When she woke up, Fu Wanyue was shocked to discover that she was the foil to the heroine in a novel.
Although both married wastrels, the heroine made an advantageous match because people admired her for being prudent and observing proper etiquette at a banquet. Fu Wanyue, on the other hand, made a poor match because an accident ruined her reputation. After the wedding, the heroine respectfully paid her respects morning and evening and encouraged her husband to improve himself. Fu Wanyue not only treated her parents-in-law with disdain, but also fooled around with her husband.
The heroine's husband finally passed the imperial examinations and became an official, while Fu Wanyue's husband had to abandon his studies and take up arms, risking his life to make a future for himself.
When news came that both men had died in the line of duty, Fu Wanyue had an ambiguous affair in the second year of her widowhood. In the end, everyone abandoned her, and, unable to bear it, she threw herself into a lake.
The heroine, meanwhile, observed the rules of widowhood and devoted herself to mourning her husband. She gritted her teeth through all kinds of hardship, and ultimately waited for him to return alive, earning everyone's respect. She even bore three sons in a row and received the empress's commendation for her virtue, securing a position no one could ever shake.
The heroine thought back to Fu Wanyue, whose family background had once made her seem so untouchable, yet who ultimately died in disgrace.
Moved, she reflected that even in ancient times, one's family background could not entirely determine one's fate.
Fu Wanyue pondered for a long time, still unable to understand why the heroine was so messed up, given that they were both transmigrators.
But then again, she really had married down to a wastrel, and she had only been a widow for six months...
Suicide was out of the question, of course. But she was a little curious about those romantic scandals.
Several years later, at a palace banquet,
Fu Wanyue, now empress, looked at the former heroine standing below with her head respectfully bowed and sighed silently.
The novel had never mentioned that her supposedly dead husband could come back to life, had it?
She glanced again at the face beside her, all striking brows and bright eyes, with an air of innate nobility...
Well, at least she had a clear conscience.
Theme: Don't let the world define you
