The Classic Wife-Chasing Crematorium

An over-eighty-year-old Grand Tutor charged headfirst into a stone lion and died on the spot, giving his life to make a stand. Blood splattered everywhere.

The news spread throughout the court, causing an uproar inside and out.

A veteran minister of three dynasties, driven to such extremes in his old age, could only have one reason.

The Grand Tutor came from the Wang clan of Longxi, a family with few descendants. Its sole legitimate grandson, Wang Yan, had been born with the scent of orchids about him. Clear-eyed and handsome, graceful in bearing, precocious and kindhearted, he was praised by all, and the Taiqing Daoist Temple repeatedly welcomed him as an honored guest.

Now, however, with the new emperor still young, Empress Dowager Cui Yi held all the power. Disregarding the fact that the late emperor's body had not yet grown cold, she forcibly confined Wang Yan in the palace.

.

Cui Yi could not understand why Wang Yan hated her.

Just as his name suggested, Wang Yan was weary of worldly affairs every day, longing to become an immortal and leave it all behind. Yet once, for a brief moment, he had truly been moved by her... if only she had not drugged him that bowl of medicine.

Cui Yi held his wrist captive and watched the skin rub raw, leaving red marks on his wrist bone. Her expression was sorrowful. “Wang Yan, I thought you understood me.”

Wang Yan's voice was hoarse. “Understand you? You want me to understand why you drugged me, why you turned around and married someone else... why you killed my family?”

“You trampled all over me,” he said.

She had broken his fingers, humiliated him in public, and even had his face disfigured. Wang Yan could not let any of it go.

Cui Yi was cold-blooded by nature, but hearing him say this, she could not help shedding tears. “How could I have been free while caught in the grip of power and ambition? There was nothing I could do in the past, but I can make it all up to you now. I have you in my heart. You have to stay by my side, Wang Yan. Wang Yan.”

She had hurt him recklessly because she thought they would make up sooner or later.

But she had forgotten that Wang Yan was no ordinary man.

The day word arrived that Young Master Wang Yan had slit his wrists and taken his own life, even the usually composed empress dowager lost her composure.

Content warnings:

1. A realistic story, not both characters' first time. The female lead has a secret crush on the male lead. A selfish, possessive villainess who takes what she wants by force x a clear-headed, independent male lead who knows what he wants from beginning to end.

2. Equal parts suffering for the female and male leads. If you're going to curse someone, curse our girl. She's awful, but the author is the male lead's devoted mother and will make her suffer for it in return (wiping tears).

3. There will be lots of mentally ill supporting characters, and they get quite a bit of screentime. Weibo: @Zaodao Lian

Theme: Cherish the person by your side