The Eastern Palace's Guide to Putting on an Act

*Xian Chi died on the night of her wedding to the Duke's heir.

As her life came to an end, she thought back on it, and it all seemed like a dream of golden millet.

Three years earlier, the Chi family had brought her back to the capital and sent her into the Eastern Palace under an assumed name. She lay low beside the Crown Prince, waiting for a chance to pull Ning Xun from his throne.

Under the Chi family's watchful eyes, she had played the part of Ning Xun's devoted lover for three years, certain she had left no trace of her true intentions.

Except for the moments when she happened to catch the sharpness in Ning Xun's eyes before he could hide it, making her start in alarm. It was as if he had long known she was merely a hidden piece on the chessboard, and was simply playing along with her.

After a great fire in the Eastern Palace, she accomplished her mission and left, then married into the Duke of Zhenguo's household, only to die on her wedding night.

*Xian Chi awoke in the carriage returning to the capital.

In her previous life, it was as if she had lived in a fog, dragged forward by others against her will.

Reborn, she wanted to see every path beneath her feet clearly.

If so, why not stay in the Eastern Palace a little longer? All she had to do was put on an act in front of Ning Xun. It was just like riding a bicycle: the first time was hard, the second was easy.

*In her previous life, Xian Chi was blind to many things and never learned the truth.

For instance, she didn't know that shortly after her death, the new emperor had seized the throne with an iron fist, and that he was none other than the man in the Eastern Palace who had supposedly died in the fire three months earlier.

On the seventh night after her death, a snowy night, the new emperor stood alone for an entire night, holding an umbrella over her grave.

Because, on a snowy day in the Eastern Palace, while waiting for him to return, she had once grumbled that she disliked getting snow all over herself. It made her cold.

From then on, he never made her wait again.

But now he could never wait for her again, either.

*Little scene:

In her previous life, not long after Xian Chi entered the Eastern Palace, she made plum blossom pastries with her own hands and brought them to the study.

Ning Xun smiled as he accepted the food box, then took her hand and taught her to draw a winter-counting picture.

After Xian Chi returned to her room, she ordered her maid, "Bring me a damp cloth. I just touched something filthy."

In the study, Ning Xun didn't even look at the food box before tossing it to his trusted aide. "How could I dare eat anything of hers? Take it out and feed it to the dogs."

As the plum blossom pastries were thrown out to the dogs, Xian Chi's maid happened to see them and went back to report it. Xian Chi only said cheerfully, "Oh, I was planning to feed them to the dogs anyway."

In this life, Xian Chi had wasted quite a few days before remembering she had yet to make Ning Xun anything to eat. If the Chi family's watchers saw her neglecting the task, she might seem far too idle.

But she had only spent half an hour in the small kitchen and, being out of practice, hadn't managed to make a single presentable plum blossom pastry. Then Ning Xun walked in, picked one at random from the pile of charred black pastries, and took a bite. Without changing his expression, he praised it: "Delicious." Then he took her hand and led her out. "You've been kneading the dough for too long. Be careful not to hurt your hands."

Reader's guide:

1. The heroine is reborn.

2. Find me on Weibo: @Jinjiang Xue Mantou

Hope you enjoy reading~

----New story divider----

After Marrying the Late White Moonlight's Younger Brother:

[Twins competing for the heroine + the white moonlight who died young vs. the lover who stayed by her side]

Her betrothed died the year she came of age.

Cui Zhiyao had been engaged to the Lu family's eldest son, Lu Heng, since childhood. Their families were close, and she had grown up alongside the Lu twins. The three of them had been raised together.

Though the Lu twins looked exactly alike, they were easy to tell apart. The elder brother, Lu Heng, was levelheaded and a gentleman, while the younger, Lu Zhao, was a shameless troublemaker.

Lu Heng taught her to read and write, while Lu Zhao plotted how to lure her away from Lu Heng and take her out to play.

Then the Lu family was convicted, Lu Heng died, and Lu Zhao was exiled three thousand li along with the rest of his family.

Four years later, the Lu family's wrongful conviction was overturned, and the once-quiet Marquis of Cheng'en's estate was bustling again.

Only her A-Heng-gege would never return.

*On the day Lu Zhao returned to the capital, he searched the crowd of people congratulating him at the estate, but the one person he most wanted to see was nowhere to be found.

He sent someone to ask, only to learn that the Cui family was choosing a husband for their daughter, and Cui Zhiyao was enjoying the willows by the riverbank with the man she favored.

*Lu Zhao rode hard to catch up and saw her smiling as she took the hand the man held out to her.

The yearning that had gnawed at him for thousands of days and nights suddenly broke loose, driving him mad.

He grabbed her wrist, veins bulging across the back of his hand. Yet his words came out soft. "I came back alive against all odds. Why didn't you come see me?"

Five years apart, after so many hardships, the young man had shed all his youthful awkwardness and seemed like a different person.

Zhiyao looked at him, but all she could think was that A-Heng-gege had grown up to look just like this.

*Lu Zhao had once demanded to know why, if she only wanted to choose a husband who would live well with her, she couldn't choose him.

Zhiyao stared absently at that identical face, thinking that being with him would feel like betraying Lu Heng.

Lu Zhao couldn't stand the look in her eyes. He held her fiercely, as if trying to embed her in his very bones. His voice was low, but sounded almost pleading. "If you like, I can learn to be like him, learn how he treated you. Stay, all right?"

The little scene is too long to include here. You can find it on my profile! (rolling around) Thanks for your support~! (big kiss)

Theme: Love should be honest and direct.