There Should Be No Hatred (Reborn Twice)

Thank you for supporting the official release | We are not responsible for pirated copies | Readers of pirated copies, please do not leave comments For the premium chapters, we recommend purchasing them one chapter at a time | 60% anti-piracy rate | The title and cover may be changed to prevent piracy * When Jiang Lingyue was thirteen, she strayed into the imperial hunting grounds and nearly died beneath a hungry tiger’s claws. Xie Huan saved her life. She fell in love with him because of it. But Jiang Lingyue was born into a collateral branch of the Jiang clan. Her father had retired early to avoid trouble, and her elder brother was merely a low-ranking official at the Court of State Ceremonial. Though her maternal great-uncle was a grand tutor, their family was still no match for the powerful clans filling Bianjing. A match with the legitimate eldest son of the late empress was even more out of the question. So she could only watch as the Jiang family’s legitimate eldest daughter married Xie Huan. After their wedding, the two went north to oversee the army, then rode across the wilderness, taking in the boundless desert beneath the rustling sunset. They must have been happy and carefree. Of course, Jiang Lingyue had read all this in popular tales. She had been frail from birth and had never even left Bianjing. How could she know what the northern desert was like? When she turned eighteen, the elders in her family carefully chose a handsome and accomplished young man for her. The two married without a hitch. Her husband was ambitious. Though born into a humble family, he was hardworking and driven. With the support of his wife’s family, he passed the examinations, entered government service, and rose quickly through the ranks. The year Jiang Lingyue died, he was promoted to left deputy prime minister, wielding great power and just one step away from becoming a marquis and chancellor. Jiang Lingyue was twenty-two that year. Though she and her husband lived apart in separate residences, her father and brothers stood by her, and her life had been fairly smooth. A moment before she closed her eyes for the last time, she heard a young maid gossiping in the corridor that Xie Huan had died in the northern desert. Apparently, an old injury to both his knees had flared up. His enemies took advantage of it to surround him, and he was pierced by a rain of arrows. Nearly ten years had passed. Jiang Lingyue had long since forgotten Xie Huan. Her consciousness was fading, but she vaguely remembered that he had sustained those injuries while shielding her from danger. In her life of more than twenty years, that was Jiang Lingyue’s only regret. It could only ever be a regret, she thought. * Yet in the blink of an eye, Jiang Lingyue returned to life, back to the early spring when she was sixteen. She was attending a plum-blossom banquet at the palace. It was supposedly a flower-viewing event, but in truth it was being held to select a wife for the crown prince, Xie Huan, who was nearing twenty. At the banquet, Xie Huan sat upright on the dais. His jade-like fingertip swept lightly across the room and stopped on a young woman’s coiffed hair. The young man, noble and handsome, spoke in a voice clear as beads striking one another. “Who is that young lady?” An attendant bowed and replied, “Your Highness, that is the ninth young lady of the Jiang family, born to a collateral branch. Her given name is Lingyue.” Xie Huan nodded and lightly toyed with the plum branch on the table. “Then I’ll choose her.” The attendant nearly fell over in shock, and the princess beside him looked at him suspiciously. “There are so many noble young ladies in the garden. Why choose her as your wife?” Xie Huan merely smiled. “She’s the prettiest and speaks the least. What’s wrong with that?” * Xie Huan chose Jiang Lingyue because he had discovered a grand conspiracy before his death in his previous life. He never expected that his offhand remark at the plum-blossom banquet, made just to humor the princess, would come true in every detail. Jiang Lingyue truly was the best woman he could have hoped for. After they married, they shared each other’s joys and sorrows, always by one another’s side. She was like a divine consort sent down from heaven to save him. Even at the end, when she lay dying in a pool of blood, she couldn’t bring herself to scold him once. So Xie Huan wept and bled from the heart, praying to every god and Buddha under heaven for another chance to be with her. Even the gods could not overcome the force of fate. They allowed Jiang Lingyue to appear before him again, but could not make her turn back to look at him. 1. Fictional setting. Happy ending. 2. There is more than one major male character, with a rivalry for the heroine. The male lead and his first wife were joined in a political marriage, and neither had any romantic or physical involvement outside it. 3. The ex-husband is the second male lead. He, the female supporting character, and the leads have understandable reasons for being at odds. 4. There is no third life. The heroine faked her death. The villain was responsible. * The author does not accept writing advice. Note: The romance between the leads begins only after they are fifteen. Blurb first posted on Jinjiang Literature City, June 17, 2023. Screenshot saved. Theme: Even the best relationships can suffer from criticism and misunderstandings that come out of nowhere.