[Coming Soon in My Author's Column: The Dragon-Proud Hero Insists on Being My Darling Wife. If you're interested, feel free to add it to your collection. The synopsis is at the very bottom.]
Meng Yiguang was born into a declining marquis household. Her father was a concubine-born son and a low-ranking official content to muddle through life, so her prospects looked bleak. But she was stunningly beautiful, the loveliest woman in the capital. Her grandfather, who was obsessed with seeking immortality, had obtained a phoenix divination slip when she was born. From then on, he placed all his hopes on her, firmly believing that Meng Yiguang would one day restore the Meng family's Langya Marquis household to its former glory.
Meng Yiguang knew she was beautiful, but didn't believe in spirits and ghosts. She planned to make a good future for herself.
Then, at a flower-viewing banquet held to select the imperial consort, the Emperor handed her the jade scepter symbolizing the position of empress without the slightest hesitation.
After congratulating herself on being as beautiful as she'd thought, Meng Yiguang began to wonder for the first time: Could it be that her grandfather really wasn't a charlatan?
*
Xie Zhang's adoptive mother wanted to join forces with her maternal family to sideline him and seize control of the court. His birth mother was determined to make him take her niece as his empress. Everyone kept lecturing him about lofty principles. His life was unbearably dull, until a young eunuch brought him a popular street-story booklet to pass the time.
The booklet told a fantastical, dramatic tale of palace intrigue. Xie Zhang didn't care for the kind, delicate female lead, but rather liked the supposedly vain and overbearing supporting female character. She rejected the prince who loved her deeply and wanted to take her as his secondary consort, then entered the palace with grand ambitions to compete for favor. She flirted and pouted at the Emperor, behaving like a wicked favorite. Xie Zhang couldn't help wondering how lively things would be if he had a girl like that by his side.
Later, when he happened to leave the palace, Xie Zhang saw with his own eyes a beautiful young woman named Meng Yiguang deliver a fierce slap to Xie Cong, who ranked sixth on Xie Zhang's list of most hated people. It was just like the first appearance of the female antagonist in the story booklet.
In that instant, Xie Zhang felt love at first sight. It wasn't the banner moving, nor the wind moving. It was his heart.
*
Cui Yang, who had failed in the palace intrigues, was reborn. She remembered Meng Yiguang gloating in her previous life that she and the Emperor were a match made in heaven, and that he'd seen her in a dream long ago. Cui Yang couldn't enter his dreams, but came up with another plan. She hired someone to turn the events of her previous life into a story booklet and send it to the Emperor. While embellishing her own character, she made sure to vilify Meng Yiguang, portraying her as a wicked, hateful favorite.
When she learned the Emperor had left the palace, she bribed the attendants and happily waited at the place where the heroine and hero had first met in the story, ready for a beautiful encounter of her own.
So why was it that this time, Meng Yiguang didn't become a Noble Consort, but did become Empress?
Warnings:
1. The male lead had a harem in his previous life, but not in this one.
2. The female lead is spoiled, vain, narcissistic, and self-serving. Neither lead is a good person.
3. A supporting character is reborn.
"The Princess Only Wants the Throne"
Li Xuanli thought Cui Ji must either have something wrong with his head or be possessed.
Otherwise, she couldn't understand why Cui Ji, who'd been at odds with her in court just yesterday, would swagger into the Princess's residence and insist he wanted to reform himself and become her virtuous, dutiful consort.
Just moments ago, he'd been putting on an act. Now, in front of the retainers at the Princess's residence, Cui Ji was putting on the arrogant airs of a proper spouse. He claimed that once he became her consort, he would uphold monogamy and sell off all these sycophants who'd traded on their looks.
Li Xuanli once again confirmed that Cui Ji had indeed gone mad.
*
Li Xuanli was the Qi Guang Princess of the current dynasty. The Emperor had indulged her until she grew haughty and overbearing. At fourteen, she'd made a fuss about leaving the palace and establishing her own residence. She kept male favorites, and all of Chang'an knew of her scandalous reputation.
What people found most intolerable was that, relying on the Emperor's favor, Li Xuanli dared to meddle openly in court affairs.
The officials shook their heads again and again. As a woman, the Qi Guang Princess ought to be gentle and respectful. How could she stand in the halls of government?
How could she take on tasks meant for men? How dare Li Xuanli be so brazen?
So, at a palace banquet, when the drunken Emperor slurred that he would arrange a marriage for Li Xuanli, the officials, delighted to have found an opportunity, looked eagerly around. Every aristocratic young man in Chang'an suddenly either had someone he loved, or, despite his rosy complexion, suffered from a serious illness that would flare up if he married Li Xuanli.
They thought they were insulting Li Xuanli. But when they raised their eyes, Li Xuanli sat high above them, smiling brightly and not taking them seriously at all.
Until Cui Ji strode forward with his head held high.
Li Xuanli, who'd been watching the show, immediately furrowed her brow. For the first time, she agreed with all the officials: Cui Ji was absolutely insane.
