I Married the Male Lead and Lived the Good Life

At the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Princess Cen Xue of the Western Liang Kingdom takes the stage to dance.

Her face is veiled in fine gauze. Her eyes sparkle as she glances around, and her graceful figure seems sculpted from jade.

Such a peerless beauty is a rare sight in this world. Everyone watches, utterly entranced, and Tian Ziluo is no exception.

The emperor is delighted. With a grand wave of his hand, he betroths the Princess of Liang to his beloved nephew, the heir to Prince Xuan, Tian Ziluo.

Tian Ziluo's expression instantly crumples. She is a fake heir, yet she has been betrothed to a real princess. The pressure is immense.

On their wedding night, she sees the bride sitting quietly beneath the lamplight, waiting for her.

Tian Ziluo knows this can't go on. She stamps her foot, steels herself, and confesses to the princess, "I'm a woman, just like you."

After getting that off her chest, she feels much better. That night, Tian Ziluo holds the princess as they fall asleep.

After they clear things up, Tian Ziluo becomes hopelessly captivated by the princess's beauty. As they spend their days together, she grows bolder and more uninhibited with her "beloved wife." They often lie entwined, cuddle, and playfully seek each other's affection.

Tian Ziluo never imagined that two girls could be so happy living together. How wonderful it would be to spend a lifetime like this!

Then one day, Tian Ziluo comes home and rushes into the bathhouse, only to discover the princess's secret as she bathes and changes.

It turns out this sister isn't a girl at all!

Heartbroken, Tian Ziluo bursts into tears. Her tears fall harder than the rain on the day Yiping was beaten: "Go away. We can't pretend to be husband and wife anymore."

Cen Shaoning calmly finishes dressing, then murmurs warmly in her ear, "Then let's be a real married couple."

Coming soon: "A Qing-Era Story: The Ninth Prince's Wife Is Loaded"

Blurb: Dong Jiarou married a man who married up, and her life after the wedding was a complete mess.

When she wakes, she has become Dong'e Jiarou, the principal wife of the Ninth Prince, Aisin Gioro Yintang, a pitiful figure everyone in the palace shakes their heads over.

The Ninth Prince dotes on his secondary consort, Wanyan. He often stays out all night, cares more about spending money than managing the household, and lets her spend as much silver as she likes... She's successfully secured beauty, leisure, and money to spend, while her scumbag husband stays away from home.

On top of that, she receives a pile of gifts from her parents-in-law whenever she goes to the palace to pay her respects. They're the dream in-laws she never dared to imagine!

History is moving along its original course. Jiarou thinks she can't just sit around and wait for disaster. She needs a way out, so she starts seriously managing the shops under her name.

She only meant to quietly save a little money for herself, but things soon got out of hand. Her business kept growing, and her silver kept piling up, until even the Ninth Prince came to her for advice and treated her like a deity...

My column also features completed works: the historical transmigration novel "After Becoming the Original Wife in an Imperial Exam Novel's Foil Couple," published in traditional Chinese; "The Real Heiress Stranded at the Border Pass"; and the completed contemporary romance "You, Bright as the Sun."

Theme: Every meeting is fate