Half a Fateful Encounter

Pre-release: The Year Before My Father Usurped the Throne, blurb at the end

One-on-one, both virgins

A year ago, Qin Yuanxu fell into an ambush set by the rebels. His eyes were injured, and he was likely to die amid the swirling snow. Someone carried a hand warmer and stepped over the trails of blood, one step at a time, until they stood before him. Bending down, she said, "I will save you."

Tong Yingzhen kept him in a house outside her residence. When she was in a good mood, she would come out and visit him. When she wasn't, she wouldn't see him for days on end.

"Qingqing, are you leaving again?"

"This time, it's seven days. When will you come back next time?" Qin Yuanxu reached out and caught the edge of her sleeve, clutching it tightly in his palm as he looked at her pleadingly. "Three days, seven days, or ten days? Half a month?"

Tong Yingzhen saved a man in the snow, took advantage of his blindness to trick him into giving her his heart, then dumped him.

When they met again, he had reclaimed his place as the Marquis of Wu'an, a man above countless others. Qin Yuanxu thought he ought to hate her with all his heart.

Tong Yingzhen, however, trembled as she wiped away a tear, putting on a pitiful, delicate air. "My lord, you're saying things Yingzhen doesn't understand again. What past could there possibly be between you and me?"

Qin Yuanxu had become a marquis in his youth, yet once he had willingly confined himself to a small courtyard to play with her. He had thought that he would never know the meaning of the word regret in this lifetime.

He gripped her chin and forced her to look up. "Tong Yingzhen, when you abandoned me, did you ever think this day would come?"

Qin Yuanxu didn't know that they had met before, not beneath the moonlight, nor in the snow.

Tong Yingzhen could never forget that day. She had hidden inside a room and watched Qin Yuanxu, his expression cold, kill with his sword the elder brother she had cherished most.

So she planned an assassination that took three years. But she never expected that even after his eyes were injured, he would refuse to lower his sword, breaking through every last encirclement by sheer force. Tong Yingzhen stood in the shadows, watching an eagle circle overhead. His subordinates would arrive soon.

The wound in her palm stung as the hand warmer heated it. Tong Yingzhen smiled and slowly walked toward the swordsman, then bent down and said, "I will save you."

Pre-release: The Year Before My Father Usurped the Throne

Qing Laiyi had been her father's precious darling since childhood.

Her bedtime stories every night were her father's rambling tales of how he usurped the throne and rose to power:

"Your grandfather had many sons, and I was the one he liked least."

"But your father used his own intelligence to defeat all the other princes. Your dad's handsome and strong, isn't he?"

Qing Laiyi had heard those stories so often she could recite them in her sleep.

By chance, she was reborn and returned to the year before her father usurped the throne.

And then... the man before her, trembling with an apple balanced on his head, was her father?

And the aloof woman who hit the apple with an arrow and won first place was her mother?

Father... Qing Laiyi's jaw nearly hit the floor. How on earth did you get this throne?!

And so this was the heart-pounding scene where you fell in love with Mother at first sight?!

Everyone knew Cui Zhi, the Chief Seal Holder of Great Zhao, as a treacherous and crafty man who manipulated power, yet somehow remained the emperor's favorite.

At the royal archery ceremony, he sat in a place of honor, toying with an arrow and watching the princes below play their foolish games for power with a cold gaze.

The only one with any sense, the Seventh Prince... was balancing an apple on his head for everyone's amusement.

He wanted to play the fool while secretly outsmarting his enemies, but without power or influence, how could he stand against those determined to take his life?

Oh... and that wasn't the only interesting thing. It seemed some filthy thing had found its way into the crowd: an unfamiliar woman.

In the crowd, Qing Laiyi looked up and met his gaze, momentarily stunned.

Cui Zhi. Cui Changji.

His name was practically forbidden in Great Zhao. She had only heard the wet nurses mention it a few times. Qing Laiyi knew how dangerous he was, but she never thought she would one day come to him for help of her own accord.

The gates of Cui Zhi's residence opened to her. His voice seemed to bewitch the heart. "Come, my dear Ayi."

How could a woman like her exist? She was like the moon over the sea and sky, a star in the heavens, while he was mud rotting underground.

Yet the filthy blood running through his veins seemed to howl, urging him to get close to her, to possess her. But Qing Laiyi's gaze always lingered on those two people instead.

Fortunately, he had always been a vile man.

#The male lead is a true eunuch

#Dad transmigrated from the modern era, with the daughter as his ticket to power

#After Dad and Mom get together, they stop having children, so the heroine doesn't transmigrate back. She eventually ascends the throne

Theme: Treat others with sincerity