Mistaken Romance

1. One-on-one romance, happy ending, sweet everyday life

2. Married first, fall in love later / family squabbles / lively chaos

The battle-hardened Marquis of Changning, Jiang Yu, was ordered by imperial decree to return to the capital and marry. Rumor had it that he was cruel and ruthless, and killed without batting an eye. No woman who had shared his bed had ever left in one piece.

The Shen family's legitimate daughter, who had been ordered to marry him, was so terrified that she fell gravely ill.

Her father, Lord Shen, doted on his precious daughter, so he dug a concubine-born daughter out of some forgotten corner of the estate to take her place.

The Shen family was large, with so many children they could have formed a line that circled the garden. Shen Fanghao had spent over a decade tucked away in her little courtyard, eating her fill and waiting to die. Thanks to her face, which looked uncannily like her legitimate sister's, she landed a marriage into a marquis's household for free.

On their wedding night, they merely went through the motions. Jiang Yu did not even lift her veil before leaving for the border in the middle of the night.

The marquis's residence was quiet and deserted, overgrown with weeds. She was all alone, isolated and cold...

Shen Fanghao cried tears of joy.

With the tiger away, the monkeys ruled. The sprawling marquis's residence became Shen Fanghao's domain, and she could do whatever she pleased.

When the fighting at the border was over, Jiang Yu returned to the capital. The moment he walked into his home, the gaudy courtyard nearly blinded him.

He had married himself a wife who sure knew how to make a mess of things.

Jiang Yu rose through the ranks and was granted noble titles. As the wife of a marquis, Shen Fanghao received an honorific title and unparalleled favor.

Everyone in the capital envied her. The Shen family's legitimate daughter wanted to set things right and switch places again, accusing Shen Fanghao of stealing her marriage.

Shen Fanghao refused to back down. She gave a cold laugh and turned around to accuse her own family of deceiving the emperor.

The crime would implicate the whole clan, but married daughters were not included.

Still, if Jiang Yu learned the truth and divorced her, she would not escape punishment.

Shen Fanghao waited in the marquis's residence for the final judgment.

Jiang Yu returned from court as usual. With his back to her, he removed his official robes and said coolly, "We never lifted the veil, shared the nuptial wine, or consummated the marriage that night. So it doesn't count."

Oh, so she was going to prison...

Jiang Yu put on a show of clearing his throat, then added, "The emperor said we'll pick an auspicious day and hold the wedding again. Give me your birth date and time... Don't try to pass off your sister's. I want yours, Shen Fanghao."

One-on-one romance

Happy ending

__________Next book: The Deceiver___________

By imperial decree, Gu Xihua's beloved was given to another as a husband.

Gu Xihua neither cried nor made a fuss. Instead, she turned around and married the ambitious Prince Xin.

Year after year, from a prince's consort in his fiefdom to empress of the realm, Gu Xihua followed the rules and planned every step carefully. Everyone praised her.

In the eyes of the world, the emperor and empress were devoted to each other, their harmony like music played on a zither and lute.

But only Gu Xihua knew that her husband loved someone else. Though he was the ruler of the realm, he spent night after night outside the palace, carrying on with a married woman.

She simply pretended not to know.

Until that night, when spring rain fell without end.

On the other side of the wall, her husband was entangled with the wife of the Marquis of Cheng'en.

On this side of the wall, she placed a lotus-leaf hat on the marquis's head, hooked a finger into the jade belt at his waist, and smiled sweetly. "Marquis of Cheng'en, from now on, let me be the one to show you favor."

Theme: Life burns like a flame, enduring and unceasing