My Dearest Wife

A scheming beauty with a flair for acting vs. a fake playboy who's actually a devoted loyalist

Jiang Nianqing grew up in Jiangnan, with a slender waist, graceful figure, and skin like ice and jade.

Everyone said that when she pressed a hand to her chest and coughed softly, she looked like Xi Shi reborn, so delicate and pitiable.

Xiao Xing watched her climb a tree to retrieve a kite and fell into deep thought.

When she was fifteen, someone came from the capital to bring Jiang Nianqing home and marry her to Prince Xuan.

At the gates of the Jiang family home, she acted all delicate and fainted after pretending to stumble.

Since she'd already arrived, she might as well fall ill, then cancel the engagement.

At a banquet, Jiang Nianqing secretly climbed a tree to catch someone in the act.

But someone had gotten there before her. He leaned back against a branch, smiling lazily.

"Well, well, isn't this my sickly cousin-in-law, confined to bed?"

"Um... I came to see my fiance."

"What a coincidence. I came to see my fiancee, too. Third Miss Jiang, you're quite the climber."

"Ahem, you're too kind."

**

Xie Yanting was a notorious playboy in the capital, spending his days carousing.

His mother was a princess, his father a great general, and his uncle the emperor doted on him.

He'd grown up spoiled, getting whatever he wanted, but nobody knew he was trapped in the capital, unable to take a single step toward freedom.

He wanted to be an eagle soaring across the battlefield, but was forced to be a swallow beneath the eaves of wealth.

He indulged himself by day, but studied hard at night.

Later, when he met Jiang Nianqing, he saw her hold back her tears, her eyes red as she cried with extraordinary restraint.

His heart trembled, as if he were seeing his younger self.

The capital had trapped another person.

He would carve out a place for himself from the mire, break through the darkness and forge a ray of light,

then offer it to her with his own hands.

Content warnings:

1. An alternate setting, with no real-life inspiration.

2. Both leads have had no prior partners, emotionally or physically.

Coming soon: Meeting in the Snow

A laid-back beauty who lives for gossip vs. a proud, aloof young general who falls for her all on his own

#When a gossip notebook gets mistaken for a diary of secret love#

Yao Zhixue, daughter of the Grand Tutor, was elegant and refined, with peerless beauty. She was widely known as the capital's number-one beauty.

Suitors crowded her doorstep, but her heart was set in stone and nothing could move her.

Grand Tutor Yao could only sigh with worry as he watched her act like she had renounced the world.

At twenty-two, Wei Chi was a refined and handsome young general, admired by everyone.

Half the women in the capital were smitten with him, longing for him in secret, but he kept his distance from women and had no interest in romance.

One day, Yao Zhixue accidentally dropped the notebook she used exclusively to keep track of gossip.

Everyone read "Notes on Wei Chi" on the title page, fell silent, then suddenly understood.

Yao Zhixue: No, wait, let me explain... argue my case... whatever.

Rumors immediately swept the capital: Yao Zhixue was in love with Wei Chi, would marry no one else, and had cried herself nearly to death over him.

Yao Zhixue: "..."

Isn't that rumor getting a little too ridiculous?

Her friend was frantic and urged her to put an end to this ill-fated romance as soon as possible.

By the lake, he spoke coldly. "I advise you to give up."

Yao Zhixue nodded vigorously. "I'll give up right now."

But why was he starting to look at her so strangely?

Later, when Song Tingyuan returned to the capital to report on his duties, he hoped to rekindle his relationship with Yao Zhixue.

Before Yao Zhixue could turn him down, Wei Chi appeared out of nowhere. "Times have changed and things aren't what they used to be. Miss Yao is in love with me now and won't marry anyone else. I advise you to give up while you can."

Yao Zhixue: "?"

She tried to make an awkward escape, but at the corner beneath the covered walkway, she ran straight into his arms. The usually cold man looked at her with wounded reproach, accusing her of seducing him and then abandoning him.

Yao Zhixue protested her innocence. How could she have seduced him when nothing had even started?

But the man before her refused to let it go. His gaze was tender and clinging as he begged, "Then give me a chance, will you?"

Content warnings:

1. Both leads have had no prior partners. The female lead once felt a brief attraction to the second male lead, but nothing came of it. The male lead will get intensely jealous, so don't read if that bothers you.

2. An alternate setting with lots of original worldbuilding and no real-life inspiration. Please don't overanalyze it.

Theme: Live well and love well