Married to an Old Emperor

In the popular street-story booklets, whenever a “Prime Minister’s daughter” and a “top scholar” ended up together, the maid who brought them together and the scholar’s page would become a couple too. Whenever Xi Hongrui saw a maid overcome with gratitude in one of those stories, she scoffed. What was so great about marrying a page? A female slave married a male slave, had a whole brood of little slaves, and served the master’s family for generations. She’d be better off becoming the top scholar’s concubine. At least that would make her half a mistress. Since that was what she thought, when her young master said he wanted to take her as a concubine, she agreed at once, delighted. What she never expected was that she really was a character in one of those stories. Her young mistress was the “heroine,” who had come from the future. Her young master was the future emperor. They were a perfectly matched imperial couple, while she wasn’t even a matchmaker, just an impertinent maid who dared to wedge herself between the hero and heroine. Just like in every story, the hero was devoted to the heroine alone. Once he became emperor, he would have this disloyal, status-seeking maid disfigured and sold to a brothel. That was how Xi Hongrui died. Then she was reborn on the day the heroine arranged for her to marry the hero’s page. In her previous life, she had thought the page was just a slave and rejected the offer without hesitation. But once the hero became emperor, even the servants at his side became men of standing. If she hadn’t been so snobbish, she could already have been the lawful wife of a high-ranking official. Now that she had been reborn and knew everything, Xi Hongrui knelt on the ground. Looking up at the heroine, who was asking whether she was willing to marry the hero’s page, she replied eagerly: “This servant is not willing!” As expected, she was still so snobbish. Even after living her life over, all she wanted was to marry into power! The heroine withdrew her gaze with pity. She wanted to see what would become of such an unruly servant girl in a feudal society. But in the end, all she saw was Xi Hongrui rise from servant to imperial consort, then to empress dowager ruling from behind the curtain. The hero emperor never even got to touch a hair on her head before she trampled him into the dirt. Xi Hongrui waited out the old emperor just as she’d hoped, put the young emperor on the throne, and took charge of the court as regent. Looking at the dynasty prostrate at her feet, she realized that marrying the hero could never compare to marrying power. Power was so wonderful. How could anyone be content to know their place? ★ Content warnings: The heroine is a native of the ancient world. She has nothing but her beauty, and marries the old emperor for power. The young emperor is not the heroine’s biological son. The old emperor is genuinely old, genuinely foolish, and genuinely useless. He only became emperor because he was lucky enough to be born into the right family. Unrealistic, illogical, and not meant to be thought too deeply about. It’s just for fun. A household-born slave girl rises to empress dowager. The whole point is that she turns her life around by marrying an emperor. ★ Next up: After the Divorce, I Got the Mother-in-Law Xin Yi is the villainess in a story about a woman who runs away while pregnant. Now the plot has reached the point where the heroine reunites with the hero, bringing along her genius son, and the hero has decided to divorce Xin Yi, who is the villainess. Divorce is a major matter, so her stern, old-fashioned mother-in-law has come to be present too. Song Meijuan, a well-known businesswoman, calmly sipped her tea. “If you divorce, you’ll leave with nothing.” Hearing this, the hero and heroine, along with their child, all watched Xin Yi gleefully, waiting for the villainess to be thrown out penniless. But Song Meijuan put down her teacup and looked calmly at her son. “I mean you. You’ll leave with nothing.” Hero: … Heroine: … Child: … What??? ★ After the divorce, the mother-in-law kicks her son and his mistress out, then lives on her own with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The divorce is final. Neither the mother-in-law nor the daughter will try to get them back together. Theme: Stay true to your heart and keep faith in the light. As long as your heart is free, you are free.