The Foolish Beauty Always Thinks the Crown Prince Has a Secret Crush on Her

[One-line blurb: I've got everything ready, so why hasn't he come to kidnap me yet?]

The capital's number-one beauty, Wen Nanzhi, has been having strange dreams lately. In one, the prime minister's son comes top of the imperial exams. In another, a young lord from a marquis's household falls from his horse and breaks his leg. In yet another, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites is sent to a temple to pray for blessings.

Wen Nanzhi hadn't paid them much attention, until each dream came true in real life. She was so startled that the candy in her hand fell to the ground. Just last night, she'd dreamed that the crown prince had kidnapped her by force and bound her with a golden chain, while she tearfully begged for mercy...

At a banquet the next day, Wen Nanzhi stole glances at the crown prince for a long time. He was a perfect gentleman, and didn't look like the sort of man who would kidnap anyone by force.

After running into him several times, Wen Nanzhi realized he was gentle and refined, and seemed easy to push around. Could it be that he'd admired her for a long time, and unrequited love had twisted his mind until he resorted to such a desperate measure?

Until two months later...

The crown prince was deposed, and the Fifth Prince was named crown prince. Wen Nanzhi was dumbstruck. S-So she'd gotten the wrong guy?

The Hero's Perspective:

The Fifth Prince, Jiang Cenchuan, was born in the Cold Palace. He spent years serving in the army and was decisive, ruthless, and violent.

Looking at the pampered and radiant Wen Nanzhi, he saw none of the utter despair she'd felt in the Eastern Palace in her previous life.

Jiang Cenchuan gave her a cool, noble smile. So what if he had to be refined and graceful? He could do that too.

When he realized her eyes could only see the crown prince, never him, the darkness and bitterness in his heart grew deeper and deeper.

Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer. He took a golden chain and prepared to lock her up again.

But Wen Nanzhi only gave him a haughty look. "I knew it. You've been in love with me for a long time."

[Reader Notice] The former crown prince's deposition has nothing to do with the heroine. Various factors in the court and imperial harem were behind it.

●●PS: Check out the author's latest upcoming novel, "Sky Screen Spoilers: I Rule as Eternal Emperor in a Short-Drama World":

Qin Yunzhou transmigrated. When he realized he had landed in a short-drama world, he found himself surrounded by people with romance-addled brains.

Not wanting these hopeless romantics to wreck the people of Great Sheng, he prepared to take up the burden of ruling the empire, rolling up his sleeves and getting to work.

Suddenly, a sky screen appeared.

Qin Yunzhou: So I can just sit back and win?

[The Sheng Dynasty was a chaotic era full of demons and monsters. If the wise and mighty Emperor Shengde hadn't appeared, the dynasty would have followed in the footsteps of the short-lived Qin Dynasty.]

[The great Emperor Shenwu descended from the heavens, a living bodhisattva who saved the suffering. Before Emperor Shengde Shenwu took the throne, the royal family and officials of Sheng were so consumed by romance they may as well have been brain-dead.]

The royal family and officials: Who? Who are you calling brain-dead?

[According to Emperor Shengde Shenwu's memoirs, the crown prince and the third and fourth princes spent their days acting out "Do you love me? Who do you love?" with the Minister of Revenue's daughter, Liu Ruyan. They even neglected disaster relief when the Yellow River flooded.]

[The second prince massacred his imperial consort's family for the sake of his mistress, creating one of the Sheng Dynasty's most notorious miscarriages of justice.]

[The prime minister's wife turned her own biological daughter into a human swine to favor a fake heiress, shocking the nation. A newly crowned top scholar's country wife accused a princess of stealing her husband.]

Everyone: Wait, why is there a memoir like this? We've been shamed in front of future generations!

[After Emperor Shengde Shenwu ascended the throne, ordinary people could afford meat with all three meals. Students from humble families received free schooling, and farmers no longer paid agricultural taxes...]

[Gold and silver from overseas poured into Great Sheng. Through colonial expansion, it became an empire on which the sun never set. Attached: Map of Great Sheng.jpg]

The scenes shown on the sky screen were intoxicating: plump ears of wheat bent the stalks, enormous pigs weighing three hundred jin stood by the rice paddies, and a smooth concrete road wound toward an academy, where students studied diligently.

The view drifted into the distance. Soldiers wielded rifles and cannons, invincible in battle. Ships at sea were loaded with gold and silver...

Everyone: Your Majesty, how about stepping down from the throne?

*

●●PS: Check out the author's latest upcoming novel, "Sky Screen Spoilers: I, Fusu's Wife, Become the Second Qin Emperor":

When Qin Jiushao realized she had transmigrated as Fusu's wife, she immediately began planning for her future. She absolutely refused to die at Hu Hai's hands.

In the name of the eldest prince, she built an orphanage and retirement home, trained scholars and minor officials, developed trade routes, and won over ministers and their wives and daughters. She would wait for the day Fusu died, then rebel under the banner of avenging her husband.

In public, she was a virtuous and gentle wife who helped her husband. In private, she was an ambitious schemer.

Just as Fusu was being exiled to Shang Commandery on the frontier, the sky screen appeared.

[Hello, everyone! Today, let's take a look at the first female emperor in history, Emperor Shengwu. As everyone knows, Hu Hai wiped out his own family, killing the imperial clan before executing the ministers. Emperor Shengwu rebelled and seized power to save herself.]

Everyone in Great Qin: What? Your Majesty, why did you pass the throne to the Eighteenth Prince?

[Emperor Shengwu was deeply devoted to her husband. She guarded the nation for thirty years, diligently ruled from the throne, and devoted herself to Great Qin.]

[As for its territory, Great Qin's black banners flew across the entire continent. Attached: Map of Great Qin.jpg]

A map gradually filled with black and red, revealing the vast territory on the sky screen.

The view drew closer: the streets were filled with all kinds of shops, brick-paved roads and red-tiled houses, bustling traffic and lively people.

Beyond the city, waterwheels turned in the fields, factories sprang up one after another, and cooking smoke rose from every home. Their pots held white rice and fatty meat...

The civil and military officials and imperial clan: Who is Emperor Shengwu? Sky screen, tell us!

Ruthless and ambitious Qin Jiushao: Thank goodness the version of me on the sky screen hasn't revealed my true nature in public.

Theme: Happiness is something you have to fight for