The Regent's Beloved Sparrow Has Flown Away

The year Gu Jingjing came of age, she saw something she shouldn't have. A tall man sliced off the magistrate's head with one stroke, as easily as cutting through mud. To escape, she slashed his face. Two years later, Gu Jingjing returned to the capital and crossed paths with the man again: Yuan Xiang, the regent who held power over the court. From then on, she plunged into an abyss, falling from a noble lady into Yuan Xiang's caged songbird, there for his pleasure. Because the emperor had looked at her a few times, Yuan Xiang caught on and forced her to seduce the frail, sickly emperor, his nephew Yuan Heng. And the last task he gave Gu Jingjing was to poison the emperor. - Desperate, Gu Jingjing succeeded in taking her place in the Daming Palace. Yuan Xiang suddenly felt hollow inside, and the beauties in his household no longer held any appeal. Unable to control his longing, he snuck into the palace to meet her, only to be met with her furious rejection. Jealousy burned in his heart. Yuan Xiang thought that after the young emperor died, he could simply take her back. But when the appointed time came, the emperor not only failed to pass away, he and the empress were also deeply devoted to each other, making everyone around them envious. Humiliated and enraged, Yuan Xiang stormed into Gu Jingjing's bedroom and gripped her slender neck. "Don't play games with me. Once this is done, I'll give you a title!" Gu Jingjing had made up her mind to break with him, yet smiled as she replied, "You're joking, my lord. In the Sheng Dynasty, what title could compare to being empress?" That day, the songbird in his palm spread her wings and flew away. He lost control, too... -Tips- 1. The male lead will chase his wife all the way to the grave, and his ashes will be scattered to the winds. 2. The second male lead takes the throne, and the young emperor turns his fortunes around. At first, he is a true puppet. [He's on the cover.] 3. Readers who want pure relationships, stay away. The male lead takes the female lead by force. The female lead is not a virgin; the second male lead is. *The author's tastes are old-fashioned and hypocritical. I never demand that the female lead be chaste, but the baby who ends up with her must observe proper conduct. Next book: After I Dumped the Emperor's Younger Brother, He Turned Evil Crown Prince Zhao Rongzhang was gentle and timid, letting his full-blooded older sister, Princess Yu'an Zhao Shun, have her way. When Zhao Shu was fourteen, Emperor Wutai got drunk and accidentally revealed her parentage. It turned out she was not of royal blood. Only the emperor and the siblings knew the truth. At a carefully planned banquet, Zhao Shu accidentally drank her younger brother's wine and ended up in his bed in a daze. Zhao Rongzhang became obsessed with her, while Zhao Shu feared their forbidden relationship would be exposed. She placated her younger brother while reaching out to the Prince of Zhennan's heir, who had admired her for years. * On the day her marriage was arranged, Zhao Rongzhang rushed to her bedroom and tearfully demanded, "Older Sister, you promised you'd stay with me forever. How could you change your mind? If you marry someone else, then our bond as siblings is over!" A month later, Princess Yu'an married in grand style. With the emperor's permission, she followed her husband to guard the frontier, finally escaping her younger brother. * After Zhao Rongzhang ascended the throne, he was forced to marry his maternal cousin and make her empress. Yet he refused to consummate the marriage, spending his days with other consorts instead, wild and unruly. To protect her family's standing, the empress dowager had no choice but to summon her daughter, who had been away for five years, back to the palace to encourage the emperor and empress to get along. When the siblings met again, Zhao Rongzhang was furious to see her and picked fights with her at every turn. Seeing Zhao Shu obey their mother in everything, one rainy night he angrily locked her inside his bedroom. His eyes red, he said, "You abandoned me back then, and now you want to force me to be with the empress. You're going too far!" Night after night, lovers' cries rang out. Everything seemed to have returned to how it was years ago, until the secret came to light. [Tips] 1. The leads are not blood-related. The male lead is devoted to the female lead in both body and heart, and the female lead marries someone else partway through. 2. Whatever happens along the way, the ending will be happy. 3. Inspired by the story of Liu Cichang, King Li of Qi, and his sister Lady Ji Weng in Records of the Grand Historian: House of King Hui of Qi. Theme: A man must learn to cherish a woman if he wants to find happiness