This novel is complete.
My next palace-intrigue novel is called The Empress Can't Lie Flat. Its blurb is below this one. Please add it to your favorites!
--- Blurb for this novel ---
Zhao Wenjin, the daughter of a salt merchant in Yangzhou, is beautiful, clever, and well-educated.
When her fiance passes the imperial examinations, he casts her aside like trash because he despises her humble background, and turns to a more influential family instead.
Yet just a few days later, Zhao Wenjin manages to marry into an even more prestigious family: the Duke of Song's household.
Yu Zexun, heir to the Duke of Song, was born into a family of distinguished officials and holds an exalted position. He could marry a princess or a noblewoman of royal blood.
Yet he insists on marrying Zhao Wenjin and becomes the laughingstock of the capital, with everyone mocking him for taking a merchant's daughter as his bride.
Yu Zexun pays them no mind, saying, "You don't know what makes Miss Zhao so wonderful!"
After entering the household, Zhao Wenjin wins her father-in-law's trust, takes charge of the duke's estate, urges her husband to better himself, and deals with her ill-intentioned half-brother-in-law and his wife.
At home, she rules with an iron hand, yet the noblewomen of the capital all praise her as courteous, gentle, and virtuous. Her sister-in-law is practically hopping mad when she hears it.
To outsiders, a merchant's daughter who becomes the mistress of a ducal household must have landed in a life of luxury. Only Yu Zexun and Zhao Wenjin know that the sweetness of this life was bought with the bitterness of their previous one.
[Note]
1. The heroine is two years older than the hero. They are both each other's first and only partner, and the romance is one-on-one throughout. The heroine puts reason above all else at first, but gradually falls in love with the hero.
2. Both leads are reborn. The heroine regains her memories partway through.
3. A traditional domestic-intrigue story about family life. The setting is fictional, with basic elements such as official titles modeled on the Ming dynasty.
--- Blurb for the next novel, The Empress Can't Lie Flat ---
In the fifth year of Yongping, the former empress is deposed, and the Empress Dowager arranges for the emperor to choose a new empress.
Rather than choosing from among the many noblewomen of distinguished families, she picks an ordinary girl.
Xu Qiao was born in the countryside and is fifteen years old, in the very bloom of youth.
She is beautiful and exceptionally talented. Her only shortcoming is that her family background is not worthy of such extraordinary good fortune.
Her path ahead is strewn with thorns: the emperor does not trust her, the other consorts do not respect her, and her birth family exploits her.
Everyone knows she cannot hold on to the position that every concubine dreams of.
And yet, three years later,
everyone in and out of court praises her as a model empress and an example for the women of the realm.
When the emperor hears this, he returns to the palace and teases Xu Qiao: "What virtue do you have? What wisdom?"
Xu Qiao smiles innocently, wraps her arms around his and leans against his shoulder. "How could I know anything, Your Majesty? It is all thanks to your protection that I have made it this far."
The emperor laughs with delight.
But in the imposing palace, there is no such thing as innocence. There are only snake hearts behind pious words, and hidden arrows behind smiling faces.
·
The empress earns a far-reaching reputation for virtue, and the prince she bears is naturally named crown prince.
Xu Qiao sits before her mirror with the decree naming her son crown prince in her hands. Her reflection wears a warm, welcoming smile.
If others can hold the reins of power, why can't she?
Reader's Guide:
1. A boastful, flirtatious middle-aged emperor x a charming, scheming young empress. The hero is not a virgin, while the heroine is. They are eighteen years apart in age.
2. Palace intrigue is the main focus, with the romance between the leads as a secondary element. The emperor has other consorts, but later dotes exclusively on the heroine.
Theme: Good and evil are always repaid in the end
I don't know why the chapter about the third grandma made me want to cry. I felt like she was living a life of ignorance. Baby's writing was so touching.
The father is such a scumbag. He took another woman away just after giving birth to a child, and even exchanged a daughter for another son. My god is suffocating.
"Brother Yan is old enough to see each other," which is a big bug for the author~
All the good things should be gathered into the hands of the heroine.
When was the heroine reborn?
The heroine is not good at this. She has no courage in doing business. She can still guess wrong in riddles. Her thoughts are all about the scumbag.
Now that I've seen it, I still think it's really well written. It's plain and simple without losing the sense of storytelling.
Ahhh, congratulations on the completion! Love to watch! 💪
It's finished. I thought there was one more chapter.
"Yu Haiyan" caught a big bug for the author~ Wrong