My Cheap Husband Wants to Rebel (Reborn)

In her previous life, Su Xiang was determined to marry her childhood sweetheart and cousin, Shen Jun. She even threatened to take her own life to refuse the Wei Duke's household's marriage proposal.

But less than half a month after their wedding, Shen Jun took her closest cousin, Su Xiu, as his concubine.

Their vows of eternal love became a joke. Before she had been married into the Shen family for three years, she watched helplessly as her family fortune was seized and her brother died a tragic death.

Because of her foolishness, her branch of the Su family was ruined, its members killed and its bloodline extinguished.

Even after she died, her body lay undiscovered in a deserted courtyard for three days.

Reborn, she returned to the age of ten, just after coming back to the capital with her father, who had left his post in Qingzhou.

Her parents were alive, her brother was still there, and Shen Jun, who had ruined her life, and her cousin's family had yet to appear.

To steer clear of trouble and save her parents and brother, she had no choice but to latch onto Wei Ling, a powerful ally.

Even though she knew he would grow up to become the greatest treacherous official in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But she never imagined that, once her wish had been fulfilled and she was ready to walk away, he would trap her in a dead end.

At fifteen, newly come of age, Su Xiang gazed up at Wei Ling with a beaming smile. "Big Brother Wei, Mother says I can marry now that I've had my coming-of-age ceremony. She wants me to marry my cousin Shen Jun, but I won't! I've taken a fancy to Second Brother Luo from across the street. I want to marry him. Will you help me?"

Wei Ling gave nothing away. He merely raised one handsome eyebrow slightly, neither agreeing nor refusing.

Then, less than three days later, an imperial decree of betrothal arrived, and Wei Ling became her husband in name.

Just before the wedding, she clung to her mother's leg and pleaded through tears, "Mother, I don't want to get married. I want to stay with you and Father forever."

Her mother smiled with heartfelt satisfaction. "Young Master Wei is the most talented man in the capital. He's gentle and courteous, and one of the handsomest men here. What could an ordinary little girl like you possibly have to complain about?"

Su Xiang looked as if the sky had fallen. "...Mother, Wei Ling is not a good man!"

But her mother took her for a fool and sent her off in the bridal sedan anyway.

Later, Su Xiang discovered that her husband in name was not only sharp-tongued and ruthless, but also impossible to please.

Every few days, she would be so upset that she'd run back to the Su residence in tears to complain about him.

Yet as soon as she walked in the front door, without fail, her husband, despite his incredibly busy schedule, would personally come and drag her back home to teach her a lesson.

Somewhere along the way, those lessons resulted in two sons and a daughter.

People said Wei Ling was ruthless and cruel all his life, and that he treated political rivals and enemies with a viciousness that made them tremble.

But he reserved the softest place in his heart for his wife, Su Xiang.

For her sake, he could even relinquish the imperial power he was only a step away from claiming, casting it aside without a second thought...

[Please Note]

1. The male and female leads crossed paths in their previous lives, but the heroine was unaware of it. That is why the hero proposed to her in her previous life.

2. The heroine was married in her previous life, and the hero was married too, for political reasons, with no affection or intimacy.

3. The author's limited grasp of political intrigue means there isn't much scheming. The story is mainly a sweet, pampering domestic romance, with a little inner-courtyard conflict, but nothing complicated.

4. This is a fictional setting, so don't scrutinize the historical details. Aside from point two, it's a one-on-one romance with a happy ending!

Please add my upcoming novel, My Carefree Days in Ancient Times, to your reading list! Here's the blurb:

[Her Side]

In her previous life, Hua Rong died suddenly from overwork. When she woke up, she had transmigrated to the Western Ling Dynasty. As a concubine-born daughter, she resolved to reject the rat race and embrace idleness to the very end.

So while her sisters studied feminine virtues and skills to win over their future in-laws, she was busy tending her vegetable garden.

While they diligently visited other households to build connections in the capital's circle of young ladies, she was harvesting vegetables in the fields.

By the time they had found the men they loved, she had already prepared a banquet fit for an emperor.

Later, as her sisters one by one became engaged and married, she remained unnoticed.

Just when everyone thought marriage was out of reach for her, she casually pointed a finger and picked Xiao Chi, a penniless scholar.

So, under the sympathetic gazes of her sisters and neighbors, Hua Rong married into the impoverished Xiao family.

At the time, the Xiao family had nothing but a broken-down house and two scrawny younger siblings who were constantly hungry.

Anyone else would have despised such in-laws, but Hua Rong was thoroughly pleased. With a grand wave of her hand, she promptly shed her fine clothes, put on a coarse cloth headscarf and clothes, and set off with her two little tagalongs and her husband to enjoy a carefree, novel life as farmers.

Just as she thought her days would continue smoothly, with nothing but the same view stretching out before her, her family, who had severed ties with her, suddenly arrived in grand style to announce some good news: her poor husband had just topped the imperial examinations and become the new top scholar.

The culprit about to disrupt her carefree plans was standing at the gate in red robes and a red flower, smiling brightly at her.

Later, Hua Rong went from being the top scholar's wife to a county magistrate's wife, then skipped several ranks to become the prefect's wife.

In the end, as the prime minister's wife, she finally gave up resisting.

Oh well. No matter how hard she tried to take it easy, she couldn't compete with a husband overflowing with ambition.

[His Side]

Legend has it that Xiao Chi, the renowned prime minister, was brilliant and peerless in his schemes and wisdom. Yet he had only one wife in his life. They married young and journeyed together from poverty to wealth, loving each other until old age, never leaving or abandoning one another.

People assumed that Prime Minister Xiao was simply repaying her affection out of a sense of loyalty.

But they never knew that Xiao Chi had worked diligently all his life for no other reason than to please his lovely, kind wife.

So, when Hua Rong was old, bedridden, and nearing the end of her life, he resolutely abandoned the sovereign he had painstakingly served and the countless people of the realm.

On a bright morning, he clasped the hand of the only person he had ever loved and closed his eyes with her, setting off together for paradise.

A renowned prime minister, born for love and dying for love.

[Please Note]

1. This is similar in style to a farming-life novel, with a warm, everyday feel.

2. Both leads are each other's first and only love, with no angst.

Theme: Love means sharing the same aspirations and relying on each other.