I Won't Marry the Emperor's Grandson

[Next up: After Their Divorce, the Chancellor Comes Crawling Back. Blurb at the very bottom!]

[Blurb]

In her previous life, Jiang Qingtang died of illness during the coldest winter Chang'an had ever seen.

Born into a distinguished family, with a father who was a celebrated founding general, she should have had a bright future. Instead, she threw everything away to marry Li Heng, who was not yet favored at the time, and stood by him as he rose from a powerless imperial grandson to the highest seat in the land.

Those years were hard for Jiang Qingtang. Assassination attempts, poisonings, and false accusations: she stayed by Li Heng's side, helping him evade one palace conspiracy and political struggle after another.

She never uttered a single word of complaint, because she firmly believed Li Heng would never betray her.

But she never imagined that one day, she and the man who had vowed they would never abandon each other, in life or death, would slowly become enemies.

During their time as emperor and empress, the two argued countless times over their differences in political opinion. They said the cruelest, most hurtful things to each other, and the affection they had once shared as husband and wife had long since worn away. Li Heng had already begun plotting to destroy the Jiang family.

Rumors spread throughout the court that Li Heng intended to make his childhood sweetheart, Xie Li, his empress. Heartbroken, Jiang Qingtang finally saw the truth: Li Heng's one true love had never been her.

In this life, she would never marry Li Heng again. All she wished was that they would never meet, in this life or any other.

*

Li Heng was a madman obsessed with power. Because of what he had experienced as a child, he never gave his heart to anyone lightly. But even a life lived cautiously, with every step carefully planned, could still hold surprises.

Jiang Qingtang was that surprise.

The day she left, snow fell thickly over the imperial city, whitening Li Heng's black hair. They fulfilled their vow to grow old together.

The young emperor, who never let his emotions show, leaned against the empress's coffin and wept uncontrollably. For the first time, he lost control in front of the palace attendants.

For Li Heng, what was frightening was not a heart mixed with falsehood, but that his false feelings had gradually, without his knowing, been filled with genuine love.

"I regret it, A Tang..."

*

"This act defies Heaven's will. It will consume your lifespan and cost you your memories. Are you certain, Benefactor?"

"It doesn't matter. This life is one I owe A Tang."

[Reading Guide]

1. The setting is fictional, so please don't overanalyze it.

2. The male lead does not change. The heroine's rebirth is connected to him.

3. Both leads are each other's only partner, need I say more?

[Upcoming Novel]

After Their Divorce, Her Ex-Husband Comes Crawling Back

Ruan Baizhi was orphaned as a child and grew up dependent on others. She thought she would marry an ordinary man, take care of her husband and children, and live out a quiet, uneventful life.

But when she was sixteen, the night before her cousin's wedding, her cousin eloped with her lover. Ruan Baizhi was pushed into the bridal sedan and, in a daze, married into the Lu family in her cousin's place.

The Lu family was a century-old aristocratic clan. Their eldest son, Lu Jin, was as refined as orchids by a stream, with a handsome face. He was the youngest and most promising powerful official in Great Qi, as well as the dream lover of countless young ladies in Chang'an.

Ruan Baizhi was delighted, too. When she was young, others had bullied her and pushed her into a pond, but Lu Jin had happened to pass by and rescued her. Ever since, she had carefully held him in her heart for years.

He was the bright moon in the sky, while she was an inconspicuous weed on the ground. Yet now, the moon had come to her.

After they married, Lu Jin was cold toward her and never showed her the slightest smile. Ruan Baizhi assumed she must be doing something wrong, so she treated him even better and tried her hardest to be a good wife.

She thought that one day, he would notice her.

One day, as usual, she brought Lu Jin a medicinal soup she had spent hours making by hand. Outside his study, she heard him talking with a friend.

"She's just an orphan from the Ruan family. Of course I look down on her."

Only then did Ruan Baizhi understand that she had never warmed his heart. It had all been nothing more than her own ridiculous one-sided affection.

She wanted to preserve what little dignity she had left. She left behind a divorce letter and departed Chang'an.

With all her savings, Ruan Baizhi opened a cosmetics shop in Luoyang. Business grew better and better, and as time passed, the pain that had pierced her heart began to fade.

Until...

*

"Only the heartless can accomplish great things."

That was what the Lu family patriarch taught Lu Jin. From childhood onward, anything Lu Jin loved had to be given up, had to be destroyed.

When Lu Jin saw the divorce letter Ruan Baizhi had left behind, he felt little. If she didn't want him, he could simply let her go.

When she left, she also took away the lamp in the back courtyard that had always been lit for him, the steaming-hot soup waiting late at night, the assortment of sweet pastries, and the incessant chatter in his ear.

Only then did he realize that he had already grown used to her presence.

On a night of torrential rain, he arrived at her residence, travel-worn, only to receive a single reply from her.

"It's late. You should return home soon, sir."

Theme: Never abandon each other, in life or death.