My name is Fu Rao, and my childhood nickname is Yuanbao. I’m a noblewoman born into a family obsessed with raising high-achieving children, but I have absolutely no ambition to "get ahead."
I have my priorities: money and freedom. I also have someone I’m involved with, a local official who is about to be posted to Hangzhou.
The clan leader ordered me to enter the imperial selection, but I wasn’t willing.
Because from what I’d learned in my previous life, the emperor would die of illness within five years, while the man I was involved with would go on to rise through the ranks, gain both fame and fortune, and become one of the Three Excellencies.
Compared with fighting tooth and nail only to end up a lonely dowager consort, who wouldn’t rather spend a lifetime with just one husband? Besides, the Three Excellencies earn much more than a dowager consort.
So I decided to slack off, starting with the selection.
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My name is Rong Zhuoguang. I used to be called A Gou, and I’m an unlucky emperor who transmigrated here from the modern world.
I know I’m going to die young, so I planned to muddle through and spend my short, happy life indulging myself.
That was until I met my true love.
In that instant, I found the meaning of life and decided to work hard for her, and, as a bonus, for the country.
First, I’d get her into the palace.
Before the selection, I worked out like crazy. On the day of the selection, I dressed to impress. I thought it would be a romantic reunion worthy of a love story, but I never expected to spot her in the crowd, looking so outrageous.
She wore bird-dropping green, a cracked imitation pearl hairpin, heavy, rough eyebrows, and thick, bright-red lips. She looked thoroughly unhappy, and they’d placed her beside her legitimate elder sister, clearly setting her up as a foil at the hands of her wicked family.
I absolutely would not allow the woman I loved to be mistreated, so, against my conscience, I praised her in the most earnest tone I could manage:
"The Fu family’s illegitimate daughter is truly one of a kind. She knows how to be economical, has a heroic look about her, and her lips promise prosperity. Keep her name on the list."
Theme: True love is precious.
