The Secret My Late Wife and I Shared

[A female-dressed-as-male heir × a male-dressed-as-female princess. One couple, happy ending!]

An imperial decree married Yu Qing to Princess Qingjia.

Yu Qing’s identity was complicated. At first, all she wanted was for them to treat each other with mutual respect.

But the princess looked at her pitifully. “Husband, I’ve been alone in the palace since I was little, with no affection or favor. If even you won’t cherish me, who else can I entrust my life to?”

The princess was a great beauty, fragrant and sweet, and very good at acting coy.

Yu Qing was torn: I want to cherish you too, but what am I supposed to do when I’m a woman myself?

Her wife was as beautiful as a flower and as tender as flowing water. Yu Qing couldn’t bear to let her down.

She treated the princess like a true husband would, protecting and cherishing her in every way.

The day Yu Qing went off to war, the princess wept uncontrollably.

After their tearful farewell, Yu Qing planned to tell her everything when she returned. But before she could come home victorious, the princess died in the capital.

After years of turmoil, Yu Qing returned to the capital to find a prince who had become the talk of the town.

The prince was peerlessly handsome and elegant, with only one flaw… He looked far too much like her dead wife.

After investigating, Yu Qing uncovered two horrifying facts:

First, her dead wife had never been a woman.

Second, her dead wife wasn’t dead.

She never imagined her seemingly pure and kind wife could have deceived her so completely.

For a time, Yu Qing decided to cut ties with this person once and for all.

But the prince was so aggrieved that he burst into tears, and Yu Qing was once again left dazed by his charms.

She realized that her wife could never become her enemy. Her wife was simply her wife.

Forced to marry into the Marquis’s household and play the role of a wife, Xie Jing was deeply resentful.

When they first married, he would rather die than share a bed with a man.

Half a month into the marriage, looking at the refined, gentle, and graceful young general, Xie Jing decided he could put up with it.

A month into the marriage, Xie Jing began to suspect he was gay. His whole world came crashing down.

Then he discovered that the prince consort had a huge secret.

From then on, he spent every day waiting for his husband to come home.

The heir and princess lived in perfect harmony, in peaceful days, until Xie Jing staged his escape.

When they met again, Xie Jing thought that with this face, he could win Yu Qing’s favor again and reclaim his place as the heir’s wife.

But when Yu Qing’s sharp sword qi came at him, he realized things wouldn’t be that simple.

Determined to marry back into the marquis’s family, Xie Jing decided to throw away his pride.

Note:

1. The heroine has maxed-out martial prowess. She’s a general at first and a powerful minister later. The hero is a scheming, flirtatious, pampered wife type.

2. The hero is the dead wife! Also, he isn’t short. He’s compressed while disguised as a woman early on, but will grow taller later.

[Bonus scene]

Xie Jing stumbled by the pond, and his husband caught him around the waist, afraid he might fall in.

The unsmiling young general was so considerate that Xie Jing looked away, questioning himself. “Could it be… I’m gay?”

A midnight thunderclap woke Yu Qing. A maid led her to her wife’s room, where the princess looked on the verge of tears. “I’m too scared to sleep. Husband, will you stay with me?”

Yu Qing could only hold her as she fell asleep, while thinking to herself, “Well, being with a woman isn’t so bad either.”

Theme: True love transcends identity