Double Ninth

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In his previous life, Feng Yu was a notorious traitor, universally reviled. At the height of his power, he controlled the court through slander and persecuted loyal officials. Even after he was convicted and executed by being torn apart by five horses, his head was hung above the city gate, where it endured years of wind, frost, and the spittle of the people.

Looking at those white bones from afar, Qi Zhen never told anyone that this despised and scorned treacherous minister had saved her life many years ago.

She had fallen into a cold pool, then been alone with Feng Yu in a shabby room, with both of them in disarray. That was what her childhood sweetheart and fiancé saw when he found her.

So when there was no blood on the sheets after their wedding, he grew suspicious of her and despised her for the rest of their lives together.

Qi Zhen is reborn on the day she is falsely accused of having lost her virtue. Determined not to repeat the same mistakes, she decisively takes Feng Yu's hand.

Rumors about the two of them spread throughout the city. Her childhood sweetheart's eyes turn bloodshot with jealousy, but all he can do is watch as she marries Feng Yu, a newly successful examinee who had risen from humble beginnings.

*

On their wedding night, Feng Yu says with perfect propriety, "I know your heart belongs to someone else. Once spring comes and the storm has passed, we can get a divorce."

Qi Zhen, who has no wish to be buried alongside the treacherous minister he will become, lets out a sigh of relief. She has no idea that Feng Yu never intended to let spring come.

*

Feng Yu quietly falls in love with someone, never telling a soul, because she is already engaged.

Knowing her heart belongs to another, he never tries to force her. When they occasionally pass each other, he takes it as a fleeting blessing from the gods.

But when she stands before him in her wedding dress, Feng Yu suddenly changes his mind. "Qi Zhen, you're the one who started this with me."

*

No one could have imagined that while Qi Zhen waited for a chance to escape, she would accidentally discover the deep love this man had secretly harbored for her across two lifetimes, as well as his past: He had borne a lifetime of injustice without ever defending himself.

[Through murky cycles of rebirth, old wrongs are set right. This is the story of Chongyang.]

1. The heroine is reborn. She was married in her previous life, but both leads are virgins after her rebirth. Happy ending.

2. The leads are three years apart in age.

3. An alternate world with original elements.

Theme: Don't make assumptions about someone just because of what other people say