The White Tea Queen

No one knows how wronged Yao Yao feels as the emperor's favorite consort. Everyone says she is a master of schemes, that she cannot bear a child but still clings to her man, and that she dragged a capable, proper, self-disciplined emperor into ruin, where he has never managed to climb back out.

Even fewer know that inside the Hall of Eternal Life, the gentle and refined emperor holds a beauty with skin as smooth as cream.

"Good girl, once you've finished this round, you can rest."

Yao Yao, feeling utterly aggrieved, cries until she is exhausted.

Yet the ground where her tears fell is not wet at all. Instead, it is scattered with glittering, translucent pearls.

Rong Yuan had a wise emperor for a grandfather and a foolish emperor for a father. His grandfather built a prosperous age, but his father squandered nearly all of it. By the time Rong Yuan takes over, the splendid realm in the eyes of the people is just an empty shell.

The new emperor, so worried about money that he cannot sleep at night, has no interest in the beauties of his harem. If he favors one, he has to give her a reward.

Until one day, an envoy from an island nation on the South Sea comes to court and presents the priceless treasure the emperor has dreamed of.

From then on, he sleeps soundly, keeps his beloved in a golden house, and has no one else.

In short: Love that begins with an ulterior motive may well last longer.

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Everyone says that Grand Marshal Jin Qing has rendered great service, but harbors wolfish ambitions and intends to use the young ruler to control the nobles.

Only the person beside him knows the truth: her cousin is a man of great talent and ambition, but he truly wants to quell the chaos between north and south and restore the realm.

Thus, marrying into the Jin family condemns Sang Rou to a life of lonely nights and constant anxiety.

On their wedding day, her cousin gallops a thousand li with a light cavalry unit to welcome the young ruler home.

On the day she gives birth, her cousin is far away in Liangzhou, leading eight thousand elite troops against eighty thousand northern Rong soldiers.

When their son grows up, he becomes even more troublesome, slinging a bow over his back and a knife at his waist as he slips out in the middle of the night to search for the father who never comes home.

Only when she is on her deathbed does Sang Rou finally see the man who gave her a life of wealth and a lifetime of loneliness.

His right eye is damaged and terrifyingly red, but his left eye holds endless tenderness. The arms that once fought thousands upon thousands of soldiers now tremble slightly as they hold her.

"A Rou, I..."

"Cousin, I understand. Don't say it."

He has his country and the world to protect, but her heart is small.

When she opens her eyes again, the flowers are in bloom. The most handsome and distinguished man in all the eighteen provinces of the realm plucks the prettiest crabapple blossom from a branch and tucks it into a young woman's hair.

"A Rou, I..."

"Cousin, the third son of the Xie family in Jiangdong is well-read and a proper, respectable gentleman. Please arrange this match for me."

After a long pause, the man says softly, "All right."

At her next wedding, Sang Rou feels neither joy nor sorrow, asking only for a peaceful life. But when the wedding veil is lifted, the man who has troubled her all her life is there again.

He does not leave her again. He does everything a newlywed husband should, then locks a silver chain around her while she sleeps soundly and carries her away.

"Jin Qing, you madman."

She has accepted her fate and another lonely life, but he refuses to accept it.

Another recommendation: My Spring Is Endless

Bai Sheng was a joke even before she was born. Her father was unknown, her mother was a simple-minded woman, and the Xie family sent her far away as soon as she was born. She was only able to return years later, after her maternal grandmother devoted herself to Buddhist practice and good deeds.

Raised wild and free, Bai Sheng has grown into her own person. While her cousins flutter with excitement over the Crown Prince's grandson staying at their home, yet hesitate and fret without daring to approach him, Bai Sheng alone finds his lodgings and lightly taps on his window.

"Your Highness, do you think I'm beautiful?"

Beneath the soft moonlight, the young woman has snowy skin and rosebud lips, with a crabapple blossom in her hair. She is dazzling beyond compare.

"Shameless."

That night, the vigorous young man dreams all night long.

Another day, just before bedtime, Bai Sheng appears at the window again.

With a flower painted on her forehead, she is lively and spirited, her bright eyes turning with an otherworldly charm.

"Your Highness, would you marry me?"

"Shameless."

The one who is even more shameless is the Crown Prince's grandson himself, tossing and turning all night.

The next day, she appears in the clear light of the moon, wearing no makeup, with only a gardenia tucked beside the window.

"Your Highness, I'm leaving."

With that, she turns and truly walks away.

The Crown Prince's grandson watches her graceful figure disappear into the moonlight. For some reason, his heart aches.

Another spring comes. The Prince of Yingchuan takes a second wife and throws a lavish wedding banquet. The young emperor attends in person, wanders into the rear courtyard, and chances upon a beautiful bride who has slipped away in her wedding dress.

Beneath the moonlight, her red robes and snowy skin look like a scene from a poem or painting. She gazes at him for a long while before asking, "Who are you?"

The eyes that once gazed at him with affection are now full of cold distance.

The noble emperor, who can have anything he wants and cares about nothing, tastes for the first time the soul-crushing agony of heartbreak and longing for someone he cannot have.

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