◆ The follow-up novel, The First Minister, is now underway. Please add it to your collection; its blurb is at the bottom.
Xin Rulian is the only female general among the five kingdoms of Jiuzhou, and she has never lost a battle.
On one trip back to the capital to report on her duties, Xin Rulian happened to rescue a frail scholar from bandits. Grateful for her kindness, the first thing he said upon waking was, "To repay the general for saving my life, I am willing to give myself to you."
On the day of their wedding, the fighting at the front grew fierce. Before Xin Rulian could finish the wedding ceremony, she hurried off to the battlefield in her bridal gown. She was gone for half a year.
When they met again, Xin Rulian was fighting desperately with the only three thousand soldiers she had left. Her husband had been captured by the enemy, who demanded that she cease fighting and surrender.
Unmoved by their threat, Xin Rulian ran a sword through the husband she had met only three times so far, then turned and ordered her troops to attack.
Though she won the battle in the end, Xin Rulian lost all her martial arts and became an invalid. The emperor, who had always been wary of the Xin family, no longer had any scruples and seized her military command while he had the chance.
Everyone thought the Xin family would fall from grace, but unexpectedly, Grand Secretary Song petitioned the emperor to let his critically ill son marry Xin Rulian, hoping the wedding would bring him good fortune.
On the day of the wedding, Xin Rulian wore mourning clothes, held a sword in one hand and her late husband's memorial tablet in the other, and bowed at the altar. When they reached the bridal chamber that night, she remained calm. "Forgive me, Third Young Master Song. I must observe mourning for my late husband for three years."
Before she could finish, the person on the bed pulled her into his arms. Third Young Master Song, rumored to be bedridden and near death, twirled a lock of her hair around his finger and smiled faintly. "Whatever do you mean, my lady? Your husband is right here."
With picturesque features and a tear mole shimmering beneath his eye, the man before her overlapped with the image of the person she had run through on the battlefield. For a moment, Xin Rulian lost herself.
It was only after waking from a poisoning that Xin Rulian discovered she could read Third Young Master Song's thoughts by kissing away his tears.
To find out whether Third Young Master Song really was the husband she had killed with her own hands, Xin Rulian began trying every trick she could think of to make him cry.
Watching the frail beauty shed tears, then kissing them away like a bully harassing an innocent woman, Xin Rulian felt an intense sense of guilt.
Before long, word spread that Third Young Master Song came out of Xin Rulian's room crying every day. The neighbors gave Xin Rulian knowing looks and warned her to take it easy. Third Young Master Song was frail, after all. He had only just survived thanks to the wedding, so she shouldn't make him pay for their bedroom pleasures.
To outsiders, Xin Rulian was a ravenous wolf. She offered no explanations, and kept trying to make someone cry so she could get to the bottom of things, all the while carrying her guilt. The more she uncovered, the more she realized that Third Young Master Song had no shortage of secret identities.
The one who called her his wife was him. The one who followed her around calling her sister-in-law was him, too. The one who couldn't even hold a chicken was him, and so was the one who rode out to test his sword and fought a hundred men single-handedly...
[Reading Guide]
① One-on-one romance, both leads have no prior romantic or sexual experience, happy ending.
② The female lead becomes emperor. Her loss of martial arts is only temporary; she will recover later.
③ Set in an alternate world, with countless original details. Everything serves the plot. There is a secondary couple, but they don't get much page time; they are there to move the story along. Update notices are for fixing typos.
◆ The cover background is by the artist Paigu Xiaobao.
The First Minister blurb
After placing first in the imperial examinations, top scholar Lu Mingfu defied the emperor's decree in the Golden Hall and refused to marry the princess. The next day, he married his childhood sweetheart, a crude woman who couldn't read a single character.
Everyone said the top scholar Lu was loyal and devoted, but no one expected their marriage to be unhappy.
On the first day of marriage, they treated each other like ice.
On the second day, they treated each other like enemies.
On the third day, they treated each other like corpses.
On the fourth day, Lu Mingfu was demoted for opposing Hanlin Scholar Shen's reforms.
Though his childhood sweetheart of a wife wasn't very bright, she was still clever enough to fear being implicated. She ran away, only to fall off a cliff along the way and die without a trace.
Just as everyone was sighing that husband and wife were birds of the same forest who flew apart when disaster struck, newly appointed Secretary Zheng pleaded on Lu Mingfu's behalf and asked the emperor to withdraw his decree. That was how Lu escaped demotion.
Yet no one knew that Secretary Zheng was none other than Lu Mingfu's uneducated childhood sweetheart and legal wife.
