Mistaken Splendor

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Fan Hua had a childhood sweetheart. He promised to marry her once he finished high school.

Later, that devoted childhood sweetheart married a princess and offered Fan Hua to the new emperor.

The current emperor, Xie Zhi, is cold, cruel, and unpredictable. His tongue is sharp and his heart is ruthless; not a single official at court has escaped being berated by him.

A group of ministers who had been cursed out and reduced to tears wondered if they ought to find someone to rein in the new emperor.

But no family wanted to send their daughter into the palace. There was a rumor going around that this tyrant was deadly to wives, concubines, and relatives alike... a man truly alone in the world.

Having lived alone for half his life, Xie Zhi had never expected to love anyone, especially not a pawn sent by his ministers to curry favor for fame, fortune, and power.

Until he saw Fan Hua pour a cup of cold tea over her childhood sweetheart's head. Gripping the man's chin, she said icily, "His Majesty is a thousand, ten thousand times better than you."

Xie Zhi watched them with amusement. "How interesting. Am I part of your love affair, too? But I have never been anything but the one in control."

From then on, Fan Hua rose through the ranks and became the most favored woman in the imperial harem.

A little extra:

When Xie Zhi heard that Fan Hua had run away with her childhood sweetheart, he gazed at the empty Fengyi Palace, his heart aching with bitterness.

"She ran?"

"Then bring them both back."

"Chain one by the leg, and bring the other back to keep as a dog."

Fan Hua was brought back, but her legs were not chained. Instead, the young emperor before her wore shackles on his wrists and ankles, closing in on her step by step.

Cornered with nowhere left to retreat, she watched him casually lower his gaze to the shackles on his hands.

His long fingers lifted her chin. She trembled all over, her back shivering.

He glanced sidelong at the imperial edict naming her empress, tossed onto the bed. Leaning close to her ear, he closed his eyes and breathed softly:

"Your Highness, I'm the one in chains. What are you afraid of?"

Reader's guide:

1. The heroine has another reason for running away.

2. Both leads are each other's first and only.

--- Please add my upcoming story, Princess and the Playwright, to your reading list ---

Noble princess x lowly opera performer

Wen Yinzhi had been in Yonghe for fifteen years since transmigrating there. She was the sixth princess, the most beloved child of Emperor Yonghe.

Fifteen years of imperial education had almost made her forget that she was a soul from a future era.

Until one day, her obsessive admirer presented her with an opera performer.

The person who brought him said that the performer's singing style was something novel, and hoped it would make the princess smile.

Wen Yinzhi scoffed. As someone from the twenty-first century, what novelty had she not seen?

After Wen Yinzhi finished laughing, her attendant led her into a dark room. Its layout resembled a modern theater.

At the beginning of the story, a beam of light fell on the stage. The performer was no leading lady.

The person onstage had delicate features and a white jade hairpin securing his ink-black hair.

When he began to sing, it was to the familiar melody of the Lanting Preface.

In the style of traditional opera, he sang:

"The stars and frost pass, yet a heart remains unchanged for a thousand years."

The teacup slipped from Wen Yinzhi's hand and shattered on the floor.

Contemporary singer Xiao Ying was born into the world of Yonghe. His parents died tragically, and he was reduced to becoming an opera performer.

To survive, he endured every hardship life could throw at him for eighteen years.

Until one day, onstage, he saw a beam of light among the audience.

"I am base and lowly. Please, Princess, do not waste your thoughts on me."

"Xiao Ying, stand up."

"We are alike."

Everyone said Xiao Ying was a lowborn nobody.

When his country fell and his family was destroyed, in this era where people devoured one another, he alone reached out to help her.

--- Upcoming story: Please add Wan Qing Si to your reading list ---

Everyone said Jiang Wan was blessed. From birth, she was the noble legitimate princess of Great Liang.

At sixteen, she won the admiration of the Crown Prince of Great Qian, who asked her to become his crown princess. Their love was celebrated among the people.

But no one knew that he married her only to use her as a medicinal catalyst. At the state banquet where he proposed, Shen Si had not intended to marry her at all. He had wanted her third elder sister, Jiang Yun, born to a concubine.

That year, Shen Si appeared at the Eastern Palace with Jiang Yun, who was already pregnant.

When Jiang Wan saw the divorce decree covered in black ink in Shen Si's hand, she was glad she had died before Jiang Yun took her place, preserving the last shred of dignity for the Great Liang imperial family.

When Jiang Wan opened her eyes again, she discovered she had been reborn one month before her wedding.

One month later, the princess was to be married.

Three days later, the wedding procession turned back.

The Crown Prince Shen Si, clad in black armor, stationed ten thousand cavalry outside the city gates. "Tell the ruler of Great Liang that I want only Princess Yongjia."

Shen Si thought Jiang Wan would marry him as she had in her previous life, until he discovered that the person in the bridal sedan had changed.

When he returned, Princess Yongjia was holding a flower-viewing banquet. Shen Si watched with his own eyes as Jiang Wan affectionately called a man who looked very much like him, "A Si."

Si in the name for a memorial offering is pronounced the same as Si in Shen Si.

"I, Pei Si, envoy of Great Liang, have come especially to welcome Your Highness home."

"We welcome Your Highness back to your homeland, back to your former capital."

For years, Pei Si had kept having the same dream, repeating the same two lines. The dream had lasted so long that it had become an obsession. He desperately wanted to know which prince the person in his dream was, so he could bring him back to Great Liang.

Until he saw the living Princess Yongjia at the flower-viewing banquet...

Theme: Finding a flourishing road out of the depths of despair