The Imperial Uncle

A ruthless minister who got the script for a romance, paired with a leaky little padded jacket who thinks she's being thoughtful

In the spring of the fourth year of Zha He, Xia was destroyed by Jiang.

Xia Chenyuan had just come of age when she became a princess of a fallen kingdom.

Ironically, her mother consort felt no grief over the kingdom's fall. Instead, thanks to her title as the most beautiful woman in Xia, she won the new king's favor.

Unfortunately, that favor never extended to Xia Chenyuan. She became the most awkwardly placed person in all of Jiang.

The court and the imperial palace were rife with competing powers.

In the end, all Xia Chenyuan received was an edict of political marriage, delivered by her own mother. Less than a year later, she died far from home.

When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the age of fourteen.

The kingdom was still a kingdom, and her family was still her family. During the royal spring hunt, she had fallen from her horse and was now surrounded by people inside a tent.

Dazed, she spotted Pei Jian in the crowd. He was still a young prince then.

A powerful, instinctive urge to survive suddenly rose from deep inside her. She forced herself to turn her head the other way and stammered, "I want Uncle Prince to hold me..."

*

At first, Pei Jian said, "It's just one of the emperor's moves, and a rather clumsy one at that."

Later, Pei Jian decided that as long as Xia Chenyuan was sensible and obedient, there was no harm in keeping her by his side.

Until one day, he heard Xia Chenyuan mumble in her sleep, "A-Dai, once I've saved enough money, we'll knock Pei Jian out and escape... escape to Jiangnan and open a big restaurant."

Pei Jian: "Who's A-Dai?"

The maid replied nervously, "The cook at our prince's manor..."

Theme: Cling to a powerful patron if you want to work hard to stay alive