*
The moment Cui Ji opened his eyes, he knew he'd returned to the year he was seventeen.
Several lifetimes ago, he had transmigrated into a fetus with a Virtuous Minister System. He had stood head and shoulders above his peers, risen rapidly through the ranks by the age of fifteen, and made a name for himself as the prized talent of the Boling Cui clan.
But before he could fulfill his ambitions, he died, becoming a pawn in the struggle for the throne. Li Xuanli had plotted against him and killed him. What he remembered most clearly before dying was the deliberately innocent smile on Li Xuanli's face.
What a beautiful face. What a wicked enchantress.
In his second life, Cui Ji had walked on thin ice at every turn, only to be discarded once he was no longer useful. As he lay dying, he thought of Li Xuanli again. She'd lost by one move and poisoned herself. Her eyes had been so, so bright.
In his third life, Cui Ji ran around making trouble for Li Xuanli, finally defeating all her imperial brothers and becoming the person she hated most in the world.
At the final moment of the struggle for the throne, an arrow pierced Li Xuanli's heart. She stabbed Cui Ji fiercely with her sword. There was no one else in her eyes but him. Feeling the pain of the blade through his heart, Cui Ji couldn't help feeling triumphant.
She had killed him, and he had harmed her. They owed each other, and were fated to be entangled for lifetime after lifetime.
So Cui Ji thought quite seriously that helping Li Xuanli fight for the throne was perfectly normal.
Someone pretended to be kind and advised him that the Qi Guang Princess was ruthless, and that if she ascended the throne, she would surely slaughter people on a grand scale. Cui Ji should find a way to protect himself while he still could.
Cui Ji smiled faintly. With his handsome, red-lipped, pearly-toothed face, he looked like a demon come to life. "When Xuanli ascends the throne, I'll naturally be her empress." His voice rose sweetly. "What else?"
Theme: When will all the affairs of this world come to an end?
I skipped it. After reading the first half, I felt that it might be a brain-burning plot disguised as a romance, so I skipped the ending, and then I realized that I was right 😂 The love between the male and female protagonists... Can be considered love. There is definitely love, but it feels more like the sympathy between ambitious people. After all, until the end, I was still doubting whether the heroine wanted to have both power and love, or power and fame... The male protagonist is a fun-loving person at heart, and he is not very mentally stable, so he always gives me a feeling of being calm and crazy... But it is true that he has been unable to escape the battle royale since he was a child, and it is difficult not to go crazy. Finally, it's a pity for the heroine's eldest son. He was born and grew up happily in a seemingly happy family, but then his three views were suddenly overturned. He has been doubting the world ever since. Even though his body has grown up, his soul is still trapped on the day when his three views were overthrown. Everything he did afterwards deepened his sense of subversion, until he finally had the dream from his previous life, which became the last straw that broke his back. To put it simply, when I was a child, a family loved each other, but it turned out to be an illusion. Everyone hated each other and wanted to kill each other. In the end, I found out that my parents might not love me either, and all the happiness turned out to be an illusion... I ran away like crazy and stayed away. In the end, what I missed most before I died was the happiness I had, even if it was fake, but to me at that time, it was real happiness. Xie Hengkui was overthrown so suddenly that his three views were overthrown. He was crushed before he even prepared for it. His IQ was not enough for him to digest it, and his parents were real careerists with very weak feelings. It was even less possible for him to discover and enlighten his son... Well, so he was stuck in childhood for the rest of his life. I think the author's track is not about romance, but about tactics hahahaha
It looks like a happy ending, but in fact it reveals a tragic tone everywhere.
Thinking about Xie Heng who was still lively and cute before, I can only say that power is too cruel.
He was a little cruel to the young Xie Heng and was forced to grow up because he was born in the royal family
A real conspiracy
I asked why three is more than Jinjiang coins. It turned out to be more than 10,000 words. Although it is so good, the result of longevity is still like this. The ending is so sad.
Looking at Xiao Lu alone, she is also her main heroine.
As I keep reading, I feel that the novel has a tragic tone. Machiavellian power is like an abyss. When you stare into the abyss, the abyss is also staring at you. In romance novels, the emperor, queen, male and female protagonists, the eldest son becomes the prince, and the youngest son becomes the prince, the whole royal family is harmonious and harmonious, which is the beautiful expectation conceived by the author. In fact, it may be just like this novel. The prince gradually grows up and threatens the emperor. The emperor and the empress hold on to power and refuse to let go, and both sides suffer in the end. I am reminded of Hegel's theory of tragedy again 😭 The conflict between partial right and right, a conflict that is a last resort, can only lead to the loss of both sides 😭 😭 😭 The old society turns people into ghosts.
Xiao Lu: Thank you for the invitation. The house has collapsed.
After reading it, I wonder if I was too cruel to Xie Heng. My parents only see power and my wife's betrayal. However, I hope that the male and female protagonists in the next life can continue to be happy. There will be no interference from powerful people. They are just an ordinary happy couple.