I, the Emperor, Met a Con Artist

[Rekindled Love, Dual Rebirth, From Bitter Enemies to Happily Ever After] Everyone said Qi Leng was blessed beyond measure to have married Shen Qingjun, such a virtuous empress. As the daughter of the powerful prime minister, Shen Qingjun had helped Qi Leng ascend the throne. She was also gentle and virtuous, never arrogant or jealous. She was everything a man could want in a wife. Qi Leng was content. So when the prime minister rebelled, he didn't want to make too much of it out of consideration for Shen Qingjun. But she insisted on putting righteousness above family and cutting ties with her father to spare Qi Leng any difficulty. He had no choice but to enforce the law and execute the prime minister. The case against the prime minister brought to light how he had framed the late Crown Prince and caused his death. Qi Leng had always revered the late Crown Prince's nobility and integrity, so he swiftly cleared his name. The people praised his virtue. On the day the late Crown Prince was cleared, Empress Shen Qingjun burned three sticks of incense in her bedroom, then ended her own life with a dagger. Only after Shen Qingjun's suicide did Qi Leng learn the truth: she was not the prime minister's biological daughter. She had married him to avenge the late Crown Prince. Once her revenge was complete, she had nothing left to hold her to life and followed the Crown Prince, the one she had loved from afar. From beginning to end, Qi Leng had been nothing but a tool she used for revenge. Qi Leng laughed bitterly. What a virtuous empress? She was a liar! He remained consumed by resentment, and ten years later, Qi Leng died. When he opened his eyes again, he had been reborn. This time, he had not yet married Shen Qingjun. Wonderful. In this new life, Qi Leng wanted nothing more than to stay as far away from that liar as possible. In her previous life, Shen Qingjun had deceived Qi Leng, but she didn't feel she owed him an apology. Yes, she had lied to him, but she had also given him an empire. They were even. Besides, Qi Leng had loved the gentle, tolerant, magnanimous Shen Qingjun. But the real Shen Qingjun was jealous, selfish, obsessive, and cold-blooded, nothing like the virtuous empress he imagined. So Qi Leng had never truly known Shen Qingjun. She had no interest in the affection he had dreamed up for himself. Having been fortunate enough to live again, Shen Qingjun wanted to do only two things: first, save the Crown Prince she had loved from afar; second, not marry Qi Leng. Reader's Notes: 1. Before and after his rebirth, the male lead has been chaste in both body and heart. 2. The male lead was deeply in love both before and after being reborn. After being deceived, he only wanted to stay away from the female lead. He couldn't bring himself to take revenge on her or hurt her. 3. The female lead has suffered terribly and is obsessive and flawed. This is a story about the male lead healing the female lead and a bitter couple becoming a loving one. 4. Is this a dual rebirth? Or... perhaps more than that? - Upcoming novels: The Armlet of Gold and Overturning Heaven and Earth. Please add them to your reading lists. The Armlet of Gold Ciying was the most beloved little princess of the Emperor and Empress of Jin. Kind and sweet by nature, she was timid and spoiled. She thought she would live a happy, peaceful life under her parents' protection. But one day, she opened her eyes in a dark cell. She was holding a branding iron, and its tip was pressed against the shoulder of a handsome young man who was glaring at her. Wisps of white smoke were rising from the sizzling flesh... Ciying, who was usually too scared to even kill a chicken, shrieked and fainted. The branded boy: ... - When Ciying woke up, she discovered that she had somehow transmigrated a hundred years into the past. She had become the extravagant and debauched Princess Danyang of Chu. The handsome boy she'd branded was Chu Yan, the tyrant who would lead an uprising to overthrow Chu. Ciying tried to recall the history of the last hundred years. If she remembered correctly, the Chu family had been massacred, and Chu Yan had been rescued by Princess Danyang, who had long coveted him, only to be tormented by her. Chu Yan endured humiliation and bided his time. Three years later, he rose in rebellion. His first act was to cut off Princess Danyang's head and offer it as a sacrifice to his battle flags. After that, Chu Yan advanced like a storm, captured the capital, and killed the tyrant. But his volatile nature and poor discipline over his troops eventually led to his death at the hands of his own men. Then her ancestor seized the opportunity and founded the Jin dynasty. Ciying didn't want to die. She didn't want Chu Yan to cut off her head and offer it to his battle flags... She fought with all her might to save herself, but later, she fought with all her might to save Chu Yan. Reader's Note: One-on-one romance. The male lead is a virgin. Overturning Heaven and Earth Wei Liuzheng was the regent princess of Wei. She could have anything she wanted, except Yun Qi'an, the Grand Tutor's son. Yun Qi'an was gentle and pure, as noble as the moon in the sky. Wei Liuzheng wanted to pluck the moon from the heavens, but she couldn't bear to sully it. As she struggled with what to do, she captured the ninth prince of Yin, Xie Yi, known as the most beautiful man in the world, during a battle against Yin. She traced her fingers over Xie Yi's face, admiring how closely it resembled Yun Qi'an's, and smiled. If she couldn't have Yun Qi'an, having his double would be a fine alternative. From then on, Xie Yi, the ninth prince of Yin, was kept in chains of gold at Wei Liuzheng's bedside. He became the princess's pet, summoned and dismissed at her whim. - Wei Liuzheng didn't like Xie Yi. He was ambitious, cruel, and ruthless, a man who had killed his elder brother and imprisoned his father. Everyone loathed his merciless nature. He was practically just like her... She used every form of coercion and manipulation on Xie Yi that she couldn't bring herself to use on Yun Qi'an. But as she surrendered to desire again and again, she began to feel something different for Xie Yi. Wei Liuzheng refused to admit it. She loved the pure moon, not filthy mud. So when Xie Yi and Yun Qi'an were tied together on a high platform and their enemy asked her, "Choose one of them. Who will it be?" Wei Liuzheng chose Yun Qi'an without hesitation. Xie Yi stared at her, at the woman he had already fallen in love with. Dressed in red, he gave a tragic smile and fell backward, his body plunging into the blazing flames like a phoenix in flight. In that moment, Wei Liuzheng finally understood what it meant to be heartbroken. - Jiang Liuzheng couldn't bear to pluck the moon from the sky, but Xie Yi could take its place. The first time she saw the most beautiful man in the world, Jiang Liuzheng wanted to devour him whole. She used every form of coercion and manipulation on Xie Yi that she couldn't bring herself to use on the moon. She didn't realize that she and Xie Yi were the same kind of people: cruel, ruthless, and so vile they made others despise them. By the time she finally realized it, Xie Yi was dressed in red and falling backward into the sea of flames. It turned out she had never wanted to pluck the moon from the sky. What she wanted was to roll with Xie Yi into the mire. This novel has entered a growth-and-comeback writing contest. Reason for entry: The leads face adversity. The male lead is an unloved prince, and the female lead is pretending to be the prime minister's daughter. But neither of them ever gives up. They work hard to overcome their difficulties and eventually rise above them. Theme: Treasure true love when you find it