A Thousand Autumns for You

In the eighteenth year of Ding'an, the father and son of the Prince Xie household die in battle. Of the entire loyal family, only their young daughter, Xie Yao, remains alive. The emperor pities the orphaned daughter of Prince Xie and decrees that she marry the Crown Prince.

With the vast Prince Xie household fallen, Xie Yao is like a weed adrift in a storm. After a hundred days of mourning, she marries into the Eastern Palace.

Everyone pities her, and everyone laughs at her.

They pity Xie Yao, an orphan with no one to rely on, and laugh because the Crown Prince is frail and sickly, and the heir to the Eastern Palace could change at any moment. A poor orphan will likely be paired with a sickly man, only to become a pitiful widow and spend her life surrounded by family memorial tablets.

*

When she first enters the Eastern Palace, Xie Yao keeps a low profile and makes herself invisible at every turn. She plans to treat the gentle, sickly Crown Prince with mutual respect and courtesy, figuring that whether he dies of illness or ascends the throne, she can enjoy a quiet, stable life for the rest of her days.

Who could have guessed that Gu Changze would summon her to nurse him for a headache one day, then suffer a high fever and cough up blood? She has no choice but to stay overnight and care for him, and they share a bed night after night. The next day, he politely declines the emperor's offer to take concubines, saying that his long illness may never be cured and he doesn't want to burden anyone else. One Crown Princess is enough for the Eastern Palace.

So while people outside lament that this sickly Crown Prince is likely to die young, rumors spread that he dotes on the Crown Princess and that the two are an inseparable, loving couple.

As the rumors grow ever more widespread, Xie Yao worries that the Crown Prince will earn a reputation for being henpecked, so she kindly warns him.

Gu Changze smiles at her gently.

"I've been ill for a long time and don't want to burden you. If I die one day, I'll ask Father Emperor to grant you your freedom.

The people outside are spreading these rumors. Just wait a little, and I'll find someone to put a stop to them."

But Xie Yao waits and waits, and Gu Changze doesn't die. Nor do they treat each other with mutual respect and courtesy. Instead, she waits until he recovers, kills his brothers to seize the throne, ascends as emperor, and then, in full view of everyone, dresses her in a phoenix robe.

Xie Yao: Huh? Weren't you supposed to be sickly?!

*

On the day of the palace coup, blood pools at Xie Yao's feet. The man with his back to her pulls a longsword from the Sixth Prince's chest, then turns and meets her eyes.

Xie Yao shrinks back in terror. Gu Changze casually wipes the blood from his hands and steps over the corpses littering the ground to reach her. He presses a cold kiss to her forehead.

"Don't be afraid."

Only then does she learn that all those rumors came from the Eastern Palace study. His gentle, harmless appearance is nothing but a disguise for his sinister cruelty. How could there be any rumor in the world he couldn't put a stop to? They only spread because he wanted to hear them.

That talk of setting her free was all empty promises.

He had wanted her for a long time, schemed for her all along, and never intended to let her go.

"She accompanied me through the long, endless nights, through drifting snow and the clash of iron in the struggle for imperial power, from Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace to ruler of all under heaven."

A sweet story of love after marriage.

Blurb dated 2024.01.27, Weibo: Xiao Xijing

Cover used with permission, thanks to artist Banbanban.

P.S. Calling the heroine "jie'er" is simply a term of endearment. When writing the story, the author never considered any other meanings derived from the heroine's name and that form of address. The author is not misogynistic and did not deliberately choose this name and form of address to insult the heroine. (Several people have brought this up in the comments, so the author is clarifying it here. Any further comments twisting the author's intent will be deleted.)

Theme: Love can overcome every obstacle