Ginger Hibiscus

Historical romance, The Rest of My Life: An old-school melodramatic tearjerker. Please add it to your to-read list. Blurb at the bottom. ---- Blurb for this novel ---- [Originally titled The Eunuch's Wife, Jiang Fu. The original premise had her marry someone, which wasn't allowed, so it was changed.] After Jiang Fu's parents died, she was raised in her aunt's household, where she was given little consideration and had to rely on others at every turn. When she was sent to bring good fortune to the Northern Border hostage, who had barely a breath left, everyone said that a girl from a prominent family had been reduced to a wretched fate, and that her life was ruined for good. But no one noticed how willingly she accepted it, and no one knew she had secretly loved Cui Zhen'an for many years. After they married, Jiang Fu devoted herself to caring for the injured and ill Cui Zhen'an. She put the dilapidated cold palace in order until it was spotless, and Cui Zhen'an, who had been tormented nearly beyond recognition, recovered his vigor. Jiang Fu was unexpectedly content with her circumstances. At last, she could be with the man she loved, and no longer had to watch everyone's mood as she once did. But Cui Zhen'an did not see it that way. To him, Jiang Fu was nothing but a hound sent by the court, and an endless source of trouble. So while pretending he would spend the rest of his life by her side, he secretly plotted his return to the Northern Border. He remembered every humiliation he had suffered there, and swore to make them pay, one by one! When Cui Zhen'an finally found a chance to return to the Northern Border, he naturally abandoned Jiang Fu and disappeared without a trace. After he left, the emperor took his anger out on Jiang Fu. Alone and helpless, as she faced her death, she finally understood that all her life, she had been rejected by everyone... * Once a fallen heir, Cui Zhen'an returned to the Northern Border like a hidden dragon rising from the depths, unstoppable, until the court could no longer stand against him. When Cui Zhen'an returned as the crown prince, he learned that his wife, whom he had once considered a spy, had died not long after he left. Before the desolate grave where Jiang Fu was buried, Cui Zhen'an felt his heart ache unbearably for the first time. * People said the crown prince had developed a heart ailment that no medicine could cure, and that a eunuch with medical skills had earned his favor. One day, Cui Zhen'an happened to discover that there was a woman in the eunuch's home whose face was identical to Jiang Fu's. "Your Highness, you've mistaken me for someone else." Jiang Fu knelt at his feet, trembling as she tried to bluff her way out. Cui Zhen'an gave a cold smile and pressed his foot three times harder onto the eunuch beneath him. "Oh? Is that so?" [Warning: This is an old-school melodramatic tearjerker. An old-school melodramatic tearjerker. An old-school melodramatic tearjerker. Reading is for entertainment. If it upsets you, please stop reading in time. You don't need to tell me if you drop it.] Blurb for Every Stir of the Heart Tang Yi was born into an eminent family, but after getting lost as a child, she grew up in the countryside. Even after she was reunited with her family, people criticized her as ill-mannered and badly raised. When she was sent to bring good fortune to the half-dead young Duke Jiang, everyone said she was marrying above her station. Jiang Guanyun was refined and elegant, handsome and distinguished. After an accident left him injured, he fell from being a high-ranking noble whom everyone envied to a living corpse who could not speak, open his eyes, or move. Everyone thought he was unconscious, but in truth his mind was clear and he could hear. In other people's eyes, Tang Yi was an oddball: greedy, reckless, vindictive, and utterly ill-mannered. Her reputation was thoroughly ruined. Yet this was the very person who protected him when the Jiang household was nearly devoured from within, and kept him alive. Tang Yi rekindled Jiang Guanyun's will to live when he had all but given up hope. Of course, no one expected that one day the living corpse, whom doctors had declared would never wake, would open his eyes... Seeing the situation, Jiang's mother slapped a stack of silver in front of Tang Yi and told her to leave so her son could marry a more suitable woman. Tang Yi happily took the money and left. Jiang Guanyun, still in the dark, had not even had a chance to make out Tang Yi's face before he received a divorce agreement. When they met again, Jiang Guanyun passed Tang Yi by, then blocked the woman standing beside her. The man who had always been so polite finally lost his composure. Gritting his teeth, he asked, "Tang Yi, in your eyes, am I worth less than those few silver notes?" The bewildered woman: "?" Tang Yi, standing to the side: "..." [The heroine is a money-lover and married for the money. Marriage first, love later; both are each other's first love; sweet romance.] [The hero had a former fiancée, but he has never loved anyone but the heroine.] [A supporting character is reborn, so this novel is tagged reborn.] [The author is always revising the blurb, but the central premise will not change.] The Rest of My Life Not long after Ji Ru's biological father died, her stepmother and elder half-sister, who hated her to the core, set a poisonous scheme in motion. They switched her identity and sold her to a brothel a thousand miles away, where they expected her to be trampled by anyone and left utterly broken. Under blow after blow, Ji Ru's eyes were blinded by her tears. In a secluded house, her first customer came to her. When he pounced like a wolf, she fought him with a shard of broken porcelain, ready to die, and blood stained her arms. Just as she had lost all hope, a young peddler saved her. He stepped over the customer's corpse, wiped the blood from her palm, and told her, "As long as you live, there will be another day." Ji Ru had never dared to imagine that anyone in this world would treat her kindly, save her from danger, and lead her away from that den of sin. Her wariness gave way to trust. She was ready to leave her past behind and follow her little peddler for the rest of her life. Until one day, her eyes, which she thought would be blind forever, suddenly regained their sight. She saw that the shabby little house she had heard others describe was actually a beautifully furnished villa. Oh, and there was no little peddler at all. He was none other than Liu Guiting, the feared killer whom everyone in court dreaded. According to rumor, Liu Guiting was cold-hearted, bloodthirsty, cruel, and ruthless. The Lianzhen Bureau under his command answered directly to the emperor, investigating all officials. Civil and military officials alike fell silent in his presence. The day he met Ji Ru, she was holding a shard of broken porcelain and managed to hurt herself before she could hurt anyone else. Liu Guiting had intended to end her life, but her foolishness made him laugh. On a whim, he decided to toy with her and told her he was just a peddler passing by. Ji Ru was innocent and easy to deceive. He always thought he could manipulate her for the rest of her life. He never expected that once Ji Ru saw through the truth, she would refuse to have anything to do with him. The man who had always been as hard-hearted as stone tasted, for the first time, the bitter fruit of his own actions. Ji Ru became a dagger lodged in his heart: every movement hurt, and thinking of her hurt even more. Message: Never do anything you would be ashamed of.