The Princess Consort Becomes Empress

Song Yao was married to Prince Xiang, Li Huan, by the late emperor's decree. But after six months of marriage, her husband still hadn't so much as touched her bedside.

At first, Song Yao thought her husband was impotent, but the imperial physician said everything worked just fine. Then she thought he had someone else in his heart and was keeping himself chaste for his true love, but after investigating the entire prince's residence, she couldn't find a single woman he had any romantic entanglements with... until she saw her husband tangled up with a male attendant in his study.

Ha! The truth was even worse than she'd imagined.

Her mother-in-law, the Dowager Consort, blamed her for failing to win her husband's affection. She insisted her son liked men, not women, and that the fault had to lie with Song Yao as his consort.

Married by imperial decree, Song Yao could neither divorce him nor keep male lovers like her husband. The thought of spending the next several decades as a widow in all but name scared her awake night after night!

Then she saw her husband's young, handsome elder brother in the imperial garden... Well, to prove she was more than capable, Song Yao gave her husband one beautiful green hat after another.

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The first time Emperor Yuanlong, Li Xian, saw his younger brother's wife, the Princess Consort of Xiang, he was struck by her breathtaking beauty and thought how lucky his seventh brother was.

Later, when word got around that his good-for-nothing younger brother preferred men, he felt quite sorry for the Princess Consort.

Then, later still, the delicate and soft Princess Consort of Xiang leaned against him and sweetly called, "Your Majesty..."

Li Xian: "..."

Theme: You start it, I'll finish it. We'll all have a wonderful future!