Cui Xueji

Historically, Empress Mingde, née Cui, lived only to the age of eighteen.

She accompanied the deposed crown prince into exile beyond the ancient Great Wall for three years.

She wiped away his tears, and he drank her blood.

She dug wild vegetables to feed him. In the depths of winter, she washed his clothes until her hands were raw beyond recognition...

The deposed crown prince ascended the throne, only to order his wife put to death.

It turned out that those three years had all been spent preparing the way for her elder sister.

The night she died, he was celebrating his wedding night.

Thousands of years later, Cui Xueji read the official history's account of Empress Mingde's short, tragic life and sighed over her fate.

She never expected to transmigrate one day, her soul entering the body of the fifteen-year-old Empress Mingde.

At the time, the future empress is still the second daughter of the Marquis of Yongyi, born to a concubine and awaiting marriage. She shares Cui Xueji's name.

Her stepmother says she has found her a fine match: she is to take her elder sister's place and marry into the Eastern Palace.

Cui Xueji packs her valuables and runs away in the middle of the night.

She has no intention of meeting the same tragic end as the historical Empress Mingde.

But she stays at the Marquis of Yongyi's residence for the sake of her half-brother, Cui Xubai.

It turns out that history is not recorded truthfully. The emperor was neither cold-hearted nor unfaithful, and he never betrayed Empress Mingde, his wife.

Instead, Empress Mingde remained devoted to her half-brother all her life, and died of grief over a love that society would never accept.

Cui Xueji thinks that since she is here now, she will make all of Empress Mingde's regrets come right.

[Reading Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, fictional Ming dynasty, and a happy ending. The author is terrible at writing blurbs, so don't skip chapters or you'll miss important information.

2. This is not a story about scumbag men and women. The official history differs from the female lead's actual experience after she transmigrates. The male and female leads are not blood relatives, and they will not begin a romance while they are siblings in name.

3. A male character is reborn with memories of his past life. The female lead transmigrates for a second time, without memories of her first life, and her personality is completely different from how it was during her first transmigration. This is because a male character transmigrated from ancient times to the modern day, changing part of her personality when she was a child, before she transmigrated.

Theme: I aspire to write history and let my brilliance shine through a thousand springs.