My Archrival Insists on Becoming My Secret Lover

For many years after escaping death, Lin Tan deliberately avoided news of the new dynasty.

But she still heard, now and then, about the regent's deeds.

They said he had driven the old emperor to his death, installed a puppet on the throne, seized control of the government, and made extensive use of brutal punishments, leaving everyone in the new dynasty on edge.

They also said he had reformed the land system, established schools for girls, and promoted men from humble backgrounds, slaughtering the great clans who stood in his way until rivers of blood flowed.

Whenever these conflicting accounts reached her, Lin Tan would pause in a bamboo grove, listening to snow fall.

She would remember that year, before the Golden Throne Hall, at the foot of the long black stone steps, when a young man as bright as a clear moon blocked her way.

But what came out of his mouth was a string of rigid admonishments.

He had just impeached her in court, and she was sick of hearing it. Folding her arms, she said sarcastically, "Censor Chen, you love picking on me. Don't tell me you've already fallen for me?"

The usually aloof young man abruptly looked up, his face flushing with anger. "Shameless... utterly shameless! That's beyond the pale!"

**

Lin Tan had spent years disguising herself as a man, serving in court as the old emperor's sharpest sword.

Everyone at court did their best to avoid her.

There was only one person she avoided in return.

He came from the Censorate. Though a nobleman's son, he was a rigid old-fashioned type who would impeach her at the slightest disagreement.

Lin Tan was sick of the sight of him, and whenever they schemed against each other, neither ever held back.

Then the old emperor grew increasingly suspicious, went back on his reforms, and turned on those who had served him. Lin Tan was the first to be purged.

She faked her death and fled south, back home. To keep her identity hidden, she had no choice but to pretend to be a married woman.

Just as she was enjoying her carefree new life, she was startled to hear that a former colleague had come to her residence to pay his respects.

Lin Tan suspiciously opened the door and came face-to-face with that stern, upright face.

They stared at each other. After a moment of silence, her nemesis said, "I have been friends with your younger brother for years."

"I'm passing through on a private assignment. Might I stay here for a few days?"

Lin Tan: ??

She reluctantly accepted his story, fed and housed him for several days, and lived in fear that he would recognize her.

At last she managed to see him off. The next day, her neighbor opened the door, and Lin Tan saw her nemesis beneath a shower of falling blossoms. Her vision went black.

With old and new grudges piled together, she tormented him mercilessly. But the more she put him through, the better his mood seemed to get.

Lin Tan couldn't take it anymore. She decided to get him drunk and toss him into the canal.

But the refined, rigid young man, drunk, clung to her arm, his eyes red-rimmed. "Lin Tan is... truly wonderful."

That night, they both drank themselves into a stupor and woke up in the same bed.

The upright Censor Chen asked in a hoarse, trembling voice, "Miss Lin, might you be in need of a lover?"

Lin Tan's head buzzed. "I suppose I could use one."

Later, the young man awkwardly bought a pair of mandarin ducks as a betrothal gift, but when he returned home, she was already gone.

A kind neighbor told him that the "merchant's wife" was a remnant of a treacherous minister's faction, and her husband's family had handed her over for execution.

Theme: Do not bow to the circumstances of the times.