After I Was Forced to Marry the Coldhearted Minister

The princess was a free-spirited woman who admired talent. While traveling incognito on a spring outing, she fell in love at first sight with the top-ranked candidate in the palace exams. Only after returning did she learn that he was already betrothed. She heard that his fiancée was his childhood sweetheart and that the two were deeply in love.

Unable to have him, the princess went to the emperor and had his engagement annulled, ordering the top-ranked candidate to marry her.

The emperor, who doted on the princess, felt guilty. By way of compensation, he arranged for Sheng Yuzhuang to marry the man he had originally chosen as the princess’s consort.

Sheng Yuzhuang had been about to marry her childhood sweetheart, but was forced to wed Lu Bingqian, a cool-headed and powerful official.

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Lu Bingqian came from a distinguished family. He was a master of both letters and arms, had risen to the highest ranks while still young, and was handsome and imposing. At least in the eyes of others, this was an excellent match, a hundred times better than marrying the top-ranked candidate. Sheng Yuzhuang had hit the jackpot, and ought to know better than to complain.

But for Sheng Yuzhuang, her heart died on the very first day of her marriage to Lu Bingqian.

Sheng Yuzhuang shut her heart to love, resolved to spend the rest of her life fulfilling her duties as a daughter-in-law of the Lu family, and not concern herself with anything else.

Fortunately, her husband was cool-headed and composed, with a calm temperament and an easygoing nature. It seemed they would spend the rest of their lives treating each other with icy courtesy, which shouldn’t be too hard to bear.

Somehow, things fell into place as naturally as a bridge leading to a boat. Her days grew better and better, far exceeding her expectations.

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Later, however, Sheng Yuzhuang realized she’d made things too simple.

The husband who was refined and courteous in public turned out to have two faces in private.

Lu Bingqian was domineering, jealous, and temperamental. The image of a humble gentleman was only a façade.

-

At the spring banquet, Sheng Yuzhuang gazed distractedly at the top-ranked candidate’s departing figure.

A large hand wrapped around her waist. Her elegant, handsome husband leaned close and spoke softly to her amid the clinking of cups, a smile on his face.

“If my lady looks at him one more time, your husband will punish you for an extra hour tonight.”

Later, Sheng Yuzhuang also discovered by chance that her husband had been involved in the princess’s spring outing all those years ago.

[One-on-one romance, love after marriage]

[Rivalry between men]

[Please be kind when reading]

Forthcoming story: Six Years After My Wife’s Death

Li Danhua considered herself a reasonably capable mistress of a distinguished household.

She managed the household, respected her in-laws, cared for her husband, and raised their children. She did all of it perfectly. Her only regret was that fate had not granted her a long life. Still young, she was already exhausted in body and spirit and on the verge of death.

As she lay dying, her husband, Du Zheng, held their two children and gazed at her with affection. He told her, “Don’t worry. I’ll raise our children well. In our next life, we’ll be husband and wife again.”

Li Danhua died with a smile.

After her death, her soul lingered in the mortal world.

She watched her husband bear the grief of losing her and guard the border, devoting all his energy to military affairs. He was soon promoted and ennobled, becoming a powerful lord in his own right.

He was steadfast in temperament, handsome and aloof, and had no intention of remarrying. He became a famous widower in the capital. Countless women tried to throw themselves at him, but he kept them all at arm’s length. Everyone marveled that the marquis loved his deceased wife so deeply, and that she would remain his first love forever.

Perhaps every life that has been reduced to ashes is destined for some change. Later, he went through many things, and met a woman.

Du Zheng couldn’t let go of his bond with his late wife, yet he was also drawn to the other woman without realizing it. Their love was tangled with hatred, their relationship on and off. She ran, he pursued, and their story had every element of melodramatic, tempestuous romance.

In the end, fortune favored Du Zheng. He ascended the throne amid the chaos of war, while the woman became empress. The two lovers were finally united, and their story became the stuff of legend.

By then, six years had passed since her death.

The woman who had once been his first love had long since been forgotten by everyone.

She became an optional name on a memorial tablet, growing ever more indistinct until she was no more than a shadow. Another woman took all the light that had once been hers. A hundred years later, the only one buried beside the emperor in the imperial tomb would be the woman in his heart, not her. Even the children she had left behind, still young, were taken into someone else’s arms and forgot who their birth mother was.

When she was reborn, it all felt like a dream.

Li Danhua was in the bloom of youth, still unmarried and the cherished eldest daughter of the Li family. Sitting by the window, she studied the invitation in her hand, lost in thought.

It was an invitation to the Lantern Festival banquet, the very occasion on which she had met Du Zheng.

Beneath a dazzling display of lanterns and fireworks, they had exchanged a single glance. One meeting beneath the golden breeze and jade dew was worth more than countless moments in the mortal world.

She’d been a lovestruck girl then, believing love mattered more than anything. She didn’t yet know that the same passionate gaze he’d given her would one day shine for another woman.

·

Du Zheng had enjoyed supreme power, known a love that cut to the bone, endured rock bottom, and attained glory. He believed he’d lived a life without regrets.

Reborn, he wanted to experience a different kind of life, and to fulfill the vow he had made to Shen Lingling before he died.

But the moment his horse came to a halt, he saw his first wife from his previous life.

She stood beneath an apricot tree, fine rain brushing her face and her hair stirring in the breeze. Her cool, clear gaze fell on him. She gave him a faint bow, refused the umbrella he offered, and walked away alone.

He watched her figure gradually vanish behind the curtain of rain. His steadfast heart, hardened over two lifetimes, felt as if someone had cracked it open, leaving nothing but desolation and bitterness to echo within.

Theme: A happy life must be built together