Together with You

[The main story is complete. Let it pile up until it's ready to binge. The next story, Cloud Gazing, is available in my author profile.]

Story blurb:

In the fifth year of the Shuo Kang era, the Qi imperial house fell into decline, and warlords rose up everywhere.

To win over Lin Ji, the Grand Minister of Works, whose power overshadowed the entire court, the Son of Heaven summoned his full sister, Princess Consort Sui Tang, back from her distant fief and bestowed her in marriage upon him.

On their wedding day, Sui Tang was left alone in the bridal chamber.

It was not until seven days later, with the moon high overhead, that her groom finally arrived. He seized her chin and pried out the poison hidden between her teeth.

At the time, Sui Tang had been struck on the wedding procession route and was temporarily blind. As she trembled with unease, she heard the man say in the dimness, "It's late. Let's get some rest first."

That night, Sui Tang had a dream.

In the dream, she saw herself give birth to a son after a difficult labor, then die from the poison less than the time it takes two incense sticks to burn.

In her final moments, she clutched Lin Ji's hand and said calmly, "There's no need to call a physician, and no need to trouble anyone. No one harmed me. It was my younger brother, the emperor. He once had the Chief Imperial Physician hollow out half a tooth of mine, then hid a dose of poison inside it on our wedding day, intending to poison you to death."

"It wasn't that I couldn't bring myself to do it out of kindness. Heaven itself wanted you to live. On the day of the wedding procession, thieves spooked the horses on Tongtuo Avenue. I was struck in my carriage, and a blood clot blocked my brain, leaving me blind. To this day, I haven't found an opportunity. So, for all these years in the Minister of Works' residence, no one had tried to harm me. The poison was my own preparation, and it gradually seeped into my organs."

"The fate of Great Qi is at an end. I concede. Take it for yourself."

She paused, as though she still had something to say: perhaps about the younger brother she had helped, the realm of her house teetering on the brink, or the child she had just given birth to. But in the end, she never uttered another word.

All her thoughts became a single sigh: In my next life, may we never meet again.

Sui Tang woke drenched in sweat. She covered her still-aching teeth, overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. She did not know whether to be relieved that the poison had been removed, or afraid that it had been discovered...

Then she felt a broad hand stroke her back.

The man's voice was hoarse. "Don't be afraid. Tomorrow I'll summon a physician to the residence and have him treat Your Highness's eyes!"

*

Lin Ji drew the woman in his arms closer. He remembered his previous life.

In his previous life, after Sui Tang died, he put her belongings in order.

The princess's bedroom, under constant surveillance, held almost nothing that truly belonged to her. He searched for a long time before finding a letter in her own hand at the very bottom of a jewelry case.

The handwriting of the chronically ill, blind woman was crooked and chaotic.

Three regrets in this life:

First, I regret being like duckweed, adrift for half my life;

Second, I regret that when my siblings reunited, I became a pawn in his hands;

Third, I regret going blind, never having seen my husband.

The world says that the third son of the Lin family is domineering and autocratic, that he deceives his sovereign and usurps the state.

But he was the first person ever to treat me well. I want to see him.

#Since we parted, I remember our reunion, and dream of being with you time and again#

Notes:

1. The male lead is reborn; the female lead recalls her previous life through dreams.

2. A marriage-before-love trope, princess and powerful minister, one-on-one romance, both leads have had no prior partners, happy ending.

3. The romance is mutual, and the plot leans toward a proper political drama. At heart, this is a love story dressed in political intrigue.

The following is the next story, Cloud Gazing

During the autumn hunt at Shanglin Park, the Crown Princess was assassinated.

When Xue He led his troops back to the imperial capital, Jiang Zhanyun's remains were nowhere to be found.

A memorial tomb containing her robes and headwear had been set up in the Mingguang Hall of Weiyang Palace. Inside lay half of the jade bell that had been recovered.

Everyone knew that the Seven Treasures Jade Pendant, set with precious stones, was the Xue family's ancestral token from Tengzhou, a symbol of marrying into the imperial house and protecting the realm. But the Crown Princess of this generation was capricious in word and deed, and at odds with Xue He. She thought the pendant was too plain, and had people turn it into a bell instead.

She wore it around her neck, which would have been bad enough. She also used the leftover jade to make little bells for an anklet. Even when he wasn't there, they would keep jingling beneath the red bridal curtains.

On their wedding night, the young gentleman, who strictly observed proper etiquette, was so angered by this that he left the palace hall. He would rather spend his whole life guarding the border with the army than share a room with a young sovereign like her.

"If Your Highness doesn't change her temperament and rein in her temper, sooner or later..."

Her life will be in danger, and the realm will change hands.

He had wanted to say those eight words many times, and that day he finally couldn't hold back.

Who could have imagined that his words would become a prophecy, and that the Jiang line would end then and there?

To preserve peace in the realm, Xue He overruled all objections and raised Ming Ye, a thirteen-year-old prince of a different surname, to the throne.

**

In the fifth year of the new emperor's reign, Xue He helped his clan's younger cousin, Xue Jiuniang, ascend to the position of empress.

He had planned it well. He now held the upper hand in court, and if he could also control the inner palace, he could turn the realm upside down once more.

He would restore the Jiang family's rule and avenge Jiang Zhanyun.

It turned out that the mastermind behind it all had been the new emperor he himself had supported.

The year he learned the truth, he rescued a woman from the music quarters and had her take the place of his clan's cousin, who had died young. He had people carefully teach her the six arts, personally trained her in both letters and martial skills, and raised her into an obedient yet sharp blade.

But ever since that blade entered the ninefold palace and ascended the throne, Xue He found her increasingly difficult to control.

Then one day, during a court debate in Weiyang Palace, before all the civil and military officials, a long sword pierced the new emperor through the chest from behind.

The empress, who had been listening from behind the curtain, swept it aside and stepped out. With one hand she pulled out the sword and kicked the emperor aside; with the other, she held the imperial seal. She smiled warmly at Xue He, whose body was spattered with blood.

"I truly couldn't think of any other way to take back what was mine to begin with!"

**

Jiang Zhanyun was the Crown Princess, but in her youth she had been wild and unruly, doing whatever she pleased. At last, at eighteen, she suffered a terrible fall.

Fortunately, Heaven spared her, leaving her one breath to cling to.

Since she hadn't quite died, she would crawl back to the place that belonged to her, if she had to.

But the road ahead was perilous, and every step was difficult.

Then one day, she found a shortcut.

It was outside the music quarters on a bustling street that she saw the consort who had stormed off after she angered him on their wedding night, never entering their bridal chamber: the young general who had once said to her, his temples throbbing, "If our predecessors had not already forged this alliance, I would never have married into the imperial house."

The young man climbed down from his carriage, and the sachet at his waist slipped to the ground. Half a jade bell rolled out of it.

He picked it up without expression, but his hand trembled as he brushed the dust from the bell.

Author's message: A tall pine lies trapped in a ravine, battered by wind and frost. When its time comes, it will stand firm and uphold the great hall.