[Both are virgins | Rekindled love | The husband pursues his wife after she leaves] (Daily updates from September 6. Thanks for your support!)
[Clear-headed, gentle female court historian vs. obsessive, devoted emperor] (The male lead only becomes emperor at the end. He's focused on his career the whole time, so it's a clean romance.)
In the ninth year of Xihe, the ailing emperor suddenly took a turn for the worse. The imperial clan began thinking about the next heir, each seeking allies of their own.
Zhao Yuan, Prince of Linchuan, renowned throughout the land for his virtue, elegance, and easy charm, announced that he would marry the daughter of Zhang, the Right Vice Director of the Chancellery and a powerful court official.
That night, a palace kitchen maid was sent away.
That night, Su Huai was bound in a lone boat, tears streaming down her face. Thunder and lightning crashed around her as Zhao Yuan's words echoed over and over in her ears:
“She was only a serving girl. Just get rid of her.”
Two years later, the emperor's old illness returned, and the question of succession arose once more. Zhao Yuan, the people's choice, was summoned to the capital.
He was shrewd and skilled at winning people's hearts. Over the next few years, he eliminated his rivals one by one and took his place as Crown Prince.
That day, everyone thought he'd kept his head down and bided his time, and that his greatest wish had finally been fulfilled.
Instead, he spat up blood, splattering it across a yellowing ledger presented by the Imperial Food Bureau.
Some said it was a recipe book documenting his tastes and the preparation of his favorite dishes,
written over the course of half a lifetime by an anonymous female court historian who had once served in the palace kitchens and was now dead.
(When he was young, Zhao Yuan had great ambitions and deliberately cultivated connections, often staying out late at banquets. To pass the time while waiting for him to return, Su Huai meticulously recorded his daily meals. When Zhao Yuan saw it, he jokingly named the book The Golden Feast Ledger and playfully wrote his name at the end.
Who could have guessed that she would later enter the palace and he would become emperor?
Yet the two of them grew further and further apart, until they were almost strangers.
The splendor of the capital was a dream that dazzled the eyes of someone he once knew, leaving no way back.)
(Happy ending! Happy ending! The heroine fakes her death to escape!)
Theme: I have regrets in this life, but no regrets about living it.
