Qingqing

[A new project, Many Stories of Coercive Love and Angsty Melodrama, is now underway. Please add it to your favorites! You can find it on my profile!]

When Gu Lanzhi was nineteen, he met a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

She was dazzling and otherworldly, warm and forward. He fell for her at first sight and confessed his feelings beneath the moon, hoping they would marry, grow old together, and remain devoted to each other forever.

But then, one day, she suddenly vanished. He searched for a long time, traveling far and wide, but couldn't find a single trace of her.

Six years later, after passing the imperial examinations and placing third, he entered the Golden Palace. When he looked up, he saw a familiar face!

Gu Lanzhi: Qingqing! It's me! I finally found you!

The empress, clad in splendid robes: Hm? Why does this third-place scholar look so familiar?

After becoming emperor, Zhao Ruqing had a lot on her mind.

The empire, expanding its borders, her ministers and people, and ensuring everyone could live and work in peace.

She had almost forgotten that she'd once met an ordinary man like him.

Now the man stood before her, seemingly hoping she'd give him a title...

It reminded her of those boring storybooks her younger sister read every day: the ones where the first wife, after waiting eighteen years, arrives in the capital with her child to confront her faithless husband... and she was that faithless husband in those stories.

Perhaps she could be generous, unlike those heartless, cold-blooded men in the storybooks, and offer Gu Lanzhi generous compensation?

Zhao Ruqing: If there's someone you like, tell me and I'll arrange a marriage for you! I'll prepare your betrothal gifts!

Gu Lanzhi: Your Majesty, I... I love you!

To the male lead, the female lead is the one and only.

To the female lead, no one in this world is the one and only. If anything could be called the one and only, it would be the empire.

Theme: Keep your eyes open when falling in love, and be brave enough to seize your chance