Spare My Life, Wife (Matriarchy)

Gao Feng was reborn.

In her previous life, she was the regent of the Gao Yin Kingdom, commanding its armies and winning victories against the Rong in the north and annexing Baozan in the south. She achieved unparalleled feats, yet because her power threatened the throne, her family was destroyed and she lost everything.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Her former allies, the consorts who had fought for her favor in the inner court, all fled, and even kicked her while she was down.

Only one lowly servant gathered her remains. After bowing before her grave, he calmly went to his death. Gao Feng thought long and hard before remembering his name: Chu Tang. She couldn't understand it. She had never treated him particularly well, yet when she died, he was the only one who stayed by her side.

Reborn, Gao Feng sneered. If they accused her of treason, then she'd give them what they wanted. What would be so wrong with taking the throne? As for that little servant, this time around, she would cherish him.

Coming soon: [Splendor and Jewels]

Su Hongyu came from a family of artisans. Her ancestors had all made jewelry, and their craftsmanship was extraordinary.

She ran a jewelry shop in the capital that was thriving and bringing in money hand over fist. By comparison, the writing stall across the street, run by a scholar, was pitiful. He sat there from morning until night and earned barely a hundred coppers, not enough to cover even his living expenses after paying for his studies.

But the scholar was handsome, composed, and dignified. When he bent over his brush, a glimpse of his exquisitely shaped wrist showed beneath his sleeve. His long, graceful fingers and clearly defined knuckles moved with every stroke as though he were writing directly on people's hearts. On a bitterly cold day, Su Hongyu walked over and teased him, "Young master, marry into my family. I'll make jewelry and keep you!" The scholar glared at her, mortified, then stormed away.

Xue Hechen's father had died young, leaving him and his mother to rely on one another and raise his younger brother and sister. He had taken on the burden of supporting the family early. Their life was hard, but peaceful. Exceptionally talented, he had passed the provincial exam at a young age. All he had to do was pass the metropolitan exam the following spring and become a presented scholar, and his family's circumstances would improve dramatically.

When Su Hongyu flirted with him time and again, Xue Hechen felt insulted and never gave her a kind word. But whenever he saw her turn around and chat up some other young man, he couldn't help feeling irritated. He thought he would settle things with her after passing the spring exam. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. In the twelfth lunar month, his mother fell gravely ill. With nowhere else to turn, Xue Hechen knocked on the Su family's door in the middle of a snowy night.

"Please, miss, save her life."

Kneeling at Su Hongyu's feet, he broke his proud spirit and cast away all his dignity:

"I'll marry into your family, be your lover, or sell myself as a servant. Anything you want."

Su Hongyu casually took off a pair of gold bracelets and pressed them into his hands. "Everyone has a hard time now and then. Young Master Xue, there's no need to go that far."

Xue Hechen was stunned. "..."

What did she mean, there was no need to go that far?

Later, Xue Hechen passed the metropolitan exam and rose swiftly through the ranks. Holding the gold bracelets he had bought back, he blocked Su Hongyu in an alley when she returned from meeting a prospective match. His face darkened. "What is it about me that doesn't meet your standards, Madam Yu? You'd rather find someone else than have me?"

"I'm looking for a live-in husband. Official Xue, you're not suitable."

"Give me a chance, Madam Yu. I am suitable."

Theme: Time reveals a person's true nature.