After My Husband Went to Prison, I Had to Turn to My Ex

Five years ago, to help her family through a crisis, Song Qingmeng married her childhood sweetheart, who had just risen to prominence. They agreed they would divorce when the time came. With the day of their divorce approaching, her husband was thrown into prison. The Ji family rushed about trying to help, and Song Qingmeng exhausted every avenue until she finally found a way forward: go plead with Lord Xu. If he was willing, all it would take was a word from him. Song Qingmeng's face turned ashen. Who in the capital didn't know Xu Changjue? He was the emperor's favorite, a ruthless and heartless man, and utterly beyond anyone's reach. But she had no other choice. Song Qingmeng braved the wind and snow, asking to see him for four days straight before she finally stepped through that door. She knelt with her head bowed, softly speaking of her feelings for her husband, hoping to move him with her sincerity. But the voice above her was icy. "Song Qingmeng," the powerful official, who killed without batting an eye, asked her, "What does that make me?" * Lord Xu was a rising star in the imperial court. He had climbed to the position of vice minister at the age of twenty, treading on the blood of his own relatives, and within just two years had seized immense power and become the talk of the capital. Yet no one dared get too close to him. The reason was simple: this powerful official was truly ruthless and heartless. Even the capital's gentle comforts seemed unable to thaw the frost around him. Everyone sighed that his heart must be made of stone, that he knew nothing of love. Until one day, someone saw Lord Xu, who never showed interest in women, riding past with a lovely woman leaning against him. A quick inquiry revealed she was none other than Madam Song, who had divorced only recently. No one dared believe it. Then, in the height of spring that year, a grand bridal sedan carried her beneath a red carpet stretching from the Song family home to the Xu residence, while the bright sound of wedding bells filled the entire capital. Coming soon: "Surviving the Court by Taking My Brother's Place and Hearing the Tyrant's Thoughts" Please add it to your favorites! Jiang Yunyou, an overworked office worker, died unexpectedly and was born into a dynasty she'd never heard of. She opened her eyes, took a few seconds to look around, and couldn't help tearing up with joy. It was a good womb. She spent more than a decade living a leisurely, lazy life, until one day at three in the morning she was hauled out of bed. "That good-for-nothing twin brother of yours went to Jiangnan to enjoy the spring scenery. You'll have to take his place at court tomorrow." Jiang Yunyou, who had been planning to head south the next day: ...Jiang Yunzheng, I'll kill you! The twins had been born together and, with a little disguise, even their own mother couldn't tell them apart. They'd often taken each other's place, but this was their first time attending court. The current emperor was famously volatile and tyrannical. Jiang Yunyou followed her father's advice and obediently kept to the corner of the ranks, lying low. After all, if the sky fell, the ministers in front would hold it up. But perhaps anger had addled her mind. In the silence, where a pin could be heard dropping, she heard a voice. "No one's speaking? Then kill them all." Jiang Yunyou: ??? Who? What kind of nonsense was that? "One by one. We'll go down the line." Soon, at the tyrant's command, the last minister in the ranks was dragged away. Jiang Yunyou: !!! "I wonder how many I can kill today." (Cheerful tone.) Jiang Yunyou, third from the back, went weak in the knees and stumbled forward. "Your Majesty..." * One day filling in at court transformed her lazy life into a desperate struggle to survive. Question: How do you make it to tomorrow under a tyrant? Jiang Yunyou: Thanks for asking. I close my eyes, open them, and as long as I'm not dead, I'm good. By listening to the tyrant's thoughts, Jiang Yunyou gradually mastered various ways to soothe him and became a lifesaver in the eyes of the ministers. As the tyrant's mood stabilized day by day and relations between ruler and ministers improved, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She could go back to lazing around. But the scary thing was, the tyrant was acting strangely. "Lord Jiang is so graceful and beautiful. A pleasure to behold." "Lord Jiang smells so good." "Lord Jiang's waist is so slender, I could measure it with one hand. I want to... Lord Jiang looked at me. Does he love me too?" Jiang Yunyou: !!! What happened to the aloof emperor who'd forsaken love and stood alone through the ages? Realizing something was wrong, Jiang Yunyou hurriedly packed her things and tried to run, only to be cornered by someone closing in on her step by step. "Why are you running? Do I have to break your legs before you'll behave?" Damn it, the tyrant's gone mad again! * Later, Jiang Yunyou lounged in a rocking chair, eating iced fruit and swaying her head. "Ah, life is hard when you meet someone with a bad temper." The tyrant, who slept at midnight, rose at dawn, and still hadn't finished reviewing the memorials, all to usher in a prosperous age of enlightenment and make someone's lounging more comfortable: ... "Is it hard? Let me see." "Mmm." Theme: A simple, peaceful life is what matters.