After Marrying a Dumb Cannon-Fodder Workaholic (Transmigrate into a Book)

[Pre-release 1: After My Disabled Cousin Found Out I Was Trying to Win Him Over (blurb below)]

[Pre-release 2: So Poor and Ugly, Yet You Think You Can Be a Yandere?]

* Neither lead is the scheming, master-strategist type. Everyone else is busy taking political intrigue and the succession struggle seriously, while the leads are busy falling in love.

* Feel free to call this a piece of trash, and sensible criticism of plot holes is welcome, but I won't accept distorted, imagined, or fabricated plot points.

* Finally, respect, understanding, equality, and freedom.

Shen Zhichu transmigrated into a political romance novel as a cannon-fodder character. By imperial decree, she married another cannon-fodder character: the Fifth Prince, Ying Xi.

The fifth prince was an incompetent brute, and she didn't dare provoke him. She only hoped they could treat each other with respect and stay out of each other's way. But the fifth prince actually wanted the throne?

It's not that she looked down on him. The original novel made it perfectly clear: Ying Xi was reckless, incompetent, and stubborn. If he tried to seize the throne, he'd only be signing his own death warrant.

She didn't want her entire clan wiped out. All she wanted was a peaceful life, so she had to use every trick she could think of to steer the fifth prince away from the wrong path:

Keep an eye on him at all times so he has no time to plot a rebellion;

Drop hints and advise him so he'll lose his obsession with the throne;

Flatter him with sweet words until he misjudges the political situation.

She felt that the fifth prince wasn't all that bad. He was even a little naive and endearing, just a straight-talking man with an unusual way of thinking. All in all, he was an interesting person.

If he didn't rebel, she'd be quite happy to stay with him. After all, his family was rich and powerful, and his health problems meant he couldn't have children.

But the fifth prince rebelled anyway.

Since he was determined to rebel and die, she had no choice but to run. The fact that she didn't turn him in was proof enough of her deep affection.

Until, beneath the city walls, Ying Xi stood clad in armor and covered in blood, making her an impassioned promise: "Once I'm emperor, the empress's throne will be yours!"

-

She used the horsemanship he taught her to escape, and the swordsmanship he taught her to fight him.

Only then did Ying Xi realize that all her tender, loving gestures had been an act put on by Shen Zhichu.

He would never believe a single word she said again. What a liar!

But Shen Zhichu asked him, "So, do you still want to hold me?"

"Yes."

1v1, both leads' first and only partners

A clever layabout and her silly workaholic husband

An original setting, marriage first, love later

Warning: The male lead is a rough, rather clueless sort, not a clever strategist.

Yu Qiuci transmigrated into a historical romance game.

In the game, the heroine gained influence by winning over different men, eventually becoming an empress and enjoying the company of a whole harem.

But Qiuci was just a well-behaved student who had only recently graduated high school. She had no interest in becoming an empress; she just wanted to finish the mission and go home as soon as possible.

Her first target was her older cousin, who couldn't walk.

Although he was disabled, the older cousin was easygoing and well-mannered, with a refined and gentle air.

She tried everything she could think of, but only managed to earn a tiny bit of his favor. In the end, she refined her research and came up with a set of strategies for winning people over.

Still, whenever she saw her older cousin's empty trouser legs hidden beneath his robe, she felt as if she were committing a crime.

But this was only a game, and her older cousin was just a character in it.

She had only one reason for getting close to him: to earn his favor, then meet his friend, the monk Mingjing. Mingjing could introduce her to the next target.

Among the ornamental rocks at the temple, she used the same trick she'd used on her cousin:

She twisted her ankle and fell into Mingjing's arms, then blushed and fled.

Last time, that was how she'd won over her cousin, raising his favorability from 0 to 20. It was bound to work this time too.

What she didn't know was that Lu Huaicheng had seen everything from atop the ornamental rocks...

-

Lu Huaicheng was the eldest legitimate son of the Earl of Luyang. He had stood out from an early age, blessed with extraordinary talent and good looks. Everyone in Luzhou City liked him.

Until he lost both legs in a horse race at the age of seventeen.

The title passed to someone else, his marriage prospects disappeared, and even his mother, who had once been proud of him, began to grow distant...

He was no longer the young Master Lu whom everyone loved. He was just a cripple who couldn't even get out of bed.

After that devastating blow, Lu Huaicheng remained gentle and gracious, but he was no longer truly himself. He was merely clinging to life, waiting to be released from it.

Then he met his younger cousin, who was staying at the estate. She was so warm and enthusiastic, yet so inexperienced. Every carefully planned little gesture of hers was clumsy.

But he couldn't be with her. She was young and didn't know any better. He had to know better.

But his cousin said she was serious, that she truly loved him, and that she was an adult who could take responsibility for her own choices.

She was a tender young flower bud, just about to bloom. He wanted to pluck her,

But he couldn't. He wasn't worthy.

Until one day, he heard her talking to something:

- "System, what do I do? Big Cousin rejected me again. At this rate, am I going to be stuck here for the rest of my life?"

- "Don't panic. Lu Huaicheng's favorability toward you is already at 60. Soon he'll take you to meet Mingjing, and then you can go straight after Mingjing."

- "Good point. Big Cousin's a tough nut to crack. I hope Mingjing will be easier to win over."

So she was a flower bud with thorns.

He would break her.

1v1, both leads' first and only partners

A gentle, restrained, disabled male lead x an inexperienced, passionate young woman

Note: Age gap: the female lead is 17, the male lead is 28. (The male lead's legs cannot be healed.)

Lu Huaicheng (cheng)

Theme: Contentment brings happiness.