagonist as charming as Shuai Ning [Orange Heart]
Sister Qiu is truly a top powerhouse!!! First, there is no internal friction, and there are rumors about it. What's the explanation? No explanation? None of them are good ways to deal with it. The best way is to have a strong enough heart that you can even treat it as a joke. As long as you don't allow it, no one can hurt you. Secondly, you have a strong sense of purpose and don't be distracted by trivial things. Instead, you anchor your goal and use up all your bullets. Third, super high execution ability, just do what you say, there is no such thing as delay, you can make adjustments as you go. After reading this chapter, I fell to my knees and worshiped...
I still hope that pigs can live longer
Making pornographic rumors is the most disgusting and despicable thing, just wait and see Sister Qiu fight back!
Sure enough, making pornographic rumors is a powerful tool to discredit female politicians.
Wow, what a breakthrough. When Liu Zhuqiu was a young girl in white, she was actually still a scholar-official in the traditional sense. She just adhered to the Confucian principles of a gentleman more purely than others and believed that chaos in government was a personal problem for the monarch and his ministers. But after she had been in a high position for many years, she saw more clearly that the problem lay in the system, and that such contradictions were rooted in agricultural capitalism. (A major feature of European feudalism is that land is not allowed to be bought and sold, while land could be bought and sold in ancient China for a long time. The civil service system created by the imperial examination made it a "flat" but not "equal" class society, and there are many characteristics that make it more like agricultural capitalism.) It feels a bit like the awakening of modern history, haha. Looking forward to the follow-up development, we will see how Sister Qiu can break through the limitations of the economic base without external interference?