The Azure Cloud Ladder

Blurb: When they first met, she was an exalted princess, elegant and poised, with boundless power, yet she lived alone in the heavenly palace, lonely beyond words. He was merely a poor scholar who had struggled up from the mud. He studied and pursued a career only for a few pieces of silver. The only reason she noticed this insignificant scholar was that she envied him for being able to know and stay with the one he loved. When they met again, she was a venomous princess despised by everyone, disheveled and bullied, living in seclusion in a ruined palace and enduring humiliation just to survive. He, meanwhile, had risen to become the most powerful minister of his age, decisive and merciless. Everyone said he was a prince of the underworld, returned from hell. Yet on that rainy night, he knelt before the princess’s bed, soaked to the skin and utterly reverent. “Your servant has a request.” “What do you ask?” “I wish to be the ladder to the clouds, carrying Your Highness aloft to ascend once more to the heavens.” Reader’s Guide 1. No woman-on-woman rivalry. 2. The second male lead is a young emperor, genuinely unhinged, with a pseudo-incestuous relationship. 3. A beautiful, strong, tragic heroine; a story of mutual salvation. 4. If you like it, please add it to your favorites. Recommended: Sui Sui Wu Hui’s Reborn After the World-Weary Big Shot, an apocalypse story where a big shot turns into a delicate flower!! It’s so good! Coming soon: The Madam Gets Winded Just Walking (also known as The Madam Can Read Minds) Her Side of the Story Shen Yiren has a little secret she can’t tell anyone. She can’t take too big a step when she walks. If she walks too quickly, she gets out of breath, and then she can hear what other people are thinking. The noblewomen of the capital all smile politely to her face, while sneering at her in their hearts. Why does this little green tea keep hanging around the Duke of Zhenguo’s residence? Look at how she walks, swaying like a willow in the breeze. It’s so nauseating. Her cousin, the heir to the Duke of Zhenguo, is always convinced she has designs on him. Why is this cousin of mine always blushing? Is she in love with me? Hmph. I don’t like weak, weepy women like her. Shen Yiren puts up with it all because she has no family to rely on and is helpless and fragile. By chance, the heir discovers Shen Yiren’s mind-reading secret. Shen Yiren cries like a flower drenched in rain, afraid her cousin will think she’s a demoness and kill her. But her cousin is thinking, This is great! I can have my cousin interrogate the prisoners for me! We can solve the tax silver case! The heir at first: You’ve worked hard, Cousin. Help me listen to what these hardened criminals are thinking. The heir later: I can’t let those filthy men lay eyes on my wife. I’ll interrogate them myself! His Side of the Story Shen Yiren is exactly the sort of woman the capital’s noblewomen hate most: a delicate willow, with knitted brows and tears in her eyes, putting on an act. She’s spoiled and hypocritical, smiling sweetly with arched brows whenever she meets someone, and shedding tears at the slightest thing. On top of that, she’s the most infamous young lady in the Duke of Zhenguo’s household. The capital’s noblewomen: Why does this little green tea get winded just walking? The heir to the Duke of Zhenguo is thoroughly annoyed by his cousin, who cries at the drop of a hat. Her slender figure is far too frail. She keeps “accidentally” running into him around the residence, then blushes like peach blossoms. He’s seen plenty of women as affected as her. She must be doing everything she can to become the heir’s wife, right? The heir to the Duke of Zhenguo at first: I like women who are strong and decisive. The heir to the Duke of Zhenguo later: My wife may get winded just walking, but I love her all the same. # Reading Guide 1. Pure, uncomplicated sweetness. 2. You can also check out Picked Up a Sickly Husband and The Ladder to the Clouds in my author’s profile. 3. The male lead’s groveling redemption arc. Theme: Bloom into the most beautiful flower in adversity.