The General's Wife Is Reborn

[After changing computers, Lazyfish accidentally lost the outline. I'm rewriting the outline for the whole novel, so please don't start reading just yet.]

Novel Blurb

[Beauty who weaponizes her looks and acts like a spoiled little devil vs. dashing young general]

Mutual devotion | Household scheming and daily life | Rekindled love

Novel Blurb:

Wen Lingzheng hanged herself in Shengjing in her previous life.

Because of a letter.

The sender was her late husband.

Pei Lin, the Marquis of Dingbei, was the most dazzling young man in Shengjing.

Wen Lingzheng's marriage to him came about because of an accident.

So she had always believed that he married her only out of a sense of duty.

She played the role of a dignified wife for six years, until he brought a woman home.

He wanted to explain, but she was angry and refused to listen.

Just then, war broke out again on the northern border, and he left in a hurry to lead the troops.

She refused to see him off.

She never imagined that he would never return.

Later, the Great Zhou throne changed hands, and she thought she had avenged him.

It wasn't until the night before the new emperor's accession that she accidentally learned the truth.

How laughable that she'd become a blade in her enemy's hands without knowing it; how she regretted being so willful back then and refusing to let him finish speaking; how tragic that, even as he lay dying, he thought she didn't love him and that he should set her free.

Wen Lingzheng was reborn on the first day she entered the capital with her father. At that time, the Marquis of Dingbei's household was in turmoil.

Hearing others slander the Pei family, she couldn't stop herself from speaking up in their defense.

The group of spoiled young men were so enraged that they wanted to beat her.

She thought there was no way she could avoid getting a beating.

But when she looked up, she saw that the young dandies were already sprawled all over the ground.

The winter sun was a rare sight.

That day, at Yuqing Abbey, the sparkling snow framed the rebellious smile of a young man, and when Wen Lingzheng happened to turn around, he entered her sight.

She hadn't meant to cry, but in that moment, her eyes still reddened.

[Afterword]

The Marquis of Dingbei, Pei Lin, is known throughout Shengjing as a man who lets his wife walk all over him.

Someone once asked him, “Why should a great man fear his wife?”

He replied with a faint smile, “It's not fear. It's that I'm willing.”

[Reader's Guide]

1. The history is fictional. The official system is modeled on the Northern Song reforms under Yuanfeng, but everything else is original. Please don't overanalyze it.

2. The overall style is slice of life, with lots of family affairs and a touch of an ensemble cast.

3. There are some political schemes, but they mainly serve the romance. Please don't overanalyze them.

4. Cover art by Shuimo Danqing Yixu.

[PS: I'm a compulsive reviser and may revise the text from time to time. Please support the official release!]

Upcoming novel: "On My First Day After Transmigrating, I Called the First Emperor “Dad”"

Blurb

Mi Yuan was tricked into going home for a blind date as soon as she graduated from university.

She pretended to be crazy and ruined the match, leaving her father Mi collapsed on the sofa in rage.

Mi Yuan gnawed on a chicken leg, sitting at the other end of the sofa. “Just letting you know, I've found a job. I'm going to excavate the Terracotta Army.”

Her father Mi, who had spent half his life excavating tombs, sat up, face dark. “Try saying that again!”

Mi Yuan wasn't convinced. “What's wrong with excavating the Terracotta Army? Maybe one day smoke will rise from our ancestral graves, and the spirit of my charming ancestor will come visit me!”

Her words came true.

The next day, Mi Yuan woke up freezing! She opened her eyes and found herself sprawled in the snow, with the corner of a black, gold-speckled robe before her.

She raised her head in a sorry state and happened to meet the man's dark, cold gaze.

She couldn't stop herself from shivering. Lowering her head, she murmured

“Dad.”

“I think smoke really is rising from our ancestral graves.”

**

Ying Zheng first encountered Mi Yuan at Huayang Palace.

Against the pure, glasslike whiteness of the snow, a little girl bundled up like a dumpling had slipped and fallen headfirst.

In a rare moment of kindness, he was about to help her up when he heard her say, “Dad”?

The tiger-wolf ruler's expression darkened.

This daughter of Chu was not only stupid, but blind, too.

