This novel is complete. (My new novel, My Lady, I Refuse to Divorce, is now underway. A marriage before love, bickering sweethearts. The blurb is at the end. If you're interested, feel free to bookmark it first.)
Blurb:
She was a little afraid of Ling Yuan. When they first met, he stared at her with murderous intent, and she knew she was in his way.
But she had no choice.
On his deathbed, the late emperor issued an edict that inexplicably made her empress consort. Before she could even set foot in Fengyang Palace, her brother-in-law, the emperor, died. At sixteen, she became the empress dowager overnight.
She had to look after her six-year-old nephew and the vast Chu family. But the moment she took responsibility, she would be standing against him.
What she never expected was that Ling Yuan, a grown man, would oppose her at every turn.
Still less did she expect that a man like him, despite coming from a family of passionate lovers, would fix his heart entirely on her.
In front of the screen, two rows of generals discussed military campaigns. Behind it, his tall frame enveloped her, leaving no space between them.
Her face flushed and her heart pounded. She trembled all over, caught between excitement and humiliation.
But he was undeniably handsome.
"Ling Yuan, no matter how much you defy convention, you can't silence public opinion." Faced with his brazen defiance, she couldn't help wanting to retreat.
He gently kissed the corner of her lips. "Is it so shameful for a man and a woman to love each other?"
Blurb 2:
When they first met, she stood before the palace hall in plain clothes, holding the new emperor's hand with her left and supporting the late emperor's coffin with her right. She coldly demanded to know why he wasn't kneeling.
That day, he had just returned from the northern frontier, wearing a lion-crested helmet and a silver suit of armor over white robes. At her skirts, he removed his helmet, laid aside his killing intent, knelt on both knees, and cried, "Long live the emperor!"
Later, during the Longevity Festival, atop Chonghua Tower, he took her hand before thousands of people.
"Chu Yunxi, you were born to be empress, not empress dowager."
One-on-one romance, happy ending (2024.5.29)
Blurb for My Lady, I Refuse to Divorce:
Blurb:
Zhao Xihe was born into an esteemed family, and she had always looked down on wastrels who were born into wealth but never applied themselves.
Yet when the emperor arranged her marriage, he gave her exactly that kind of husband. He was not only useless, but idle and debauched, and the leading man in the capital's biggest scandal.
On their wedding night, she forced him to write an essay on statecraft, deliberately humiliated him in public, and provoked him into sobbing before the emperor and demanding a divorce.
Unfortunately, it didn't work... But at least six months wasn't that long. Once the six months were up, they could go their separate ways. She could put up with that.
But who could have guessed that after all their bickering, they would end up sharing a room, then a bed... And that the man who had seemed so respectable would go from plain-looking to handsome, then downright dashing!
Who would have thought that after ten years of studying by lamplight, and earning some renown for her scholarship, she would end up falling for an uneducated man like him?
But this uneducated man really was handsome. He held no grudges and listened to her... If something happened, he would truly step up.
He would avenge her, take a beating for her, and face blades for her, then come home and whine at her side: "Xihe, it hurts..."
She was the sort who responded to gentleness, not force. But in the end, she realized:
Being learned and well-read wasn't the only standard for choosing a husband. In fact, it didn't even have to be a standard.
Blurb 2:
Lin Muyuan was delighted to marry Zhao Xihe, but when he cheerfully entered the bridal chamber, he discovered that she couldn't stand him at all.
That alone would have been bad enough, but every word she said was like a knife, and a few sentences were all it took to make him furious.
Fine, if she wanted a divorce, they could divorce. His family was powerful and wealthy, and women who wanted to be the Princess of Jin were as plentiful as fish crossing a river. Why waste his life on her?
But she was so foolish and absent-minded. How could he let that happen? No one could bully even an ant in the Prince of Jin's manor, let alone the princess herself!
"My princess comes from a respectable family. How could she have ever seen such a vile scene?"
"My princess is a perfectly virtuous, courteous, and proper woman, second only to the empress herself. How dare he call her arrogant and domineering!"
"If you dare covet anything that belongs to Xihe... I'll make sure you and your parents in Chenzhou have nowhere to be buried. And I don't mean just in the capital."
After sticking up for her again and again, he started looking at her with stars in his eyes...
"Standing by your side is my honor."
A proud, aloof heroine x a happy puppy of a hero (happy ending, both leads are each other's first)
Theme: Breaking down barriers and becoming yourself
The next book is "Madam, I Don't Want to Divorce" (Marriage first, love later, rejoice in enemies), a sweet article, friends who are interested can save it first! It is said that a melon that is too strong is not sweet, and this is absolutely true. The Taifu, who was over sixty years old, felt that only the King of Wu could restrain his arrogant and willful daughter. The calm and wise emperor felt that only the daughter of the Taifu family could restrain his arrogant and domineering younger brother, so the two hit it off and it became a "good thing". Unexpectedly, during the wedding night, the whole palace of Prince Wu was in a state of chaos, and when he returned home, the whole city was in a commotion. Lin Muyuan ran to the emperor and cried: "I can't live another day!" Zhao Xihe said firmly in front of his father: "Leave, we must leave!" However, the two parties seemed to have agreed upon it, and they were both arguing: half a year, just half a year, if they still can't get together after half a year, then let's part ways and be happy. When the news came out, the whole capital stared at Prince Wu's Mansion eagerly, eating melon seeds and listening to anecdotes. They just regretted that the past six months had passed so fast. Unexpectedly, half a year later, there was suddenly no sound. Zhao Xihe was leaning on the couch, looking at his dog-like husband, and suddenly felt that the days of hesitation and excitement were actually... Interesting.