The Scheming Concubine's Rise to Power

Iris was beautiful from the moment she was born: almond-shaped eyes, cherry-red lips, a face like a hibiscus, and a slender waist like a willow branch. When she smiled, a pair of dimples appeared, giving her a gentle, beguiling charm. The only problem was that she was no more than a servant in the Feng household. The Feng family’s young miss had schemed her way into marrying Xie Zhuo, the noble young heir of a duke’s household, only to be neglected by him. A year into their marriage, they still had not consummated it. So Madam Feng chose Iris to serve as her daughter’s bedchamber attendant. Iris overheard Madam Feng advising her daughter. “Sending Iris over is just giving him a plaything. Once she has a child, you’ll have her contract in your hands. You can beat her or kill her as you please.” Iris smiled. Why should a servant’s life be worth nothing? The night she was sent to Xie Zhuo’s room, she saw him frown and turn to leave. She caught his sleeve, tears glistening in her eyes. “Young Master, I only ask that you stay here for one night and save my life. I’ll know my place and never overstep.” After he stayed, she was gentle and attentive, his confidante who could always smooth away the furrow in his brow. Then one day, in the light spring clothes she wore, she became his true woman. Later, when she became pregnant, she deliberately let him catch her trying to end the pregnancy. As he seethed with rage, she threw herself into his arms, weeping like a pear blossom in the rain. “How could I not love my own child? I’m just afraid that if I give birth, Madam won’t tolerate me anymore... How could I bear to see him left all alone in this world...” Before long, Xie Zhuo obtained her contract. She was no longer a servant. Not long after that, he divorced his wife. However, when Iris heard that Xie Zhuo was going to marry a new wife, she took her child and tried to leave the estate that very night. When he stopped her, she was already looking aggrieved. “I don’t want Heng’er to call someone else Mother and be treated as lesser from now on.” Of course, she managed to ruin the marriage, and became his legal wife instead. One night, Xie Zhuo suddenly sensed something was wrong. Just as his brow furrowed, his pregnant wife gave a soft whimper beside him. “Husband, my leg’s cramping again.” Xie Zhuo hurried out of bed to massage it. “Is that better?” His languid wife complained, “Use a little more strength.” Xie Zhuo had spent his life embodying propriety and integrity. He hated scheming women most of all. Yet in the end, Iris was the one who got the better of him... Coming soon: Reborn and Choosing to Cling to My Brother In her previous life, Cui Yingyue worked herself like a dog. She tried to please everyone, yet her own family despised her, and she earned a reputation for being arrogant and domineering. She and her husband weathered every hardship together, only for her to be strangled to death. After she died, she saw that the person who sat beside her corpse for three days and nights, avenging her, was the older brother she hated most, Cui Zhuo. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the year she had just been brought home. Back then, she had believed slander and hated Cui Zhuo. She had bullied him whenever he was at his lowest. This time, Cui Yingyue decided she would stop trying to please anyone. She only wanted to repay her brother and make this most difficult stretch of his life a little easier. When everyone else avoided Cui Zhuo, she volunteered to go look after him. People mocked her as an ignorant country girl, saying there was nothing to gain from attaching herself to a criminal condemned by the emperor. Later, Cui Zhuo returned to power and rose swiftly through the ranks. Everyone in the household rushed to curry favor with him, while noble young ladies clamored to marry him. He sat in the courtyard, surrounded by people, yet his eyes could see only one person. He beckoned Cui Yingyue over from the corner, smiling gently. “A Ying, come here.” In her previous life, Cui Zhuo rose to become Grand Secretary. On his first day in office, an official dragged his younger sister, Cui Yingyue, who had once bullied him, before him. But the official never imagined that one misguided attempt at flattery would end his political career. Looking at Cui Yingyue asleep, he dared for the first time to gently touch her face. He remembered how, many years ago, the girl had thrown away the poison he intended to use to end his life and pointed at him, scolding: “Cui Zhuo, what gives you the right? You stole more than ten years of my life, so what gives you the right to die? I want you to live and watch me rise above everyone, to live better than all of you.” Later, he held her cold, stiff corpse in his arms, carefully trying to warm her. “Cui Yingyue, wake up. Let me watch you live better than I ever did.” #Not blood-related siblings. The main characters are not related by blood.# The next-next book: Claiming the Emperor’s Heart Cui Xianyue, daughter of the Cui family, was born with the breathtaking beauty of a hibiscus and an elegant, ethereal grace. But the third branch of her family had long been oppressed, so she kept her brilliance hidden and never competed with anyone, like a pearl covered in dust or jade hidden in a box. Until the Empress Dowager took an interest in her and sent her to win the new emperor’s favor. As soon as she entered the palace, she was made a consort, and his favor never waned. People were jealous and said, “His Majesty must only be giving her face because of the Empress Dowager. Let’s see how long she can keep gloating!” Later, the Empress Dowager fell from power, and everyone waited to see Cui Xianyue come crashing down. Instead, the emperor made her empress in one decisive move. He abolished the six palaces and devoted himself to her alone. No one knew that the emperor had fallen for her at first sight. That day, she nervously clutched her collar, looking as frightened as a fawn. Her clear, limpid eyes gazed at him, and from then on, they ensnared his heart. After that, for the emperor, it was simply a matter of falling deeper and deeper. On the night of her coronation, the emperor held a bridal chamber ceremony just like an ordinary wedding. The moment he lifted her veil, the usually stern emperor gazed at her with tender affection. “I have long awaited this day.” “Thank you for coming to my side.” From then on, the summit of the world was no longer lonely. Theme: Work hard and strive for a better life.