Abandoned Marriage

#Spirited Common-Born Girl x Proud, Noble Young Master# (Updates follow the rankings) Coming soon: To Become Empress, I Won Over Every Powerful Man

#The Humble Learn to Let Go, While the Proud Go Mad with Love#

1. After earning the gratitude of the Xie family's ancestor for saving his life, Gu Lianqiao was brought to the Xie residence and betrothed to Xie Qinghui, the legitimate eldest son of the family.

The Xies were a renowned noble house in Chang'an. Their future matriarch was breathtakingly beautiful, but came from a humble background. She must have gone to great lengths to secure such a marriage, or so even Xie Qinghui believed.

Gu Lianqiao was treated as a woman exploiting a debt of gratitude to get what she wanted. Though aggrieved, she rarely complained.

Her widowed mother was gravely ill, and the treatment cost a fortune. Only by staying at the Xie residence every month could Gu Lianqiao ensure a steady flow of precious medicines to keep her mother alive.

Grateful for this kindness, Gu Lianqiao always greeted Xie Qinghui with a smile. Even when he looked down on her, mocked her, and teased her, she continued to treat him with courtesy.

Others said she had thrown away her dignity just to hold on to the engagement, and Xie Qinghui scorned her all the more for having no backbone.

Only after her mother died, when Gu Lianqiao was overcome with grief, did the Xie family ancestor trick her into drinking a love potion and lock her in a room with Xie Qinghui.

Through her hazy, unfocused gaze, Gu Lianqiao finally saw just how much Xie Qinghui loathed her. It was as if even looking at her made him sick.

Gu Lianqiao came to her senses and told him the truth, but he suddenly hurled a teacup at her, cutting off her words.

With blood streaming down her forehead, Gu Lianqiao finally understood that he was a stone that could never be warmed.

Gu Lianqiao took the initiative to end their engagement. Before leaving, she told him she was going to find a husband.

Xie Qinghui naturally assumed she was playing another trick.

That is, until he saw her betrothed and married to someone else, smiling sweetly at him as she held her husband's hand.

In that moment, Xie Qinghui realized how dazzling her smile could be.

2. Later, the Xie family was convicted of a crime. Xie Qinghui and his clansmen were all thrown into prison and sentenced to execution after autumn.

Their former friends and relatives hurried to avoid them, afraid of being implicated. But on the night before Xie Qinghui was to be executed, Gu Lianqiao brought him a meal.

Xie Qinghui could not understand why. Gu Lianqiao only found his confusion strange. "You're about to die. What would I have to hold against you?"

3. As Xie Qinghui trampled her peaceful life and left it unrecognizable, and as she was locked inside a dark, lightless pavilion, Gu Lianqiao thought countless times:

If only I hadn't brought him that meal.

Even if he'd starved to death in prison or been bitten to death by rats, that would have been better than sending my naive self right into the mouth of this beautiful serpent.

Becoming his meal when he was hungry, held in his jaws and never let go.

Content warnings:

1. The male lead is awful in the early chapters.

2. The female lead has limited abilities and will not become stronger.

Coming soon: To Become Empress, I Won Over Every Powerful Man

"No matter who becomes emperor, she will become empress."

In her previous life, Jiang Liyue, the most beautiful woman in the capital, married a powerless civil official and was preyed upon by the nobility. To survive, she constantly studied people's hearts. After finally clawing her way to a chance at life, she was poisoned to death in the palace when the capital fell.

After being reborn, Jiang Liyue unexpectedly learned that only by becoming empress could she avoid repeating her previous fate.

In a year of chaos and famine, the heroes vie for power. Only by choosing a ruler early can she ascend to the throne of empress.

Unfortunately, Jiang Liyue never saw who ultimately became emperor in her previous life, but she knew the leading contenders for the throne very well.

General Huo Lianqi was cruel, violent, and bloodthirsty. For now, he was still a stable boy abused by his master. The sinister minister Shen Bian was clever, resourceful, and skilled at manipulating people's hearts. For now, he was only a qin player who performed for the powerful. The tycoon Xie Quanzhen was richer than a kingdom, known among the common folk as the "King of Jiangnan." For now, he was despondent and listless, spending his days in brothels and taverns...

Jiang Liyue chose to save them.

When Huo Lianqi was being brutally abused, she paid a fortune to buy his freedom, taught him military strategy, and sent him to join the army. She told him that one day he would become a hero beyond even his own imagining. Huo Lianqi kept her kindness close to his heart, risking his life on the battlefield day after day to keep her safe. When Shen Bian was humiliated by the powerful, she saved him in time, gave him a new name as he wished, and sent him away to study. Shen Bian saw her as the moonlight in his heart, sparing no effort to remove every obstacle in her path to becoming empress. When Xie Quanzhen had been abandoned by everyone and was wasting his life, she rekindled his desire to live, and he became the richest man in the land, protecting her prosperity in this life...

Having won over all these powerful men, Jiang Liyue finally ascended to the throne of empress as she wished. But the hand pressed firmly against her waist held her fast, and a low voice said, "Your Majesty has saved everyone else. When will you save me?"

Only then did Jiang Liyue realize that after borrowing a devil's power to complete her mission, she would naturally have to satisfy the devil's desire, too.

And he had always desired her.

**

Sima Xu was gloomy and world-weary. After ascending the throne in his previous life, he soon grew tired of power and set the palace ablaze before he died.

When he woke up, he found that he had been reborn at seventeen.

That year, he still lived with his maternal relatives, an emperor's son despised by his father.

He had thought his life would remain calm and dull, but then he discovered Jiang Liyue.

She had a kind of magic. She could make the bloodthirsty, domineering general from his past life bow down and serve her as a slave. She could make Shen Bian, a genius who had slaughtered those who once humiliated him, willingly play the qin for her and recall their past. She could make the miserly, heartless Xie Quanzhen willingly offer her untold riches.

Jiang Liyue was the only light in their world.

Sima Xu was a moth lurking in the darkest place. He longed for the light, so he deliberately drew close to Jiang Liyue and offered to help her, supporting her every step of the way until she became empress. All so he could keep that light for himself.

Theme: Don't wait until you regret it to learn to cherish what you have.