The Chief Secretary's Doomed Young Wife

This story is complete. The full version is available only on Jinjiang.

Blurb:

After the Marquis of Yong’an passed away, his household gradually fell into decline. Madam Ji planned to find distinguished husbands for her two daughters to help support the family.

Shen Muchao was a promising young man, highly likely to place on the imperial examinations and become a rising star at court. After carefully considering her options, Madam Ji decided he was the best catch in the Ji family’s “pond.”

Madam Ji intended to marry her younger daughter to Shen Muchao, but through a twist of fate, the match went to the Ji family’s eldest daughter, Ji Yunyao.

On her wedding night, as she looked at the man who had nearly become her younger sister’s husband, Ji Yunyao finally realized she was merely a cannon-fodder supporting female character in a storybook. Shen Muchao was indeed a distinguished husband, just not one who would cherish her.

In the book, Ji Yunyao had nothing going for her but her pretty face. After marrying, she was spoiled and domineering, spent money recklessly, and was always causing trouble. Shen Muchao felt not the slightest affection for her.

He had promised never to take a concubine, yet in their third year of marriage, Shen Muchao brought a woman home.

Ji Yunyao objected, and Shen Muchao grew even colder toward her. Half a year later, Ji Yunyao died. Shen Muchao had never once set foot in her room. He later rose rapidly through the ranks and soon forgot his young wife, who had died so early.

In short, Shen Muchao was a poor, stingy, fastidious cad.

Dying young was out of the question, and being married to Shen Muchao was out of the question too. The more trouble she caused, the more he was supposed to hate her.

The thirty-eighth time Ji Yunyao threw a tantrum, she looked at Shen Muchao’s exceptionally cold face and blinked. “Well? Do you want to divorce me yet?”

Shen Muchao: ...He thought he could put up with her a little longer!

*

One day after their wedding, Shen Muchao found a little notebook. Familiar handwriting met his eyes: “Another day without divorcing my husband. So depressing!”

Forced to take a sweet, delicate little wife, Shen Muchao didn’t care and felt little affection for her. As long as Ji Yunyao didn’t cause trouble, that was enough.

He thought he could take her or leave her. Later, Shen Muchao regretted it.

Divorce was out of the question. If he couldn’t win Ji Yunyao’s heart, could he at least secure his place through a child?

*

Ji Yunyao: I won’t ask for much of the property after we divorce. Just a little more than half.

Later, Ji Yunyao: Huh? Where’s the sickly young wife who was supposed to die early? Why hasn’t that heartless Shen divorced me and abandoned our child to marry his true love?

1. My Parents in Their Youth is currently updating and will soon be complete.

After returning to her hometown, strange things began happening one after another. Ye Xingzhi had a dream that she was a villain in several storybooks, and that she had a three-and-a-half-year-old villainous daughter named Lu Kui Kui.

The storybooks all had one thing in common: the male lead was Lu Kui Kui’s father, Lu Shi’an, while Ye Xingzhi and three-and-a-half-year-old Lu Kui Kui were wicked villains who were eventually abandoned by Lu Shi’an.

Ye Xingzhi dismissed it as a nightmare, but that very afternoon she met a little girl.

The child had a round face like a little sunflower. She threw herself into Ye Xingzhi’s arms and called her Mother.

Ye Xingzhi: She was only sixteen and unmarried. How could she possibly have a three-and-a-half-year-old villainous little sunflower for a daughter?

*

Lu Kui Kui woke up seven years in the past. She had to find her mother, but everywhere she went, people looked at her and her mother, Ye Xingzhi, as if they were villains.

Ye Xingzhi: The creditors are here! Those pitiful cannon-fodder characters from the storybooks have awakened, and they’re coming after me and Lu Kui Kui for revenge!

*

Ye Xingzhi found a young man covered in blood in the hills behind the village. He looked exactly like Kui Kui’s father, but his surname wasn’t Lu. His name was Xu Xingzhi.

Everyone said Xu Xingzhi had terrible luck. He was gentle and courteous, but Ye Xingzhi knew he was no good.

Ye Xingzhi: Is this really her future scumbag husband? Maybe I shouldn’t save him?

2. Upcoming: The Female Supporting Character in an Ancient Apocalyptic Restricted Novel. Please add it to your collection.

Lin Xia was the wicked female supporting character in an ancient romance restricted novel. According to the usual formula, she had been jealous of the heroine since childhood, stolen credit for saving her life, and thrown herself at the powerful men. Whenever the male leads gave the heroine suggestive looks, Lin Xia would blunder in, mock and frame the second male lead, Jiang Si, and even drug him.

After diligently following most of the plot, one day giant meteorites rained down from the sky. A strange disease emerged, turning the infected into bloodthirsty biters known as “living corpses.”

A group of people hid in a ruined temple. Outside, several living corpses battered the wooden door.

The young woman standing right by the entrance trembled with fear. Lin Xia was frail and slender; she probably wouldn’t last even fifteen minutes before the living corpses broke in and tore her apart.

At the far end, Jiang Si held a sharp blade, his expression cold and indifferent, as if none of this concerned him. For someone this foolish, becoming a foolish living corpse would be a good thing.

But just as the living corpses burst through the door, Lin Xia awakened!

Oh, what was the point of awakening now?

An ancient romance sweet-love restricted novel had become an apocalyptic restricted novel. Had she wasted the last decade of her life?

*

A young general, a high-level living corpse, the leader of a refuge city, a master healer developing a cure for the living corpses... Male leads one through six appeared one after another, but none of that had anything to do with Lin Xia. There was, however, a scene where they threw her into a horde of living corpses to make the heroine happy.

When disaster struck, Jiang Si thought the theatrical Lin Xia, who couldn’t even protect herself, would be the first to die. Unexpectedly, just like her name, Lin Xia had the tenacious vitality of midsummer trees. She fought living corpses, stockpiled supplies, grew vegetables and grain, and fled through extreme weather. Even the leaders of the refuge cities competed to be her underlings.

Lin Xia: The apocalypse is hard, but an apocalyptic restricted novel is even harder. Either I get bitten by a living corpse on the first day, or I survive!

Little scene:

The moment the living corpses broke through the door of the ruined temple, Lin Xia, having just awakened, immediately threw herself at Jiang Si. Gazing at him with deep affection, she clutched his robe and made sure everyone in the temple could hear her. “Brother, I’m your long-lost sister. Save me!”

Jiang Si: ...

Looking at the drama queen in front of him and the strongly disapproving looks from everyone else, Jiang Si’s murderous intent only grew!

An ancient-style apocalypse story about natural disasters: stockpiling, fighting zombies, a system, farming, and infrastructure development.

Theme: Money is saved up, and affection grows over time.