*1
Xiao Yuqing used to believe that only by attaining a high position could she escape being controlled by others and secure a peaceful life for herself.
So she did everything in her power to rise to the position of Imperial Noble Consort.
But in the end, she was too clever by half and schemed herself to death.[1]
The imperial palace changed overnight. The ruler died, and the palace attendants fled.
She became everyone's target, with no way out.
The fiancé she had once looked down on had become the black-and-white envoy of death, sword at his side, come to take her life.
She chose an unused eyebrow pencil from her dressing case, thinking that if she had to die, she might as well look beautiful. But her tears mixed with the dark pigment and fell onto the farewell letter on her desk, blurring the edges of the still-damp writing.
"The Lian family has served the country faithfully for generations, upright and honorable. I was the one who schemed and betrayed you, becoming the dark ink stain that spread across the Lian family's pure white paper. Now the wheel of karma has turned. Betrayed and abandoned by all, this is the fate I deserve."
Given the chance to live again, she swore she would never encounter this man again.
She warned herself: Don't get involved. Don't entertain foolish desires. Don't go to the palace.
The palace was her exquisitely beautiful tomb.
But she never expected to see him on the very day she was reborn.
Xiao Yuqing: Heaven, you really know how to bring up the one thing I don't want to talk about!
*2
Lian Bei couldn't understand why someone would faint at the sight of him the first time they met.
He touched his face. Did he really look that scary?
He didn't think so. He was rather pleased with his handsome face.
Still, he would be even more pleased if he could control the direction of the court.
At last, one day, he had a dream so vivid it was genuinely frightening.
In that bizarre dream, he really did hold power in his hands, yet he felt no joy at all.
Only when the bloodstained hairpin fell to the ground and gold and jade scattered across the hall, and the jade bracelet she had kept warm against her body for years shattered into many pieces, did he regret everything.
He finally put aside his pride and lowered his head, only to discover that she avoided him as if he were a venomous snake.
Only then did Lian Bei realize that even harder to read than the direction of the court was the vision of an illusion he was trapped in, unable to fathom.
#Does the promise we made in our past life still count in this one?#
*Set in an alternate Ming dynasty, very loosely based on it
Reading Guide:
1. A tiny bit of a groveling pursuit, a single rebirth, and a tiny bit of old-school melodrama. There was a misunderstanding in their previous life. The male lead is chaste; he never married in his previous life, after all. A rotten cucumber isn't good enough for our girl.
2. Neither lead is a good person.
3. One hundred percent fictional, with countless original details. No arguing.
*Other content warnings: none
[1] Quoted from "The Burden of Cleverness," one of the twelve songs in chapter five of Cao Xueqin's Qing dynasty novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
Weibo: Gu Yunyuner
[Blurb written on October 8, 2022. Please do not reproduce.]
Theme: Lay down the burdens in your heart and live each day in the present
