Pear Blossom Crossing

This is my first book, so some parts might be hard to look at.

[Blurb]

As crown prince, Li Yu is respectful, generous, self-disciplined, and chaste. But the emperor uses him to keep the vassal kings in check, the empress sees him as a thorn in her side, and his childhood sweetheart enters the palace, becomes his stepmother, bears a prince, and then frames him by drugging him with an aphrodisiac. Even the palace servants ignore the Eastern Palace's orders...

Rumors also say the crown prince will be deposed at this year's Lantern Festival banquet. Shang Shaorou knows the plot of the novel "Crossing Pear Blossom Ford" by heart, and she knows that once the emperor's wrath spills over to the Eastern Palace, she will be next to die.

Desperate to survive, Shang Shaorou makes an impassioned plea that rings through the hall: "Though the roc may briefly lower its wings, does that mean it has stopped soaring? With Your Highness's talent, why not rise again from the East Mountain?"

At first, Li Yu only wants to uphold benevolence, do everything in his power, and leave the rest to fate. He glares at her and demands, "What do you want?" Later, he plots and schemes for one reason alone: to fulfill her offhand remark from that time: "I want to be your crown princess."

Only if you stay alive will we have a chance.

She is a pure snow lotus atop an icy mountain, her elegant, ethereal aura lingering in the heart. That night, the incense meant to calm the mind burned all night in the Eastern Palace, and Li Yu didn't sleep a wink.

They support each other all the way through, safely surviving one deadly trial after another. The emperor grants him a marriage to the daughter of a provincial governor, and Shang Shaorou begins thinking of leaving. "Your Highness, will you let me leave the palace?"

Li Yu gracefully rolls his neck and leans close to her left ear, murmuring, "Let you leave the palace? Don't even think about it, Rou'er. You're not going anywhere."

He blocks a hundred rivers from flowing east and turns back the raging tide just as it is about to overwhelm him. As he inherits the throne, his promise rings out once more: "Rou'er, I will never let you down in this life."

Theme: Love requires honesty.