After Marrying the Disgraced Crown Prince

After she transmigrates into a fallen noble family, Qu Xiaoxi has to contend with her mother's early death and a harsh stepmother. To survive, Qu Xiaoxi has no choice but to use her cooking skills to win her stepmother over. When she's old enough to marry, a matchmaker from the palace suddenly arrives, saying she is to marry a prince of "extraordinary status." Her stepmother, for once, even calls Qu Xiaoxi to meet him. Only after the marriage is arranged does Qu Xiaoxi learn that the prince is Prince Xun, Chu Qin, the very same former crown prince everyone knows about. Rumor has it that Chu Qin is moody, sinister, treacherous, greedy, lecherous, and doting on his concubines... After thinking it over, Qu Xiaoxi decides she can't just wait to die. She should try to win him over with delicious food. - Chu Qin was the legitimate son of the late empress. He was made crown prince at four, but deposed at six amid the palace's vicious power struggles. He then spent fourteen years as Prince Xun. People in the palace plotted against him and spoiled him into ruin. Day after day, they finally destroyed his reputation completely. When he came of age, the palace went to great lengths to choose a wife for him. In the end, they settled on a candidate whom Chu Qin could tell, after a single glance at her records, had been chosen with great "care": born to a respectable family that had fallen on hard times, a noblewoman oppressed by her stepmother. Every detail was designed to prevent him from using his wife's family to rise again. Chu Qin's resentment welled up, and he didn't even go to see his new wife on their wedding night. When he finally saw her later, she was holding a plate of pastries and said she'd made them herself. He lowered his eyes and noticed, quite by chance, a small crumb at the corner of her mouth. She was so afraid of him, yet she was sneaking a snack? Chu Qin stared at Qu Xiaoxi, unable to understand her. *A tiger-playing-weak female lead meets a tiger-playing-weak male lead. So a mountain can't hold two tigers, unless they're a male and a female. *Neither lead intended to compete, but somehow they ended up becoming rather successful. [Warning] - Food and sweet romance, with a little palace intrigue, household scheming, and political maneuvering too. Please don't read if that's not for you. - This is pure fantasy, with no attempt at historical accuracy, and the setting is wildly imaginative. Please don't read if you can't accept that. - The heroine is carefree and easygoing, with a broad mind and a slim figure. If you don't like girls like this, consider another story. [Pre-release] Plotting to Seize the Phoenix Seal. Please add it to your favorites! [Blurb] When the emperor is enraged, a million corpses fall. The old Chancellor Qin was convicted overnight, and his whole family was sentenced to execution. Their glory and prosperity vanished in an instant. On a rainy night, Xu Wenliang, a former student of the chancellor, risked his life to save the old chancellor's three-year-old granddaughter, Qin Wan, and adopted her as his daughter. To conceal her identity, Qin Wan was added to the Xu family register and renamed Xu Siwan. Everyone thought a three-year-old child couldn't remember anything, but Xu Siwan was unusually precocious. Thirteen years later, the new emperor ascended the throne and began selecting consorts. Xu Siwan, the eldest daughter of the Vice Minister of Revenue, entered the palace without a hitch. No one knew that from the day she entered the palace, the Qin Wan buried deep in Xu Siwan's heart had come alive. She grew up amid the hatred of her family's extermination. She wanted the emperor's favor. She wanted the Phoenix Seal. She wanted the Great Wei Empire to know no peace. Theme: Set things right and work hard to build a harmonious society.