The Cousin Who Still Doesn't Want to Enter the Palace Today

In her previous life, Gu Yao's father passed away. After observing mourning for three years, she followed her stepmother, Madam Yu, to the capital, where they sought refuge with the Yu family of the Duke of Xian's household. Gu Yao thought her stepmother was kind and would surely protect her.

But she never imagined that her stepmother had other plans: she wanted to use Gu Yao to curry favor with Noble Consort Yu and marry her off to the deceased Second Prince, the consort's son. Even more unexpectedly, Noble Consort Yu had plans of her own. Looking at Gu Yao's peerless beauty, she secretly thought that instead of having this cousin wear the memorial tablet of her dead son, she might as well make good use of this pawn.

With no warning at all, Gu Yao was maneuvered by Noble Consort Yu into becoming the Emperor's woman. But that was not even the worst of it. After Gu Yao gave birth to the Fifth Prince, Noble Consort Yu took the child away and forced Gu Yao to drink poisoned wine.

Reborn, Gu Yao remembered how, when the truth came out in her previous life, everyone had said that she was a shameless cousin who had come to mooch off the family and dared to set her sights on the Emperor while Noble Consort Yu was grieving her son's death.

Remembering how she had been alone and helpless, with no way to defend herself, Gu Yao secretly swore that in this life she would have nothing to do with the palace. She decided to find herself a good marriage, even if it meant marrying into a less prestigious family.

But Heaven refused to grant her wish. The harder she tried to avoid the palace and the Emperor, the more she drew his attention.

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Blurb: At first, Song Yu had never considered marrying Xie Yingshi.

But the Emperor granted them a marriage, and he could not defy the decree. He had already decided to deliberately humiliate Xie Yingshi so everyone in the realm would know he disliked the match.

He did just that, assuming that Xie Yingshi would rely on her status as a princess and angrily move to the princess's residence.

But to his surprise, she endured everything he did to her. Whenever he took her to bed again and again, deliberately treating her like a plaything, she did nothing but cry and beg him to stop.

Looking at Xie Yingshi like this, Song Yu thought her aunt, the Empress, must have instructed her to feign affection and curry favor with him so she could spy on his military plans or even assassinate him.

But Xie Yingshi truly treated him as her husband, serving him without any ulterior motives. She never showed the slightest jealousy toward the women in his household, either.

If he had not known that Xie Yingshi had cried and protested when the Emperor arranged their marriage, and if he had not known that she was once meant to become the Crown Princess, Song Yu would almost have believed that she had truly fallen in love with him.

It was only when he discovered that it had all been because of a dream that he understood. She had only wanted to survive; it was not because she loved him deeply.

Knowing that all her obedience had been calculated, that her affection was false, and that she treated serving him like a job, his eyes filled with coldness.

No one had ever dared to humiliate him like this.

Since childhood, Yingshi had known she was destined to marry the Crown Prince and become his Crown Princess.

But before the decree of marriage arrived, rumors began to spread inside and outside the palace that her imperial uncle, the Emperor, planned to make her a princess and marry her off to the battle-hardened heir of the Prince of Yanbei, sending her far away to Yanbei.

In tears, Yingshi went to her aunt, the Empress. Her aunt, who had always doted on her, merely wiped away her tears and said nothing about sending her away to marry outside the capital.

Her aunt's response only added to Yingshi's worries. More than once, she woke in the middle of the night from a dream, crying with a sense of injustice.

Then one day, a dilapidated palace appeared in her dream. A woman lay on the bed, looking as pale as a shroud, with a sallow face and the appearance of a madwoman. That woman was none other than herself.

In the dream, she was in Jinling. She had become the Crown Princess and then the Empress, but she was now in the Southern Zhou dynasty.

A palace servant entered to report, "Your Majesty, I came especially to inform you that three days ago, His Majesty made the Second Princess the Princess Deyang and betrothed her to the elderly Prince of the Southwest as his second wife. But please don't worry. Although the old prince is advanced in years, he knows how to treat a woman well and will surely be good to the princess."

"You must understand that this marriage offers Southern Zhou a rare chance to catch its breath. Once the princess marries him, the Prince of the Southwest will surely join Southern Zhou in opposing the Prince of Yanbei."

The scene shifted. Xie Yingshi was dressed in fine robes again, and the palace before her was no longer the ruined, desolate palace from before. The middle-aged Crown Prince Zhou Rang, dressed in imperial robes, knelt before her in terror and begged, "Yingshi, the Prince of the Southwest has betrayed us and submitted to the Prince of Yan! Save your cousin, won't you? I'll give you to the Prince of Yan. Father always intended to make you a princess and betroth you to him. You were meant to be his woman. I'll give you back to him."

Xie Yingshi did not know why she had such a terrifying dream, but whenever she thought of it, she felt unsettled.

She did not want to become that poor woman, so she would do her best to be a suitable wife to the heir of the Prince of Yanbei. All it would take was some acting and a little patience.

Message: Strive for a positive outlook, and life will be beautiful.