From Widow to Princess Consort

Content warning: The heroine is not a virgin, while the hero is; eleven-year age gap; more to be added.

As she lay gravely ill and near death, Chi Yuyan learned that her husband was still alive. He had only lost his memory, and had married the Regent's adopted daughter.

For the sake of this immense fortune, her husband's family had slowly poisoned her to death, day after day.

When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the time just after her husband's supposed death.

Her family wanted to take her home, but the Shen family refused to let her go, insisting that Chi Yuyan remain a widow for Shen Yunhe.

The Shen family was powerful, and Chi Yuyan had always been timid and compliant. In her previous life, she obediently accepted her fate, but still lost her life in the end. Now that she had another chance, she gritted her teeth and took refuge in a Daoist temple, only to find herself looking into a pair of tranquil eyes.

The Regent of the current dynasty, Chu Chen.

She didn't want to die, and she wasn't willing to accept her fate. So when he reached out and lifted her chin, Chi Yuyan trembled but did not pull away.

*

When he married Chi Yuyan, Shen Yunhe had been deeply reluctant. She was only a merchant's daughter, after all.

Later, after losing his memory and marrying again, he returned home with his lovely wife and young son. He thought it might be nice to keep Chi Yuyan at home as a concubine. But the county lady's pressure and his family's reputation left him no choice but to divorce her.

At the time, he thought that with Chi Yuyan's temperament, she probably wouldn't survive away from the Shen family. He could secretly find her a house and keep her there in comfort, as an act of charity.

But who could have guessed that Chi Yuyan would disappear without a trace?

When he saw her again, he was visiting his adoptive father, the Regent, with his wife. The prince, whose status was as exalted as his, held Chi Yuyan by the shoulder and cherished her tenderly, as though she were the most precious treasure in the world.

*

Chu Chen had cultivated his Daoist heart for many years and had never been interested in women. It wasn't until he met Chi Yuyan that he realized he was only an ordinary man after all.

If his Qingqing smiled at him, he would gladly give his life for her.

"A slave cannot escape her fate. Let Your Lordship cherish her as you please."

[After the First Wife in the Second-Wife Story Awakens]

Content warning: The heroine is not a virgin, the second male lead takes the hero's place; more to be added.

While gravely ill, Ruan Rong'an dreamed of a storybook. Its hero was her husband, and its heroine was her stepsister. She herself was the arrogant and overbearing first wife, fortunately dead young, who was mentioned in passing while people praised the emperor and empress's loving marriage.

When she woke, she heard her mother-in-law, who had always treated her with affection, discussing with her husband how they would welcome her stepsister into the family as his second wife once she died. Her usually cold husband was worried that moving too quickly might make her stepsister feel wronged.

Ruan Rong'an knew Song Suichen didn't love her. He had only married her because of the marriage agreement arranged when they were children. He resented her extravagance and love of pleasure, her clinginess and spoiled nature, and her bold, capricious ways. He criticized her for being utterly unfit to manage the marquis's household.

But she had never forgotten how patiently he had comforted her as a child. So over the years, she had reined in her temper and been obedient and considerate. Still, she could never measure up to Ruan Rongrong's gentle, sensible, and understanding nature.

Ruan Rong'an fought to stay alive, then left in a decisive divorce.

*

Song Suichen had always thought he didn't like Ruan Rong'an. He loved peace and quiet, but she was boisterous. His heart was set on imperial ambitions, while all she cared about was eating, drinking, and having fun. She couldn't help him make connections with the women of other households, or share his burdens.

But he had never imagined that one day she would leave him in a way that nearly destroyed them both.

The residence suddenly felt empty.

It seemed his heart had emptied along with it.

When he heard that Gongye Hao had proposed to Ruan Rong'an, he rushed there like a madman and watched helplessly as she smiled and threw herself into another man's arms.

He stumbled and fell from his horse, but the girl who used to worry and ask after him at the slightest injury didn't even look at him again.

*

Everyone said that the powerful minister Gongye Hao had a kindly face but a ruthless heart, and that he had no interest in women. No one knew that he had always loved a young woman. Unfortunately, she loved someone else, so all he could do was watch from afar.

Later, the young woman divorced her husband.

Theme: What goes around comes around; no one escapes retribution.