Your Humble Servant Has Always Been Ill

When Ji Ping'an first transmigrated, her situation was already as bad as it could get.

A merchant's orphan, with no one to rely on, she had sought shelter with her maternal relatives, the Song family. The Songs had complete control over her marriage. There was no way forward and no way back.

Before long, the male lead, Song Huaizhang, would weave a vast net of love around her, lure her into his trap, take her as a concubine, seize all her property, raise an army in rebellion, and overthrow the tyrant.

By the time the Song family's banner was raised high and they ascended the throne, she, a concubine who had outlived her usefulness, would already have died quietly in the inner courtyard.

Sigh, sigh, sigh.

After sighing three times, Ji Ping'an enlisted her maid, Dongchun, to help her establish a persona as someone frail and sickly.

From then on, Ji Ping'an panted every three steps and coughed every five, making herself into a "genuine" and "world-famous" sickly beauty. Using the excuse of accumulating good karma, she traveled through the countryside, treating the sick and building up a reputation to protect herself. At the same time, among all the patients she met, she carefully looked for a reliable husband who could help her escape the Song family.

After looking high and low and weighing her options for a long time, Ji Ping'an chose the taciturn hunter.

He had no possessions to speak of, but at least his parents were gone, and the only family he had was a cousin who studied for the imperial exams. There were no complicated relationships with sisters-in-law or mothers-in-law to manage, and certainly none of the schemes that made one tremble with fear and walk on eggshells, like those in the Song family.

Besides, he was very handsome: sharp brows, bright eyes, and a bold, vigorous bearing. As for his body, Ji Ping'an had felt him under the pretense of treating an illness. He was as strong as a tiger.

His temper was a little strange, though. Whenever she complained to her maid about how the tyrant in the book was so capricious and self-willed that someone would eventually depose him, he would stare at her with an inexplicable look she couldn't read, then give a soft snort from deep in his throat.

No matter. His temper was a little strange, but she could train him after they got married.

One day, he would cut off Ji Ping'an's head!

Every time Zhou Sheng returned to the palace from a visit with Ji Ping'an, he flew into a terrible rage. Officials great and small trembled with fear, worrying that they had done something wrong to offend this "tyrant" and that their entire families would be executed at any moment.

As the supreme ruler, he held the lives and deaths of all the people in the realm in his hands.

But Zhou Sheng simply couldn't kill Ji Ping'an.

There was only one reason: at present, only Ji Ping'an could cure his "secret ailment."

By the 932nd time Zhou Sheng wanted to kill Ji Ping'an, she had finally been dragged into the palace by him.

Fine. Since he couldn't kill such a petty, vengeful, and sickly young woman, he would keep her locked at his side and torment her properly.

Everyone in the world said His Majesty was utterly devoted to the Empress.

The Empress was frail and sickly, and had a short temper. The Emperor feared she would get upset, feared she would fall ill, and feared they would not grow old together. He forcibly changed all his difficult habits and became a benevolent ruler, all to accumulate enough good karma to move Heaven and help her recover soon.

The Emperor and Empress were a devoted couple, perfectly in harmony.

But Dongchun, who had been at Ji Ping'an's side since childhood, knew the truth: the Emperor and Empress had a minor argument every three days and a major one every five. The Empress used her illness as an excuse to refuse to budge whenever she and the Emperor disagreed, driving him half out of his mind.

"Ji Ping'an! I don't think you're sick in the body, I think you're sick in the head! How could I have married such a petty, unreasonable woman who knows how to drive me mad!"

Bang! Zhou Sheng stormed out.

Dongchun was used to it. The Emperor would come back by nightfall anyway. Since the Empress was frail and sickly, he was afraid that fighting with her would make her old illness worse, and he could never bear to let an argument continue overnight.

But...

Cold sweat ran down Dongchun's back.

If the Emperor ever discovered that the Empress's illness was fake, would she and her mistress still have their heads the next day?

Theme: Striving for harmony.