My Nemesis, My Husband

Coming soon: My Proud Lord. See the blurb at the very end.

[A story about the tumultuous romance between a sharp-tongued, fiercely proud heroine and a fake playboy hero who says one thing but means another]

Scene One:

Her childhood friend Yu An passed the scholar exams, and his family threw a huge banquet. Su Qing happily bustled around, helping with everything. Seeing her helping greet the guests, Ying Qi said in a sarcastic tone, "What are you grinning about? Now that he's a scholar, there's no telling whose husband he'll become!"

Su Qing retorted, "Whoever he marries will be a lucky girl. But I wonder which poor girl will be unlucky enough to end up with a troublemaker like you!"

Her words came true. Later, Su Qing became that unlucky girl.

Scene Two:

Ying Qi thought the meat was a true delicacy, and once again couldn't keep his mouth shut. "You and your brother were given terrible names. Su Qing, Su Sheng, they sound like 'lose' and 'leftovers.' You should have taken my surname, Ying. It sounds so much more impressive!"

Su Qing put down her chopsticks and said quietly, "My father has been dead for many years. Which generation of my ancestors are you trying to be? Should we go ask them underground?"

Later, while Ying Qi cuddled his wife under the blankets, he complained, "Why couldn't you tell I was proposing back then? Mrs. Ying?"

Coming next: My Proud Lord

Lu Ranqing, the eldest daughter of the Ning'an Earl's household, had grown into a peerlessly beautiful young woman by the time she came of age, drawing marriage proposals from the city's noble young men. Yet she chose to spend three years practicing austerities, claiming she was praying for her mother's health, until the Empress Dowager betrothed her to Wei Xiao, Marquis of Loyalty and Valor.

Earl Lu feared that his legitimate daughter, who had once refused marriage at the cost of her life, would refuse again. He tried every means to persuade her, and at last was relieved to hear her agree:

"All right."

Who could have known that a young man had dwelled in Lu Ranqing's heart for ten years? Every month, she painted a new portrait of him; every year, she carved a wooden statue, imagining what he would look like as he grew up.

The day he returned to the capital on a tall warhorse, clad in armor and standing proud, she watched from a teahouse window, tears streaming down her face.

You finally returned safely!

How fortunate I am that I can marry you!

But on her wedding night, not only was she left alone, she also had a bizarre dream. In the dream, she had been married for five years and still had no children. Wei Xiao had taken no concubines, but had brought home an orphan for her to raise as his legitimate heir. She was immersed in the sweetness of her love when she heard him tell his sickbed-ridden mother:

"I used a scent that would make the Lu women infertile in her room back then to avenge my father. Now she manages the marquis's household so well, we can just bring back a child from an outside woman and raise him later."

It hit her like a thunderbolt!

Lu Ranqing woke in a cold sweat. Her marriage was already set in stone, but she wanted to live differently...

.

Wei Xiao was fourteen when he was exiled with his father to the border. Over the next ten years, he earned his title of marquis through military service. He was the emperor's sharpest sword for suppressing the powerful in-laws, while the Empress Dowager used marriage as its scabbard. Earl Lu had been instrumental in the false accusation that ruined Wei Xiao's family.

The imperial edict could not be defied, so Wei Xiao married her and left her to her own devices. On their wedding night, he casually lifted her red veil and went off to attend to official business.

When he returned to the residence half a month later, a houseful of painted-up maids and concubines greeted him. His new wife had been sent by his mother to kneel in the small ancestral shrine.

It was too much to treat a weak woman like that.

That night, he planned to stay and consummate the marriage as well. "I'll give you the dignity of a marquis's wife from now on. Please be patient with my mother."

He had no idea that this young woman would be far more sensible than he expected...

But at the time, Wei Xiao didn't know that her thoughtfulness would later stick in his throat, torment him like a thorn in his side, and cut him to the bone!

Reading guide:

1) Both leads are each other's first.

2) Alternate-history setting.

Theme: Don't listen to what someone says. Look at what they do.