A Widowed Mother Raises Her Child

# Upcoming story: Lying Flat at the Border Upcoming story: Setting Up a Stall and Making a Living in Ancient Times is now available. The blurb is at the bottom. Please bookmark it! Blurb: After Qi He dies, she transmigrates into a scholarly-exam novel as the male lead's evil young stepmother. According to the original story, after the original woman is sent to the male lead's family as a bride to bring good luck to her dying husband, she refuses to behave herself. After she's widowed, she sees the male lead as deadweight, mistreats him, and tries to kill him. He grows up with a warped worldview, becomes a ruthless official, and eventually tortures her to death. Her corpse is never found. Thinking of the original woman's tragic fate, Qi He decides: "It's best to leave people a way out. That way, we can meet again. A stepson is a person too, and people are good by nature." To change her fate, Qi He decides to make the best of her situation: she'll marry into the family first and run away later. But then, an act of kindness unexpectedly earns her a portable space and a System. With the System's help, Qi He not only extends the life of her short-lived husband, but also sends her stepson to school. Watching life get better and better, Qi He sincerely reflects, "A kind heart brings a lifetime of peace." But fate has other plans. The System suddenly vanishes, and the plot takes a turn. Qi He, suddenly losing everything: ??? It was all just bubbles, a firework that lasted only a moment. # Gu Moshu lost his mother when he was young and suffered constant neglect. Seeing his gravely ill father on his sickbed, he has no choice but to accept the young stepmother sent to bring his father good luck. He thinks she'll mistreat him and see him as deadweight, but instead she thinks of him in everything she does and lovingly raises him. After his father dies, she protects him, takes him away from the county town, and pays for him to continue his studies. From then on, Qi He holds the most important place in his heart. He only wants to pass the imperial exams and repay her properly. He lives up to everyone's expectations, passing each exam along the way and eventually placing first in the imperial examination and becoming an official. One day, as he's heading to work, a colleague stops him to ask whether his "cousin" at home is betrothed. His face immediately darkens. - Later, a rumor spreads among the people that the handsome top graduate Gu has a heart like a scorpion's and is a thoroughly bad person. He's actually forced a young woman into marriage. They say she's six years older than him, and she's also his... Note: Lots of original worldbuilding! 1. This isn't a conventional System story. The System will disappear after a few chapters, and there's a reason for everything (see the bonus chapters). 2. Younger man and older woman. The female lead is six years older than the male lead, and their romance only begins after their relationship status changes. 3. The early part is about a peaceful life, making money, and raising a child. The romance comes later. (The story is told in a day-to-day manner.) 4. The transmigration into a book takes place in a completely fictional setting. Don't overanalyze it. 5. Everyone has different tastes. You don't need to tell me if you drop the story. [Upcoming story blurb] Lying Flat at the Border In her previous life, Xie Shuyi died because of a medical dispute. In this life, she just wants to give up and lie flat. Who would have thought the emperor would decree her marriage, ordering the Duke's household to send a legitimate daughter to marry far away at the border? Her parents can't bear to send her elder sister or younger sister to suffer at the border, so they push her forward instead. Married off to the border, and to a living demon who kills without batting an eye. How is that any different from sending her to her death? But when she looks at the thick half of the dowry list in her hands, she relents. With all this wealth, she can lie flat for three lifetimes. Later, when she reaches the border and sees the desolate scene before her, Xie Shuyi nearly faints. Only now does she truly understand what it means to have money and nowhere to spend it. At least there is some good news: her husband is rarely home, and there are very few rules in the household, so she can live as freely as before. On her wedding night, Xie Shuyi finally meets the legendary living demon. He's dressed in red wedding robes, handsome, and nothing like the rumors from the capital. Thinking it over, she may have been married off to the border, but she's got money in one hand and a handsome husband in the other. Not a bad deal! - Xiao Yunhe comes from a family of generals and grew up at the border. When the court delayed the army's provisions, his troops were trapped and his father and elder brother died on the battlefield. To clear their names, he submitted a petition to the emperor. But what he received wasn't the truth, only an imperial decree ordering him to marry. He hates the powerful families of the capital and naturally has no fondness for the noblewomen from there. On their wedding night, he lays down three rules for his new bride. After they marry, the two treat each other with respect, but his new wife spends all day listening to music and enjoying herself. She doesn't seem like a noblewoman from the capital at all. Later, when war breaks out, villains frame him and leave him gravely wounded. At death's door, he sees his wife, who spends all her time eating and enjoying herself, riding toward him. She tears his clothes open and cuts away the rotting flesh with a sharp knife to treat his wounds. In that moment, he realizes he never understood her at all. But then she says, "You have to remember what I did for you today. In the future, you can't dismiss the people I keep in my courtyard." Xiao Yunhe's face darkens. He knew she couldn't change her ways! Theme: Grow through adversity and preserve intangible cultural heritage together