The Madam Takes Charge

Qin Zhenzhen was reborn in the bridal chamber of the Southwest General's household, a family famous in name only and actually poor, whose members had been punished and sent to guard the Imperial Ancestral Temple after causing a disturbance before the palace.

In her previous life, she was meek and easily bullied. In the end, she was left covered in blood, wrapped in a ragged straw mat, and thrown onto a mass grave.

In this new life, she would not make the same foolish mistakes. After all, in her previous life, she had seen the young general give her a dignified burial beneath a spring peach tree.

On the morning after their wedding, Qin Zhenzhen shook Xiang Luming awake. He had been dead drunk the day before. "Husband, get up quickly. I'm going to my maternal grandparents' home to cry in a little while. Then I have to go to the Liu family and get my dowry back. I'm very busy."

Later, when creditors came knocking, Xiang Luming hid behind his wife and smiled shamelessly under everyone's contemptuous stares. "Everyone, as for the Xiang family, my wife is in charge."

Later still, the Liu family was convicted for supporting Prince Rui and the entire household was exiled, while the young general received great rewards for his meritorious service in protecting the emperor.

On the day the imperial decree arrived at the residence, Qin Zhenzhen, very pregnant, carried a bowl of medicinal soup and pushed open the study door. Inside, Xiang Luming, supposedly recovering from severe injuries, Prince Rui, supposedly under house arrest for three years after committing treason, and the emperor, supposedly so grief-stricken that he had closed court for three days, were all beaming and in high spirits, enjoying wine and meat amid a room full of gold and silver treasures.

Bare-chested and without even a scar on his chest, Xiang Luming scrambled over and clung to Qin Zhenzhen's leg as she stared at him expressionlessly. "Wife, let me explain."

After more than a year of marriage, Qin Zhenzhen had been fretting herself bald as she struggled to lead her husband's family out of trouble. She slammed down the bowl and gave a cold laugh, one hand on her belly. "Fine. Explain yourself."

Theme: Be independent and strong, and happiness will come in the end.