After the Cool Princess Set Her Sights on Me

The novel is complete. Any updates are revisions. Thanks to all the lovely readers for supporting the official version! There is a winter solstice extra in my collection. Strongly recommend my bestie Ji Chunyan's newly updated novel, I Hate Her, or So I Pretend: [Gentle, obsessive actress x sharp-tongued but soft-hearted researcher, childhood friends with mutual unrequited crushes, extra-sweet romance alert] Cross-Dressing as a Man in a Harem Competition: [Fake green tea, real schemer and face-con, an enthusiastic commoner and Embroidered Uniform Guard x ruthless, love-shunning, career-minded widow married three times] New novel now underway. [Reader's Guide] · The transmigrate-into-a-book dynasty is fictional, and the worldbuilding is full of authorial inventions. Please don't scrutinize it for historical accuracy. · The pacing in the first book isn't great. Please forgive me!!! · Reserved, deep-thinking powerhouse gong x cool, celibate, aloof shou (debunking the rumors!) · A crafty actor who acts tough with borrowed authority x an icy mountain moon suddenly set ablaze · A weaker gong with an incredibly strong shou. They both grow, and each has a complete storyline. · The gong fights back in chapters 132 and 198. · Lighthearted with a touch of melodrama, and sweet. Occasionally the logic is dead set. In the end, a happy ending, a satisfying, joyous reunion, and a feel-good story you can trust! · The System only plays a role early on. Chu Zhao transmigrates into a novel disguised as a story about a powerful woman, but actually centered on a man. She becomes a disposable hostage with the same name as herself. By the time she realizes she's disguised as a man in an enemy kingdom, surrounded by danger, it's already too late: she's about to be killed. Her role is that of a taciturn, reserved, disposable "younger brother" who accompanies the male lead to the enemy kingdom as a hostage. She originally thought she could scrape by for the rest of her life, though keeping her mouth shut would be no easy feat. In the original novel, the ruthless male lead stakes Chu Zhao's life, sacrifices her, and gambles on securing a smooth path for himself in the enemy kingdom. Chu Zhao senses disaster coming, but the garbage System keeps crashing, so she can only blurt out the male lead's scheme. Reckless and shameless, but effective, Chu Zhao ends up accidentally killing the male lead in a melodramatic turn of events. The guilty must pay for their crimes, so she's forced to take on the role of a reserved, deep-thinking powerhouse. System: You must be modest and self-disciplined, reserved and profound, so that Liang will have a good impression of you! Chu Zhao: Okay! System: You must inherit the male lead's businesses in the capital, keep them running, and secretly turn people against him! Chu Zhao: Okay! System: You must earn Princess Wei Yunzhou's favor, use her to keep the two kingdoms in check, then ascend the throne and finally hold your head high! Chu Zhao: No problem! But with nothing but a silver tongue, Chu Zhao manages to botch it all. She just can't keep up the act of being a brooding powerhouse. After being forced into marriage, her disguise falls apart, and all she can do is run. System: You must escape the capital of Liang on a dark and stormy night! Chu Zhao: My feet barely touch the ground. I'm running, I'm running! Wei Yunzhou: No! Chu Zhao: ? System: How is the heroine winning you over not a normal plot development? Chu Zhao: ! Wei Yunzhou is the noble princess of Liang, as distant and solitary as the moon high in the sky. She is so exalted that nothing in the world is beyond her reach. She has never wanted something she couldn't have. She's long been accustomed to people relying on her, except for that strange hostage. Of the two hostages sent by Yong, one is dead, while the "younger brother" is cold-blooded and even more calculating than his sibling: reserved, discreet, and impeccably mannered. Everyone in the capital praises him as an unparalleled hostage. Naturally, Wei Yunzhou feels a little displeased with him: who told "him" never to rely on her? But then something unexpected happens. That person actually tugs at her sleeve in private and murmurs, "I'm afraid of the dark." Later, Chu Zhao chatters incessantly and fawns over her. In the end, she even hands over all the businesses Yong has painstakingly built to Wei Yunzhou, allowing her to ascend the throne. Chu Zhao says with a cheerful smile that this is only what a hostage dependent on another's hospitality ought to do. Wei Yunzhou was the one who insisted on provoking her first. Beneath the vast sky screen and the long night, Wei Yunzhou asks herself over and over: Has she really not fallen for me? She must care about me. At last, she can no longer hold back. "Since you're a hostage dependent on another's hospitality, you have no business leaving. I've never failed to get what I want, and that includes you." The blazing flames illuminate Wei Yunzhou's beautiful face. Her voice carries a tenderness and sincerity she has never shown before. Yong is in turmoil and urgently needs an heir to return home. The night is dark, the wind is high, and the trees sway in the breeze. An arrow flies through the hunting grounds and catches the fleeing hostage by the hem. Chu Zhao is panicking. She's been disguised as a man and deceived the sovereign, wrecked the plot and ruined everything. Now she can only hurry back to her homeland and beg for a chance to survive. After helping Wei Yunzhou so much, surely she can make amends and be allowed to live? The crowd surges, firelight blurs, and the low-hanging sky screen shines as bright as day, illuminating the face of the newcomer. It is the most exalted Crown Princess of Liang. They say she is ruthless and decisive, cold and heartless, cool and noble as the bright moon in the sky. "Do you truly not want me anymore?" Her thoughts return to that night. As if in a dream, she murmurs in Chu Zhao's ear, calling her "Jiaojiao." There's no other reason. She feels wronged over having "spent the night with a man." "Actually, I'm keeping my darling in a golden house, aren't I?" Her eyes are clear, every word sincere, without the slightest hint of pretense. When did she find out I was a woman? .Pre-release blurb: He Jingling transmigrates into an ancient romance novel about women competing for a man. To return to reality, she must win over the