Shen Zhi spent more than a decade in the military, earning great distinction for the Great Liang dynasty.
She and Xiao Fang met when they were both at their lowest, and rose from obscurity to glory together.
When the hare is dead, the hounds are cooked. Once the foreign threat and internal unrest had been quelled, Xiao Fang granted her a cup of poisoned wine and had her put to death.
·
Shen Zhi opened her eyes and found herself back ten years in the past, inhabiting Shen Zheng, an illegitimate son of the capital's Shen family who had attempted suicide.
This was an “illegitimate son” who, just like her, had been raised as a boy despite being a girl.
Shen Zheng's birth mother was a concubine. Hoping to win favor, she had raised Shen Zheng as a son from childhood. But when she suddenly fell gravely ill and realized she had little time left, she went to great lengths to spend a fortune buying Shen Zheng a place as a tribute student. Not long afterward, she passed away.
That alone would not have driven Shen Zheng to despair and suicide.
But Shen Zheng had offended the eldest princess's son at the Imperial College. Before long, Shen Zheng was entrusted with an important assignment: as assistant magistrate of Dingbei County, she was to handle the magistrate's duties.
Dingbei lay on the border, where warfare was frequent. Several magistrates had gone there and never returned, so no one wanted to serve there, let alone dared to.
·
But she knew Dingbei like the back of her hand!
Yet that dog emperor Xiao Fang had also returned to the past, and was going to be stationed in Dingbei for years!
Worse, the way he looked at her was utterly strange!
Rather than stay here, constantly on edge and forced to humor Xiao Fang day after day, she might as well leave.
But as an assistant magistrate who had bought her way into the Imperial College, with no money and enemies she'd made, and a body this frail, she couldn't follow her old path into the military.
There was only one way for her to leave.
Shen Zhi passed the palace examination, ranked third in the first class, and was appointed an editor at the Hanlin Academy.
From Dingbei's bitter frost to the lofty palaces of the capital.
From a despised illegitimate son who had bought his way into the Imperial College to The Outcast, second only to the emperor and above all others.
Perhaps in this life, she really would live to see the Great Liang become a land of peace and prosperity, with clear skies and a thriving age.
[A little scene]
Xiao Fang returned to the capital.
He was certain that Shen Zheng was Shen Zhi. His A Zhi: in this life, he would never let her leave him again.
After the two finally laid everything bare, Shen Zhi threw a punch, but he caught her wrist in midair.
Xiao Fang slowly pried her fingers apart one by one and pressed her hand to his face. His grip was just firm enough to keep her from pulling free.
“A Zhi, I love you.”
He tilted his head, gently rubbing his cheek against her palm. His voice carried a faint, trembling madness.
“A Zhi, you have to love me too.”
#Reading Tips
1. A devoted one-on-one romance, though others have unrequited feelings for the heroine. But she has her heart set on her career.
2. Xiao Fang is a truly feudal emperor and a genuine mad dog, but he never intended to give her poisoned wine.
3. The early story follows Dingbei County and the imperial examinations; later, it shifts to court politics and the two leads' identities being revealed.
4. The dynasty is fictional, with elements drawn from the Song and Ming dynasties. Don't overanalyze it.
Thanks to bs Gugu for the artwork!
Theme: Your fate is in your own hands
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