I Make My Home Among the Noble Houses

It is only on the day her parents die that Yu Xun learns she is actually a daughter of the Duke of Xinguo's household in the capital, and that a marriage has been arranged for her since childhood.

With no choice in the matter, she feels that if she cannot escape this marriage, she can only go to the capital and wed. But she is young and doesn't understand how cruel people can be. She doesn't know that her future mother-in-law looks down on her, a duke's daughter raised outside the household, too low-born to be presented in public. The woman believes that if her son marries someone like her, he will become a laughingstock throughout the capital, and she herself will be ridiculed as his mother. With this in mind, she begins to plot.

At a banquet, Yu Xun's clothes get soaked, and a maid leads her to a room to change. When she wakes, she finds herself in disarray, with the man lying beside her being her fiance's third uncle, Xie Jingcun, the man she will have to call Third Uncle after she marries into the family.

Seeing the coldness and contempt in his eyes, Yu Xun's mind goes blank. She wants to explain that she didn't scheme against him, but she's so terrified that she can't get a word out.

Footsteps sound outside. The door creaks open, and the scandal is exposed. Yu Xun's reputation is ruined.

When they meet again, it is on their wedding night. Yu Xun doesn't know why Xie Jingcun is willing to marry her. She only thinks that since he has given her a way to live, she will be a good wife to him and bear his children. Even if they cannot be as affectionate as a married couple could be, at least they can treat each other with courtesy. But she soon discovers that she has been far too naive. Many couples in this world can't even manage to treat each other with courtesy, let alone them. Their marriage is born of a humiliating scandal, and her heart soon grows cold. Unfavored and saddled with a tarnished reputation, she has a miserable life in the household, so bleak that she cannot see a glimmer of light. It seems even heaven cannot bear to watch, and she dies young.

When she opens her eyes again, she is back on her wedding night.

The red candles flicker. Sitting in the bridal chamber, Yu Xun has a different outlook this time. She let herself suffer once. If she lets herself suffer again after being reborn, she will have only herself to blame.

This time, she won't try to please Xie Jingcun or cling to the smallest hope in her heart. That man is heartless. No matter how long you try, you can't warm him. How could a marriage born of a scandal produce a happy ending? That was only wishful thinking on her part.

A divorce agreement is laid before Xie Jingcun.

Yu Xun's beautiful eyes hold a hint of longing and bitterness. "Third Master, this marriage was never meant to be. Since it's a doomed match, why don't we let each other go?"

For the first time, Xie Jingcun understands what it means to have a broken heart.

"You are my wife. Don't entertain other thoughts. Don't worry, I'll treat you well from now on."

Yu Xun looks at Xie Jingcun, her smile making her seem beautiful and fragile. Tears shimmer in her eyes. "I wouldn't dare reach for a branch as high as yours, Third Master. If I did, I'd fall into the abyss. Coveting what isn't meant for you never ends well."

"Please let me go, and give me a chance to live."

The heir's eyes turn red. He loses control and pins her to the bed, glaring at her as he demands, "What do you mean, you wouldn't dare reach for me? Do you think I don't know that you have your childhood sweetheart Xu Yunting in your heart? What, do you want to take the divorce papers from me and go to him? Too bad he already has a wife. You married me, and you'll be mine for the rest of your life."

(Rebirth, love after marriage, household intrigue, one-on-one romance, happy ending.)

I've started a new novel, [The Crown Princess-to-Be Becomes the Second Wife of a Vassal Prince]. Please support it!

Blurb: At first, Song Yu never imagined marrying Xie Yingshi.

But when the emperor decrees their marriage, he can't refuse. He plans to deliberately humiliate Xie Yingshi and make sure everyone knows he dislikes the match.

He does just that, expecting Xie Yingshi to use her status as a princess as an excuse to storm off and live at the princess's residence.

But she endures everything he puts her through. Even when he repeatedly takes her to bed and treats her like a plaything, she only cries and begs him to stop.

Seeing Xie Yingshi this way, Song Yu assumes that her aunt, the empress, has instructed her to pretend to be accommodating so she can spy on him for military intelligence or even assassinate him.

But Xie Yingshi really does serve him as her husband, without any ulterior motives. She doesn't even show jealousy toward the concubines in his household.

If Song Yu didn't know that Xie Yingshi had cried and protested when the emperor decreed their marriage, and that she had once been destined to marry the crown prince and become crown princess, he might almost believe that she had truly fallen in love with him.

It isn't until he discovers the truth that he realizes everything is because of a dream. She only wants to survive. It's not that she loves him deeply.

Thinking that all this is merely ingratiation and false affection, that she treats serving him as a job, his eyes turn icy.

No one has ever dared humiliate him like this.

Ever since she was little, Yingshi has known that she would marry the crown prince and become crown princess.

But before the marriage decree arrives, rumors spread inside and outside the palace that her imperial uncle, the emperor, plans to make her a princess and marry her off to the heir of the battle-hardened Prince of Yanbei, sending her far away to Yanbei.

Yingshi goes crying to her aunt, the empress. Her aunt, who has always doted on her, merely wipes away her tears and says nothing about her leaving the capital to marry far away.

Her aunt's attitude only adds to Yingshi's worries. More than once, she wakes from a midnight dream in tears, feeling wronged.

Then one day, a dilapidated palace appears in her dream. A woman lies on the bed, as gaunt as a corpse, with sallow skin and the air of a madwoman. That woman is none other than herself.

In the dream, she is in Jinling. She got her wish and became crown princess, then empress, but she is now in the Southern Zhou Dynasty.

A palace maid comes in to report: "Your Majesty, I came to inform you that three days ago, the emperor made the second princess the Princess Deyang and betrothed her to the elderly Prince of the Southwest as his second wife. But please don't worry. Although the old prince is advanced in years, he knows how to cherish a woman. He will surely treat the princess well."

"You must understand that this marriage gives our Southern Zhou a rare chance to catch its breath. Once the princess marries him, the Prince of the Southwest will surely join Southern Zhou in opposing the Prince of Yanbei."

The scene shifts. Xie Yingshi is dressed in magnificent robes again, and the palace before her is no longer the shabby, cold palace from before. A middle-aged Crown Prince Zhou Rang, wearing a dragon robe, kneels before her, terrified, and begs: "Yingshi, the Prince of the Southwest has betrayed us and submitted to the Prince of Yan! Save your cousin, please. I'll give you to the Prince of Yan. Father intended to make you a princess and betroth you to the Prince of Yan back then. You were meant to be his woman. I'll give you back to him."

Xie Yingshi doesn't know why she has had such a terrifying dream. Whenever she thinks of it, she feels terribly uneasy.

She doesn't want to become that poor woman. So she'll try her best to be a proper heir's wife to the Prince of Yan. All it takes is a little acting and some patience.

Theme: Being happy is what matters most.