The Broken Laurel Branch

The princess, lost among the common people, was found and brought back by a handsome top scholar. It should have been a match made in heaven. But Linlan sought her hand in marriage, and to secure peace between the states, the princess was sent away to marry him.

But fate was cruel to the beautiful. The following year, the princess died of illness. When the top scholar heard the terrible news, he was overcome with grief and vowed to eat nothing but vegetarian food for three years. The King of Linlan, having lost his consort, vowed to wear mourning for three years.

Their devotion moved all who heard of it to tears, and everyone mourned the princess, whose life had been cut short in her youth.

That was what the outside world knew.

Only the princess herself knew how they had built their fame and fortune, and recovered their strength, by treading on her flesh and blood.

Reborn in those days, she could only wish she could devour their blood and flesh.

To avenge herself, she was willing to pay any price.

_

The Secret Envoy Bureau served the emperor in the shadows, where no one could see it. Its chief wore a mask at all times. Anyone who saw his true face was doomed to die. In her previous life, the princess had accidentally seen the face beneath his mask, yet survived.

So after being reborn, she went all in and sought him out.

"A princess making a deal with an evil spirit. Aren't you afraid of being reduced to bones and condemned to eternal damnation?" The fierce, ghostly mask drew close to the frail princess, terrifying and sinister.

"Even if it means the deepest hell, I will have no regrets, even in death."

She wanted revenge, no matter the cost.

At her vow to face death without regret, the evil spirit cherished the princess in the palm of his hand and raised her into a "carnivorous flower."

With abundant nourishment, the flower grew more lovely by the day.

After she avenged herself and took her seat on the high dais, he said they should part on good terms.

But in a gloomy prison unknown to the world, the crack of a whip rang out, and blood stained a white robe.

How could an evil spirit lay a hand on the princess?

"I would fall into hell to protect her as she ascends the high dais. I would have no regrets, even in death." He only wished for his princess to remain high above everyone else.

Yet he saw her burst out of the light and into the darkness, without a moment's hesitation. "I've come to take you home."

For that, she was willing to become an evil spirit herself.

An alternate world with many original settings.

Coming soon: The Sun, the Moon, and You

Because Crown Prince Xie Chong was influenced by his royal uncle, he went out of the palace to travel every year, and made quite a few rowdy friends... good friends!

Another year, another reunion.

Eldest Senior Sister: "I heard the Crown Prince went to Yongzhou. I want to go."

Down-and-out scholar: "Yongzhou is full of talented people. We can go."

Highway robber: "Rob the rich to help the poor. I'm in."

The three turned to the moneybags in the east: "Shall we go together?"

The Crown Prince, a moneybags who had just sneaked away from Yongzhou to meet up with them: "...All right."

After finally making it to Yongzhou, they found out that the Crown Prince had already returned to the capital. But as luck would have it:

Highway robber: "A thief never comes back empty-handed. This time will be the exception."

Down-and-out scholar: "The examinations are near. I'll keep trying, even if I fail again and again."

Eldest Senior Sister: "...I'll go back and call off an engagement."

The Crown Prince glanced at her. "Let's meet again next year."

One month later.

The Crown Prince was ordered to greet a young general returning from the frontier at the city gate. Instead, he received word that the young general, the prime minister's legitimate daughter, and the top scholar were fighting over the road at the gate. Each had their reasons, and none would give way.

The Crown Prince hurried to the city gate, where he and the friends he'd parted from not long ago stared at one another in silence: "..."

A top scholar who failed the exams every time?

A young general who never returned from a robbery empty-handed?

A prince from a fallen family?

The prime minister's legitimate daughter, alone and without support?

Years had passed, yet the four of them couldn't put together a single true identity. They didn't even know who to start questioning.

-

Later, someone asked them how they had first met.

Second Lady Chu: "In a small town, at a baby's full-moon celebration..."

Young General: "We happened to sit at the same table..."

Top Scholar: "We fought over the last piece of meat on the platter..."

Crown Prince: "They overturned the table and got thrown out."

The crowd couldn't believe it. "The Crown Prince fought over meat?"

Second Lady Chu set the record straight for him. "We were the ones who got thrown out and blocked the Crown Prince's way. Seeing how finely dressed he was, we just..."

We were so taken by the man's looks and money that we couldn't bring ourselves to leave.

"Were you trying to extort him? Rob him?" someone guessed.

The top scholar frowned. "That's an insult to our dignity. We were begging."

The Crown Prince calmly took a sip of tea. "We begged for a whole banquet and ate ten taels' worth of food."

That day, the young woman's eyes shone brighter than the sun and moon. He softened for a moment, and from then on, he had a string of followers behind him.

A light ensemble cast.

Everyone has a secret identity from the start.

A luckless young lord with no power or influence, from a fallen family with nothing left but money (a calm, noble Crown Prince and heir to the throne), versus a greedy, vain senior sister from a declining sect, alone and without support (an upright, chivalrous legitimate daughter of the prime minister).

The protagonists are the young grandson of the emperor from The Husband's Story and the legitimate daughter of Prime Minister Chu's family. Characters from The Husband's Story will appear, but this novel can be read on its own.

Please add The Lady, Save Me to your collection!

Jiang Qing received an urgent letter from home saying the family was in grave danger and that she must return at once. Without a second thought, she packed her things and headed down the mountain, only to be met with an imperial decree arranging her marriage.

The Marquis of Su'an, Yan Zhao.

An unsociable man with a limp.

Jiang Qing had read stories like this before, and immediately knew what to do. Certain she had been given a mission to save him, she married him with confidence.

The young marquis was indeed handsome, and it made sense that he was prickly as a hedgehog. It was also right for her to care for him attentively, reform him, and save him. But...

"Madam, save me."

"Madam, they're all bullying me."

"Madam, beat him to death."

"Madam, let the dogs bite him!"

Jiang Qing: "..."

Had she gone too far in reforming and saving him?

-

One day, Jiang Qing received an urgent order from her sect and left overnight.

That night, someone took the opportunity to attack the marquis's residence, only to be surrounded by hidden guards in the courtyard. The young marquis stood right in the middle, grinning at them. "Gentlemen, I've been expecting you."

That night, the Yan family was set in order again, and the world was turned upside down. Only then did the world realize that this was no helpless little victim. He was a little King of Hell!

-

When Jiang Qing's sect fell under attack and her life hung by a thread, she seemed to fall into a familiar embrace. "Madam, I'm late."

Jiang Qing shed a tear of reluctance. She must have been so worried about him that she was hallucinating as she died.

Her lame little husband absolutely must not come. If only she had known she would never return, she should have killed everyone in the Yan family first. Then no one would be left to bully him.

One month later, Jiang Qing woke up.

Her sect's great enemy had been avenged, and every family involved in its slaughter had been wiped out. A saying spread through the martial world:

Yan Zhao grins, and the impermanence demon comes to claim your life.

Jiang Qing: "? Who?"

Theme: Persevere without faltering, and face every challenge.