The Mad Dog Wants to Pluck the Moon

[Rugged Man from a Different Race x Beautiful Wife]

[Skin Tone Difference / Size Difference]

Chu Yuzhi was a beautiful fisherman's daughter. After she accidentally rescued Han Zong, the Grand Marshal, while he was away on campaign, she married him all by herself. He was the perfect husband every young woman in all of Dayan dreamed of marrying.

They had been married for more than ten years, and Chu Yuzhi had borne no children. Grand Marshal Han Zong had also remained faithful to his wife and never taken a concubine. Their marriage was celebrated throughout Dayan as a match made in heaven, and even Chu Yuzhi herself believed it. Though she did not love him, she was moved by the respect and affection Han Zong showed her, and dutifully managed his household.

*

But one day, after waking from a dream, Chu Yuzhi suddenly remembered that she had transmigrated into the novel Clouds of Joy. She was a supporting character: lowborn and stunningly beautiful, but foolish and jealous, unloved by the male lead, Han Zong, and ultimately killed by a beast, leaving no body behind.

In the novel, Chu Yuzhi was merely a shield Han Zong had put in place to protect the woman he loved. She had remained childless for over a decade because she had been secretly given cold medicine on their wedding night. Han Zong had reserved the position of his legitimate eldest son for Yun Xi, the maid who served him, whom he quietly sheltered and gradually came to care for.

Yun Xi was cherished like a treasure, while Chu Yuzhi was trampled into the mud like a weed.

Her life was laughable from beginning to end. After she died in disgrace, Han Zong ascended the throne and, amid a lavish wedding procession that filled the capital, married his little maid, making her the empress of the new dynasty and the mother of the realm.

When she awoke, Chu Yuzhi looked at Han Zong sleeping beside her and flew into a rage. Since you secretly kept that woman for decades and let her climb over me to rise to power, surely me using your money to keep a man is only fair in return, right?

*

Now that she knew what happened in the novel, Chu Yuzhi refused to pave the way for someone else to claim her reward.

She stopped carefully managing Han Zong's household, stopped cultivating social connections among the wives to save his face, and stopped tenderly bringing him sweet soup every night while he worked late on official duties...

Having seen through everything, Chu Yuzhi planned to find a "helper" who could assist her in leaving the Han household one day. But then she discovered that the stable hand serving the Han family was none other than the future King of the Northwest, who would contend with Han Zong for the realm and leave him powerless. Even after Han Zong became emperor, he would still be forced to give way before the King of the Northwest's iron cavalry.

Chu Yuzhi: Hmm, perhaps I should consider this man...

*

Zang Qi was born to a Hu father and a Han mother. From childhood, he was called a "mongrel" and a "mad dog." Wild and unruly, he was branded with a slave mark and put up for sale at the slave market. Fortunately, the Grand Marshal's wife took notice of him and brought him into the Han residence, where he became the lowliest stable hand. But he would never forget that glimpse of the noble madam as she lifted the carriage curtain to look at him:

Her eyes shone with life, and she was alluring and captivating.

Zang Qi could not say anything pretty, but in that moment, for reasons he could not explain, he wanted to kneel at the madam's feet. If she gave the word, he would kill or set fires for her.

Unfortunately, he was lowborn and worthless. Even the horses in the residence outranked him. For three years after entering the household, he could only catch distant glimpses of the madam while leading the horses.

Until one day, he heard that the madam wanted to learn to ride. As the household's best horse trainer, he was brought before her. It was the second time in three years that he and the madam met eyes.

From then on, he was terrified that his rough hands might snag the delicate embroidery on her clothes.

Notes:

1. The heroine only remembered that she had transmigrated years after marrying Han Zong. The novel she transmigrated into is called Clouds of Joy.

2. The male lead is Zang Qi. He is a virgin, while the heroine is not. She is five years older than him: she is 28, and he is 23.

3. The heroine's husband is Han Zong. Han Zong loves his maid, and later he will suffer a truly devastating downfall.

4. The heroine does not love Han Zong. The reason she married him will be explained in the story.

5. More to be added if I think of anything else.

[2022.09.23]

Theme: Live for yourself