With no other choice, Zheng Qingrong disguised herself as a man and embarked on the one-way road to an official career, all to save her husband. After earning merit, she rose from a low-ranking clerk to a Junior Eighth Rank secretary. Her first task was to fish her husband out of trouble.
Before long, Lu Mingfu was restored to his former post, then demoted for a second time because he supported Hanlin Scholar Shen's reforms.
Without a word, Zheng Qingrong turned around, got promoted to assistant director, and fished her husband out again.
When Lu Mingfu was demoted a third time, Zheng Qingrong became a director and fished him out.
When Lu Mingfu was demoted a fourth time, Zheng Qingrong became a vice minister and fished him out.
As she kept fishing him out, Zheng Qingrong cleared every obstacle in her path and rose all the way to become prime minister.
The court and the country were in an uproar over this twenty-year-old upstart who had reached the very highest ranks in just a few years.
Seeing how this young man, who was no relation to Lu Mingfu, had repeatedly come to his rescue, officials speculated about their relationship and couldn't resist teasing them.
"Top Scholar Lu, if you get demoted again, Prime Minister Zheng may have to enter the palace to fish you out."
Zheng Qingrong: "Why wouldn't taking the throne count as entering the palace?"
Lu Mingfu: "Long live the wise emperor! Long live, long live, long live!"
Thesis: She studied the art of governing a state and wielded a sword to secure the realm. How could she possibly add the fragrance of a red wedding curtain?
Come back soon, author. No one is urging you to update.
What happened to this old bald donkey suddenly? He got nervous.
Oh my god, mom, my Chuchu, wuwu, I have met my destiny, but it has not been shown at all, so why are the people gone?
Mom gave it! Woooooooooooooooo lucky! I just picked up this book recently, and I didn't expect it to be updated again. I'm going to eat it right away! Happy New Year! ! Hard work cooking! Guess whether the previous Mandate Palm Jinluan is Lianliandu! Woo woo woo, good empress! Will you? Then what should I do with Chuchu? Can I be the empress?
The author has incorrect views! So disgusting!
Do you want to write about a female prairie general with a normal outlook on life and take a look at this disgusting alien man?
Oh!
Chu Qian is so disgusting, when will he be offline?
This article is too protracted. I read the text and thought the settings of the male and female protagonists were interesting. I haven't met the male protagonist and the female protagonist for many chapters. It's outrageous. On the contrary, there are so many plots between the princess and the disgusting brother. What about the disgusting readers here? The relationship between the brothers and sisters is also inexplicable. How did they fall in love? There is no explanation or foreshadowing in so many chapters, as if it was set for the sake of setting.
Reading this chapter, I feel like the male protagonist is a bit yandere
This, this, this, I feel like the male protagonist is a bit divided. .
I'm scared to death, Wuwu? Is mother okay? Wuwu, can you think of giving Chuchu the fake death drug to hide it from the public? But the situation is urgent, ahhhh, don't be okay.
After the Hehuan Sect Turned to Qingqing Dao, She Ascended
National Preceptor
The Jester
A Scientific Word
Empress
Husband
The Laborers Went Crazy in the Immortal Cultivation Sect.
When Jinjiang Qidian and Haitang Were Killed Together by Werewolves
Cousin
Political Opponents
Wife Teacher
One Hundred Days of Exam Preparation
Come back soon, author. No one is urging you to update.
What happened to this old bald donkey suddenly? He got nervous.
Oh my god, mom, my Chuchu, wuwu, I have met my destiny, but it has not been shown at all, so why are the people gone?
Mom gave it! Woooooooooooooooo lucky! I just picked up this book recently, and I didn't expect it to be updated again. I'm going to eat it right away! Happy New Year! ! Hard work cooking! Guess whether the previous Mandate Palm Jinluan is Lianliandu! Woo woo woo, good empress! Will you? Then what should I do with Chuchu? Can I be the empress?
The author has incorrect views! So disgusting! Do you want to write about a female prairie general with a normal outlook on life and take a look at this disgusting alien man? Oh!
Chu Qian is so disgusting, when will he be offline?
This article is too protracted. I read the text and thought the settings of the male and female protagonists were interesting. I haven't met the male protagonist and the female protagonist for many chapters. It's outrageous. On the contrary, there are so many plots between the princess and the disgusting brother. What about the disgusting readers here? The relationship between the brothers and sisters is also inexplicable. How did they fall in love? There is no explanation or foreshadowing in so many chapters, as if it was set for the sake of setting.
Reading this chapter, I feel like the male protagonist is a bit yandere
This, this, this, I feel like the male protagonist is a bit divided. .
I'm scared to death, Wuwu? Is mother okay? Wuwu, can you think of giving Chuchu the fake death drug to hide it from the public? But the situation is urgent, ahhhh, don't be okay.