Mother, Why Do You Want to Get Along with Me?

At seven, Ji Mingyi was sent to a neighboring kingdom as a hostage in place of her elder brother. Over the years, she experienced the hardships of the world and every kind of joy and sorrow. At night, as she fell asleep with damp, cold firewood for a pillow, she would imagine that one day her father and brothers would come to take her home.

When she was twelve, she pulled her only companion, Dahuang, out of a frozen river. Barefoot and furious, she ran toward the Crown Prince’s palace, her wet body crashing into an unfamiliar woman.

The woman wore the royal robes of Ji Mingyi’s homeland, immaculate from head to toe. Mingyi smelled plum blossom cakes on her, her favorite treat back home.

Ji Mingyi, by contrast, was filthy and disheveled, reeking of Dahuang’s nauseating stench.

“Let go of me! I’m going to kill the Crown Prince and avenge myself!” Ji Mingyi charged wildly toward the palace, only to receive a resounding slap.

Ji Mingyi didn’t know who the woman was, but she was sternly scolded, picked up, and tossed into a steaming bath. The woman stripped her bare.

In the woman’s clean, warm bed, Ji Mingyi ate plum blossom cakes and fell asleep leaning against her leg.

It was the most comfortable sleep Ji Mingyi had had in years. Only later did she learn that the woman was Queen Li Zhaozhao, newly married to her father, the King of Zhou.

The day Queen Li left, Ji Mingyi pounced on her like a vicious dog. “Swear you’ll take me home! Otherwise, I’ll kill you!”

Li Zhaozhao made no promise, but she kept her word.

A year later, she took Ji Mingyi back to the Zhou Kingdom, helped her consolidate her position at court, eliminate her rivals, and build her power.

Ji Mingyi cherished and respected her, indulged her in everything, built her a palace of her own, and turned against her father and brothers for her sake.

But on the day of the coup, Li Zhaozhao tried to kill her.

It turned out that all these years, Li Zhaozhao had secretly been supporting another prince. Everything had been part of her plan.

Li Zhaozhao lost by a single move. In the end, she failed and became Ji Mingyi’s prisoner.

Ji Mingyi tried countless ways to humiliate her, and countless times considered forgiving her.

When the imperial poison wine was sent to her, Li Zhaozhao drank it without asking a single question.

Ji Mingyi spent fifteen years clawing her way out of the mud and onto the throne, but died in her royal tent less than a year later.

She was reborn on the day she first met Queen Li.

Li Zhaozhao, her clothes fragrant and her smile warm, greeted her: “Your Highness, I’ve come to take you home.”

Ji Mingyi understood.

She was the most dangerous person in the world.

Hating her was pointless.

Loving her was no longer possible.

“Get lost.”

“I’ll fight my way home myself, then kill you.”

Queen Li didn’t scold her. She only kept looking at her, smiling through her tears.

Ji Mingyi sensed something was wrong, and she was right.

Queen Li’s behavior grew stranger and stranger. For example, she found all sorts of excuses to stay in the enemy kingdom, fussing over Ji Mingyi during the day and bringing her chicken soup at night (they checked; it wasn’t poisoned).

She even crawled into Ji Mingyi’s bed on a snowy day, in a thoroughly undignified manner, because she was afraid Ji Mingyi would be cold.

Ji Mingyi didn’t understand.

Why was Mother acting like this?

"Divider"

1. Both leads are reborn, and the second life has a happy ending.

2. Queen Li loves her so much.

Theme: Redemption