After the Fake Heiress Became a Princess Sent Away for a Political Marriage

[Upcoming story, "The Fallen Queen Is Forced to Take the Throne (Nation-Building)," available in the author's collection] The fourth young lady of the Ming family, Ming Yao, had skin like jade and delicate hands. She was refined and graceful, well-versed in history and the classics, and renowned throughout the capital for her pipa performances. Then one day, it came to light that Ming Yao wasn't a daughter of the Ming family. She was driven out, and aside from a fifty-year-old wealthy merchant who wanted to take her as a concubine, not a single person was willing to help her. She would rather starve or freeze to death, or jump into the city moat, than marry a man old enough to be her father. So Ming Yao really did jump into the moat. Who would have thought that when she opened her eyes again, she would become a princess sent to marry into a foreign tribe? The princess was supposedly to be married to the most brutal clan on the grasslands. Its people ate raw flesh and blood, and its leader stood eight feet tall and delighted in killing. Her maidservant cried in her ear every day: "Princess, how are you going to survive?" Ming Yao: I might as well die again. As the wedding party traveled deeper into the grasslands, a pack of wolves surrounded them. A tall, burly man appeared from the sky and became everyone's savior. Ming Yao was about to thank him when the first thing he said was, "Is this the princess sent to me?" Her future husband spoke Han Chinese quite well, but he was just as terrifying as the rumors claimed: eight feet tall, with a fierce face and a booming voice. Ming Yao did not disappoint. The moment her future husband touched her shoulder, tears poured down her face like beads from a broken string. Ming Yao: It hurts. Later, Ming Yao married Di Xiao. His favorite thing to say to her was, "Be good!" At first, Ming Yao was intimidated by his authority. After hearing it so often that her ears nearly grew calluses, she finally lost patience. The next time he told her to be good, she smacked him on the forehead. Di Xiao's ears turned red, but he still opened his mouth and said the same two words: "Be good!" In Di Xiao's eyes, the wife he'd won in battle was perfect in every way. She could teach his people to weave and farm, help treat sick cattle and sheep, and even show everyone how to travel inland and trade with the Han people. The only problem was that she was too delicate. She couldn't stomach the smell of meat, couldn't live outdoors, and even riding a horse chafed her legs so badly she couldn't walk for days. Recently, she'd become especially brazen. She wouldn't even let him share her bed, and now she wouldn't let him talk to her. Di Xiao darkened his expression, but his wife was even fiercer. She covered his mouth and bared her teeth. "I told you not to talk!" **Upcoming story, "The Fallen Queen Is Forced to Take the Throne (Nation-Building)," available in the author's collection** In the third year of the apocalypse, Chu Yunyao died of starvation. When she opened her eyes again, she had become the fallen queen from a book. The good news: Though the queen was out of favor, she controlled the palace and wanted for nothing. The bad news: Five years later, the rebels would breach the city, and the queen wouldn't escape death. She'd be hung from the city gate and starved to death. Before Chu Yunyao had a chance to enjoy her riches, she quickly put her apocalypse-honed skills to work, stockpiling supplies to stay alive. She saved money, food, and talented people. She knew well that it was better to prepare in advance. She stockpiled grain and farmland to guard against hunger and cold, and merchants who traded overseas to bring back gold and silver. She stockpiled doctors to prevent disease and warriors to serve as guards. She also recruited scholars, craftsmen, merchants, and many others who crossed her path. Five years passed. The imperial consorts regarded her as their leader. Crops were planted from the capital to the far northwest, and nearly ten thousand granaries were filled with grain. Overseas merchants brought back countless treasures, along with high-yield crops like sweet potatoes and potatoes. Doctors developed an anesthetic, while craftsmen invented armor made of refined iron. Even the merchants opened a trade route to the Western Regions on their own initiative. The storehouses were full, and everything was in place. All that remained was to abandon the city and flee. The rebels arrived right on schedule. But the rebel leader at the head of the charge looked strangely familiar. Chu Yunyao: ...He looks a bit like Pei Heyu, the Prince of Qin's heir whom she'd raised for five years. Then she noticed the sweet potatoes and anesthetic tied to the rebels' waists and the refined iron armor they wore. Chu Yunyao: ...Something seems off. Before the eyes of the crowd, the cold, imposing rebel leader dismounted, crawled on his knees to her feet, and bowed low. "We await Your Highness's ascension..." Behind him, tens of thousands of rebels knelt and begged the queen to ascend the throne. Chu Yunyao: ...The rebels are actually my own people? The empress ascended the throne, and the whole nation celebrated. But no one knew of the twisted obsession in Pei Heyu's heart. In public, he was a great general deeply trusted by the empress. In private, he disguised himself as a pitiful actor, a palace eunuch, even a courtesan from a brothel... Pei Heyu did not dare ask for the position of empress. He could only secretly hope his empress would summon him a couple more times. He knew his empress disliked ambitious founding generals, but showed great concern for the pitiful, powerless heir to the Prince of Qin... Reading tips: 1. A bold, careful hoarder x an ambitious, devoted, tragic young lord who cooks for love 2. The female lead grows into someone who will become an empress whose word is law. 3. She will not marry or have children. The male lead is present, but has no title or status and must remain hidden. Theme: Knowledge changes your fate