The Beauty Trap of the Capital

Gu Lingyi was as beautiful as peach blossoms, radiant and dignified. She was the most outstanding young lady in the Gu clan and the empress of the realm, envied by everyone. Yet now, she was gaunt and haggard.

Just beyond the window, the husband she had spent half her life clinging to and struggling to win was carefully holding her younger female cousin's hand, his eyes brimming with a tenderness she had never seen before.

As she lay dying, Gu Lingyi thought back over her past, filled with regret.

It turned out that some people's hearts could never be warmed.

Gu Lingyi died gravely ill, her heart turned to ashes. She never expected that when she opened her eyes again, she would be back on the day she had become entangled with Zhongli Xu.

At the time, she was tugging at Zhongli Xu's sleeve, trying to get him to accept the fine warm jade she had painstakingly carved for him.

Everyone knew that Gu Lingyi was in love with the Second Prince.

But no one expected her to gaze at him for a long while, then turn her eyes and say clearly, "Second Prince, I am in love with... your imperial uncle, Prince Yu. But Prince Yu is busy with official duties, and I have no chance to meet him. I must ask you to pass this piece of warm jade on to Prince Yu..."

She lowered her head slightly. At the mention of the words "Prince Yu," her cheeks flushed, and she looked every bit the bashful young lady.

That bashfulness had once been reserved for him alone.

Zhongli Xu was not fond of Gu Lingyi.

He had always preferred elegant, gentle women. But Gu Lingyi's pretty face was more alluring than a flower, and her beauty more beguiling than spring blossoms. Her overly vivid, sultry manner always struck him as vulgar.

However, behind Gu Lingyi stood the Gu family, a clan held in high regard by the emperor.

Yet the enchanting woman who had once had eyes only for him now kept speaking of her admiration for his young imperial uncle.

At that moment, a strange feeling welled up inside him.

He was jealous.

Everyone knew that Prince Yu, Zhongli Jing, was handsome as an immortal descended from the heavens, with a smile like a spring breeze. He could kill without leaving a trace, all while talking and laughing.

Yet when the rumor that a Gu family girl had fallen for Prince Yu reached him, this inscrutable man, who was always so difficult to read, blushed faintly at the tips of his ears and chuckled softly. "That little girl."

No one knew that in her previous life, the reason the Gu family girl had been able to sit securely on the empress's throne was the secret protection of Prince Yu.

In the study of Prince Yu's residence, guarded layer upon layer, a perfectly ordinary medicine bottle was hidden behind a maze of mechanisms.

It was Gu Lingyi's "debt for saving Zhongli Jing's life."

Zhongli Jing had never liked owing anyone a debt.

So although he knew his cold-hearted imperial nephew had considerable ambition, he did not interfere, allowing Gu Lingyi to have her way.

At first, he only wanted to protect her.

But he never expected that, in protecting her, he would eventually let her into his heart.

Theme: A girl who loves to smile will have good luck.