At least she had a beautiful face.

Ying Zheng thought it over and decided to personally teach her a thing or two.

“Copy this Qin script a hundred times.”

Mi Yuan: ...One day, this tyrant is going to turn me into a calligraphy master...

"Dream of the Long Night" Blurb

[Secret identities revealed · Intense romantic push and pull · Mystery and crime-solving]

Radiant and proud × Upright and crafty

On the day of the Lantern Festival, rumors spread through the capital that the emperor and empress were holding a banquet at the Imperial Garden that night to arrange a marriage for their daughter. Their choice was Pei Zhaolan, the second young master of the Duke of Shen's household, who had recently risen to fame.

A gentleman as warm and refined as jade, handsome beyond compare, he had solved one strange case after another before taking up the post of Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. He had a brilliant future ahead of him.

It should have been a happy match, but Princess Changning, who had long lived deep within the palace, was known for being willful and difficult. Her maids and servants were tormented by her, and rumors claimed she was plain to the point of ugliness.

So before the imperial edict was even drafted, the Duke's household hastily closed its doors to visitors and announced that Second Young Master Pei had gone to Jiangnan a few days earlier to investigate the Red-Eyed Fox Demon case, which had caused a sensation throughout the capital. The old case was full of twists, and he might not return for a long time.

The entire court was in an uproar

Was he trying to refuse the marriage?

That night, the Duke of Shen attended the banquet and gave a carefully reasoned explanation. The Fox Demon case had troubled the local prefect for years, and now it had resurfaced, terrifying the people. As Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Second Young Master Pei had a duty to investigate. It concerned the people's lives and livelihoods, so no one could criticize his decision.

Since that was the case, the emperor took into account that the princess was still young and promised a two-year reprieve. If Second Young Master Pei was willing, he would surely be able to return to the capital on time.

*

Ming Tang had been frail since childhood. By a stroke of luck, a wandering physician managed to treat her, after which she was forced to recuperate beside a snowy pool on Mount Tianshan. Years of illness had made her a doctor herself.

The year she finally recovered and came down from the mountain, the Fox Demon case, sealed away for years, resurfaced. The truth had yet to be uncovered, and public anger was boiling over, so she changed course for Jiangnan.

Barely a month into the new year, dozens of people had already died in Lin'an Prefecture because of the Fox Demon case, including officials assigned to investigate it. Strangely, their bodies really did look as if their life force had been sucked away, shriveled and black as charred wood. The coroners summoned from all over the region couldn't determine the cause of death.

That night, Ming Tang sneaked into the government office's morgue. Just as she was about to press a silver needle into the philtrum of a corpse, someone behind her seized her wrist and pinned her against the door.

His voice was cool and emotionless. “Don't move. Are you involved in the Fox Demon case?”

Ming Tang looked up at him. He wore a moon-white robe, and the jade pendant at his waist bore a carved landscape with swirling clouds. Others might not recognize it, but she knew it was a unique piece, awarded years ago by the emperor to the Duke of Shen for saving his life. Its rich quality made it impossible to mistake for a fake.

What a small world.

She smiled and stood before him. “I should be the one asking you that. Books say fox spirits are handsome and like to wear white. You look just like one, sir. Could it be...”

Hearing that, Pei Zhaolan let go of her hand and frowned.

...Had he just been flirted with by a young girl?

*

When the two-year period ended, Second Young Master Pei was still traveling with a wandering physician to investigate difficult cases throughout the country, and failed to return to the capital as promised.

The emperor and empress chose another husband for the princess. Rumor had it they had their eye on the newly crowned top graduate, Shen Jinzhi. Everything was ready, and all that remained was for Changning to agree.

Before anything was settled, however, Second Young Master Pei, having freed himself from the engagement, sent a letter back to the Pei household asking them to investigate a woman named Ming Tang. She was from the capital, exceptionally beautiful, and skilled in medicine. Nothing else was known about her.

When the Duke of Shen heard of this, he discussed it with his wife. “Ming Tang, Ming Tang? Isn't that Princess Changning's given name?”

- Under the vast, bright sky, may every case find its truth.

Theme: People can only know you like them if you say it aloud.