The Noble Wife at the Door

A fishmonger's daughter struck it lucky and became the young mistress of a local powerhouse. From then on, she no longer had to rise before dawn and work until dark. But her husband was a sickly man who panted even when he spoke. With his thin arms and legs, she wondered if he could even give her a child and secure her position as the young mistress.

That night, Chu Linglong married with a heavy heart. She hadn't expected to underestimate her sickly husband.

Their married life was more or less happy.

It turned out that his grandmother had switched the groom to ensure the family had an heir, having a page from the household stand in for the groom.

A month after they consummated the marriage, Chu Linglong's wish came true and she became pregnant. But fate had other plans: her sickly husband died, leaving her a wealthy widow!

On the day she gave birth, the son of Grand Secretary Jiang from the capital came to visit. He stood outside the delivery room all night.

After that, when the child had his New Year's Eve grab-bag ceremony, Young Master Jiang sent a gift and chose a name for him.

Later, when the child came down with a minor illness, Young Master Jiang sent an imperial physician and showed him the utmost care.

That was one thing, but when Chu Linglong couldn't sleep at night, Young Master Jiang even played the qin for her in the middle of the night. At last, she couldn't take it anymore.

The next day, Chu Linglong went to her grandmother and poured out her grievances. "Young Master Jiang is the son of a grand secretary. Why doesn't he know how to avoid giving people the wrong idea?"

Her grandmother said nothing. That night, she brought Chu Linglong a bowl of medicinal soup. When Chu Linglong woke up, she had somehow become Young Master Jiang's wife!

He seized her and kept her in a golden cage. She refused to put up with it. "One day, I'll kill you!"

"Could you really bear to see me dead?"

That's right. The aloof Young Master Jiang, who said nothing and refused to let her go, was so much like her short-lived husband...

[Completed historical romance: Husband, Hold It Together, Don't Go Crazy. Little angels, please add it to your reading list!]

Cui Yingying was the most pampered young lady in the Minister of Revenue's household. For years, she'd loved Pei Mingguang, the chief minister, without ever winning his heart.

When all of the capital mocked her for being too old to marry, she decided to go all in and had her father petition the emperor to grant her a marriage. Pei Mingguang had no choice but to welcome her into his home in a grand ceremony, making her his chief minister's wife.

She'd thought they'd only be husband and wife in name, but they consummated the marriage that very night...

Cui Yingying wondered, wasn't the chief minister in love with the imperial consort? Wasn't that why he had refused to marry for so many years? She panted softly and said, "Husband, the imperial consort is having heart palpitations. You should go to the palace and see her."

"You have no self-respect, Madam Cui. Why are you pretending to be virtuous and magnanimous now?" He showed her little care, and left the tower only at dawn.

Born into a poor family and having climbed his way to the top, Pei Mingguang knew the emperor had already begun to plot his death. He had no choice but to accept this marriage, yet this woman kept calling him her husband and would not stop trying to drive him away.

Pei Mingguang brushed the red mark on his neck, his eyes dark, a smile playing on his lips.

Madam Cui was no proper young lady from a noble family.

Once his plans were settled and the new emperor had ascended the throne, he would settle the score with her!

After going three days without sleep, Pei Mingguang returned home to find that his wife had left him a letter of divorce. The woman who had repeatedly claimed to love him had vanished without a trace.

He spread the word that the chief minister's wife was pregnant and had left home after an argument and a spat with him, and asked everyone to help reconcile them.

"Who are you trying to disgust?" Was he going to keep using her as a cover to preserve his dignity as chief minister while he ran off to live happily ever after with Consort Mu? Cui Yingying tore the letter of reconciliation to pieces. "Lord Pei, can we stop pretending between us?"

The hero: The way this woman cuts off all ties with everyone... He really can't bear to let her go.

[New novel: Everyday Life with the Regent Prince. Reborn, a child before marriage, love after marriage, and a groveling pursuit]

No one could speak of it, but the young cousin who had sought refuge at the prince's manor was pregnant before marriage, ruining her reputation.

On the day she gave birth, the emperor came to the prince's manor and stood outside the delivery room all night. Surely the bride-to-be was doomed!

Liu Ning thought she was about to die from the pain. She remembered how, in her previous life, she had stained her hands with countless lives to become empress, living a wicked life. As she lay dying, even her own son had refused to come see her.

Only that man had been different! She used a letter to her family to make her affair with the regent prince seem real, forcing him to return to court and save her and her child from danger.

Her hair was disheveled, and her red lips were bitten raw. "Your Highness, I can't take it anymore!"

Reborn, she could still make the regent prince soften toward her! He would leave her and her child alone, after all. Who knew whose door she had pushed open that night, dragging herself along? It didn't have to be the door of that heartless emperor, did it?

The regent prince's thoughts were impossible to read. How much did he truly care for her?

Song Suchao knew perfectly well that Liu Ning was a cold-hearted woman who trampled on other people's sincere feelings without a second thought. He even felt sorry for his elder brother!

As the emperor's only full brother, he decided to play along and keep her under his watch, pretending to get on with this woman so his brother could see her true colors!

He had thought this revenge was bound to succeed.

So why, on the day Liu Ning gave birth, did she weep and plead with him instead of his elder brother?

Then Liu Ning deceived the whole world, even playing both him and his elder brother for fools. Concerned about producing an heir, his brother had the child temporarily registered under his name, planning to bring the child into the palace to be raised later. And he wanted Song Suchao to marry this woman!

Sharing a bed while dreaming different dreams, Song Suchao and Liu Ning became a ridiculous married couple. And yet he'd truly fallen into her trap!

"Liu Ning." Song Suchao stood there like a proud, icy moon, his words falling like knives. "You love power and status, and your mouth is full of lies. I bet you've been scheming from the very day you claimed to love my brother."

"Your Highness has never loved me, so how would you know I can't love someone sincerely?" Liu Ning replied, holding the baby in her arms. "Your Highness, it's cold outside. Why don't you come in and see the baby?"

"Cousin, you play a fine game!" Song Suchao laughed coldly, finally understanding what she'd been relying on all along to keep him in her grasp.

[Click to read my completed novel Golden Branch: straightforward county lady of Lingnan x regent prince disguised as an exiled monk]

[Click to read my completed novel My Cousin Is So Delicate: spoiled young cousin x obsessive new emperor]

[Click to read my completed historical romance Entwined (Dual Rebirth): calculating, innocent-seeming dancer x scheming, ambitious tyrant]

Theme: Love means always feeling you owe the other person.