The Lady Is Impeaching Me Again Today

Please add my upcoming novel, I See the Spring Mountains, to your collection (*^ω^*). Here's the blurb:

Rebellious female general x gentle, enduring strategist

At seventeen, Xie Zhaoxi had just finished mourning her mother when her usually strict father knocked on her door and told her two things.

"First, I have a cousin. You should call her Cousin Aunt. Her husband just died, and I could use someone to look after me, so I want to bring her here and have her keep me company."

"Second, I've arranged an excellent marriage for you. A family of scholars, a newly appointed top scholar, and... your Cousin Aunt's nephew."

Xie Zhaoxi laughed coldly. He couldn't wait to kick her out and bring his new woman into the house, could he?

She meekly agreed. Two months later, on her wedding day, she took enough money for the road and fled the Xie residence.

Xie Zhaoxi concealed her identity and joined the army. After six years of hardship, she rose from the ranks to become a general. Then she abruptly received news that her father had died and returned to the capital for his funeral.

A busybody pointed to a man in the mourning hall and told her, "The man you broke off your engagement with fell seriously ill after you humiliated him. Now he's a powerful minister. You're in for it!"

Xie Zhaoxi looked over. Beside her stepmother stood a man with refined features and fair skin, quietly comforting the woman as she wept. She scoffed. "Him?"

After several encounters with Pei Xuan, she found that he really didn't make things difficult for her. He was not only very handsome, but easier to handle than a ball of dough.

Unable to resist her lust, Xie Zhaoxi decided to indulge herself on behalf of the girl she'd been six years earlier. On a dark and windy night, she took advantage of him and dragged him home for a night of passion.

*

When Pei Xuan was young, he had been deeply in love with a girl. She was as radiant as the sun, while he came from a poor family, so he never dared approach her.

Later, her father took a liking to him and offered his daughter's hand in marriage. He appeared calm as he accepted, but inside, his heart surged like a collapsing mountain and a rushing tide. On the very day of the wedding, he suddenly learned that she had fled. Heartbroken, he fell seriously ill and abandoned all hope.

After ten years of diligent study and five years of climbing to the highest ranks of government, Pei Xuan met Xie Zhaoxi again. She had become a dashing female general. Remembering that he had once made her hate him enough to flee her wedding, he acted with restraint and courtesy around her, never daring to harbor the slightest improper thought.

He was ambushed and drugged with an aphrodisiac, then lost consciousness in a shabby alley. When he woke the next day, the woman lying beside him was the very girl he had once loved.

Pei Xuan's ears turned red. He dared not look at her as he said slowly, "I have been presumptuous toward you, Miss Xie. If you don't mind, I will come to your home tomorrow to ask for your hand."

Xie Zhaoxi lay lazily in his arms, winding a strand of his hair around her finger. She looked up at his words. "Ask for my hand? What for? I want you to be my kept man."

Here's the blurb for this novel:

Cool, restrained heroine with a strong sense of morality, devoted to her career x shameless, somewhat unscrupulous hero who's a hopeless romantic

Xue Zhuyin was exceptionally talented, cool and noble, and born to a wealthy, prestigious family. She rose to become an Investigating Censor. Not only was she the foremost among the capital's noblewomen, she was also the crown prince's trusted aide.

She devoted herself to affairs of state and had no interest in romance. She thought it made no difference whom she married. When her imperial uncle, the emperor, asked what she hoped for in a future husband, she smiled and said she only wished he wouldn't be a wastrel.

In the third year of the Chengqian era, on Xue Zhuyin's twentieth birthday, the emperor issued an edict on the spot, betrothing her to Gu Xiuyuan, the young General Gu who had been made a marquis at an early age.

At the announcement, Xue Zhuyin looked over. The young general was surrounded by a bevy of courtesans, acting rakish and debauched as he raised his cup to her from across the banquet.

It took her a while to remember him: the wastrel who skipped school every day to frequent the pleasure quarters?

After their marriage, in keeping with the sage's teaching, "To govern a state, one must first put one's household in order," Xue Zhuyin put her skills as an Investigating Censor to work. She never stopped impeaching him for his misdeeds.

Gu Xiuyuan spent the night at a brothel, threw away a fortune, and even bought the freedom of the courtesan Su Lingyan. She impeached him.

Gu Xiuyuan ignored military discipline, indulging in games and playing cuju with the soldiers in camp. She impeached him.

Gu Xiuyuan was narrow-minded and ignored the greater good, putting one woman's life above the safety of an entire city. She impeached him...

One day, Xue Zhuyin went to Gu Xiuyuan's study looking for writing supplies. She accidentally knocked a book to the floor, and a yellowed sheet of paper fluttered out. It seemed to be an abandoned draft of a memorial Gu Xiuyuan had once submitted. Written in bold, elegant handwriting were just a few short lines:

Your servant, Gu Xiuyuan, is willing to trade his achievements in conquering cities and territories for a marriage alliance with the daughter of the Xue family, and a lifetime of happiness together.

P.S. The male lead is very faithful. There is another reason he spent the night at the brothel and bought the courtesan's freedom.

Original blurb written on 2022.11.28, revised on 2023.5.21

Theme: Become a better version of yourself.