heroine, Yan Changjun. A competition for men, a powerful heroine, yet she's supposed to win over the heroine. He Jingling: System, did you give me the wrong mission? The System gives her two choices. First, compete alongside the men. Besides the male lead, a treacherous minister who is a wolf in sheep's clothing, there are also: A prince who commands his own army and will crush the border tribes for the princess; A skilled bodyguard who offers his life to the princess; A physician skilled in both medicine and poison, willing to serve as the princess's medicinal ingredient; A wealthy merchant who will gladly offer his riches to the princess... A good woman doesn't fight with men. He Jingling asks for the next option. Second, compete with the heroine for the men, thereby attracting the heroine's attention and making her fall deeply in love with her. After crushing the border tribes, Yan Changjun kills the prince on a pretext. Before rebelling, she is poisoned and uses the physician as an antidote. During the rebellion, she exhausts the merchant's generations-old fortune in gold and jade. The bodyguard dies protecting her while helping her sneak out of the palace... In the end, Yan Changjun ascends the throne, while the male lead lands in prison, never having received the slightest affection from her. He Jingling: ...Wait, she won't care no matter which one I steal, will she? The princess acts this way because she has always had a beloved in her heart, a moonlight she cannot bear to touch. That's how all these male side characters end up dead. He Jingling laughs awkwardly. She says she doesn't like fighting with women. She likes women who are just as capable as men. Can you even win? Why compete? Damn it, aren't you just competing with women after all? He Jingling's eyes roll. Rather than compete with women, why not find another way? After exhausting every trick, she disguises herself as a man and enters the princess's residence, embarking on a one-way road of acting like a scheming green tea. When accused by the commander, the prince, the physician, the wealthy merchant, and others, He Jingling puts on a tearful display in front of the princess: "They're all so capable. I can't do anything, but just being able to stay by Your Highness's side is enough for me." "How could they think that? It's my fault. I thought they wouldn't mind." "It has nothing to do with Your Highness. It's all my fault." At last, when all these people come looking for her, He Jingling quickly hides behind Yan Changjun, sobbing: "They're acting like this, and I'm so scared. Maybe I should leave after all. I can't keep causing trouble for you, Sister." Just as she expected, Yan Changjun really can't bear to let her go. But... the way she shows it is a little strange. As Yan Changjun's gaze grows more and more tender, He Jingling finally understands why the princess has never had feelings for anyone in the book. Long, pale fingers trace He Jingling's temple and lips. Her sharp, phoenix-like eyes suddenly soften. Yan Changjun's breath brushes her ear as she whispers tenderly, "You want to leave? What, have you forgotten that night of passion between us?" Only then does He Jingling realize in alarm: it isn't that pretending to be a green tea worked. She's actually become the heroine's ill-fated first love, who died young! #Your Highness, being in a BG novel must be so hard! #So that's why there's no romance at all: you like women! #What, I'm the one you like? You should've said so earlier. Then I wouldn't have been acting for you all this time T^T #So I was the one who did all that "girl-on-girl" stuff, ahhhhh!! #Your Highness, don't come any closer!! . Yan Changjun has experienced two devastating deaths and separations. She once watched her mother take her own life, then was imprisoned in a dark and sunless past. She also watched the woman she loved die before her eyes, and could do nothing to save her through her tear-blurred vision. She thinks of them, year after year. From then on, Yan Changjun knew that the only anchor in her life could be a woman. Though countless companions came and went, she never felt the slightest affection for them. Until she saw her again, through fluttering brocade curtains, through thousands of lanterns. Across all the world, only their distant glance remained. But she was wearing the embroidered uniform of the Imperial Guard. Yan Changjun knows the dead cannot return to life, and that someone in the world may have a similar face. But she still wants to have her. At last, she is about to succeed. Just as she first suspected, this woman is not her. - But she still wants to have her. * "Don't move." Yan Changjun's voice and gaze are steeped in infatuation as she touches a brush to He Jingling's collarbone, marking it. "This way, you look most like her." He Jingling stares in shock, but all she sees in Yan Changjun's eyes is a beautiful dream that has nothing to do with her. So He Jingling regrets it. * Ten miles of streets are decked in red wedding finery, with colorful silk fluttering everywhere. Commander He is about to marry a young lady from a noble family. People say they are a perfect match, a pair of golden children and jade maidens, and a beautiful love story. But someone clicks their tongue. "Wasn't Commander He the only one Your Highness ever took a liking to? But she ended up just like the others. Once the princess gets bored, she throws them away!" "You don't understand. After serving Her Highness for so long, it's only right that she let Commander He go. Did you expect the princess to give her a title? We should be celebrating that Commander He has escaped her misery!" He Jingling rides a tall horse, leading it forward in a daze. Only when an eight-person bridal sedan chair comes to a stop in front of her does she suddenly come to her senses. The curtain slowly lifts, revealing a lovely face. She wears a phoenix crown and red wedding robes. It is Yan Changjun, the current regent princess. She is the most exalted and distinguished of them all. They say countless companions have shared her bed, yet she has never given any of them a fraction of her heart. But now she steps forward, takes hold of the horse's reins, and looks up at He Jingling, her expression caught between heartbreak and reverence. Her eyes shimmer, their corners flushed red. "You have only two choices," she says softly. "Will you marry me, or will you take me as your wife?" Theme: No theme selected.