Jade Strategy (Reborn)

(This was my first novel, and I'm not proud of it. Readers, proceed with caution. Check out my upcoming novel, The Second Year After Divorcing the Powerful Minister.)

Blurb:

Song Yuci was a vicious supporting female character in her previous life.

Seeing others impoverished and begging for mercy on the ground was one of her great pleasures.

What goes around comes around, and cruel people eventually meet someone even crueler. Just as Song Yuci was beginning to fall in love, she met the man who would be her undoing: Prince Jing.

To get close to him, Song Yuci got blood on her hands. She thought she could claim the coveted title of princess consort, but instead she was forced to marry Xiao Yunce, heir to the Marquis of Jingbei, a soldier who knew nothing but war.

Later, the Xiao and Song families were thrown into prison. Song Yuci knelt at Prince Jing's feet, begging him to save her, but he kicked her away.

He held Song Yuci's cousin in his arms and wiped his clothes in disgust.

Reborn, Song Yuci sees the light. She changes her ways and casts aside love as if it were withered and worthless.

She helps the people and gives aid to refugees, no longer the menace everyone once avoided.

In this life, she goes from being universally despised to famous throughout the land, and finally lives life on her own terms.

Except now she has a clingy shadow she can't shake off.

Xiao Yunce is always following her, pouting and pleading, "Darling, spend a little more time with me."

A little scene:

One day, a servant at the Marquis of Jingbei's residence discovers that the heir, who wields a spear to cut down enemies on the battlefield, has quietly slipped into his room with a needle and thread.

That night, Song Yuci discovers her name embroidered inside Xiao Yunce's clothes, over his heart. The letters are so crooked they look like centipedes.

She points at the three "characters" and looks up to ask her husband why he did it. The imposing seven-foot-tall man turns bright red and stammers, "I heard that if you sew the name of the person you love over your heart with your own hands, you'll be invincible on the battlefield."

Reader's guide:

1. Set in an imaginary world. Feel free to point out anything that doesn't make sense.

2. The leads are each other's only partners in both lifetimes. Marriage first, love later. Romance is the focus, with the plot as a supporting element.

3. There is a System, but it gradually plays a smaller role.

Upcoming novel blurb:

When Wen Tan was sixteen, she fell in love at first sight with Pei Yunzhi, then a down-and-out scholar, and insisted on marrying him despite being the daughter of a marquis.

On their wedding night, Wen Tan was so caught up in the joy of marrying the man she loved that she failed to see the flash of disgust in Pei Yunzhi's eyes.

Over the next eight years, Wen Tan stood by Pei Yunzhi as he rose from a poor, humble scholar to a young chief councilor wielding immense power. Everyone said she had a sharp eye for talent and had chosen an excellent husband.

Only Wen Tan knew that over the years, she had gone from a pampered young lady who had never lifted a finger to an ordinary woman in coarse clothes. Everything she did was to let Pei Yunzhi pursue his career without worry. Even when it left her in constant pain, she never regretted it.

**

The day the decree granting Pei's family a promotion arrives, Wen Tan thinks they can finally live happily as husband and wife, free from hardship. But Pei Yunzhi puts away the decree and says coolly:

"There is someone I love. I want to bring her into the household as my principal wife."

Wen Tan stands frozen, as if struck by lightning.

It turns out she was nothing more than a pawn on his path to success, meant to be discarded once she was no longer useful.

Heartbroken, Wen Tan leaves a divorce agreement behind and watches as Pei Yunzhi welcomes his new bride in an eight-person sedan chair. From then on, he holds power and enjoys boundless glory.

**

The second year after their divorce, Wen Tan goes with her family to their estate outside the capital to escape the summer heat, and unexpectedly runs into Pei Yunzhi, who has come alone.

The young chief councilor grabs her sleeve, his eyes red and his voice pleading in a way she has never heard before. "Tan'er, please don't leave me. All right?"

Wen Tan pries his fingers off one by one and steps back, her expression indifferent. "Lord Pei, please behave with dignity."

Pei Yunzhi panics and takes two steps toward her, trying to win her back. But someone suddenly appears behind Wen Tan.

The usually cold, composed Prince Yi, who never so much as cracks a smile, holds a bowl of shaved ice and pulls Wen Tan into his arms, coaxing her gently. "Tan'er, be good. You can only have one bowl."

Theme: Helping others is helping yourself.