The Zheng clan of Great Wei was a prestigious family, a hundred-year-old house of wealth and power. Three of its young women were brought into the imperial palace by the Empress Dowager, who educated them in proper manners and virtue.
Whichever prince ascended the throne, the woman who would become empress had to be a Zheng.
Zheng Mingzhu was one of the three.
She never hid her ambition to become empress. Everyone said she was shallow and ostentatious, greedy for power and unwilling to give up wealth and privilege.
They weren’t wrong. Xiao Jiang had experienced Zheng Mingzhu’s nature firsthand from the very beginning. As a prince rejected by the emperor, he was used to other people’s insults and abuse, and wasn’t afraid of having Zheng Mingzhu join in.
She bullied him, ordered him around, and looked down on him.
- -
After the farcical struggle for the throne came to an end, no one expected Xiao Jiang to be the one who ascended the imperial throne.
Dressed in an embroidered dragon robe, Xiao Jiang stood before Zheng Mingzhu, struggling to hide his complicated feelings as he feigned arrogance:
“The Jiaofang Palace has been rebuilt in magnificent splendor. The empress’s golden seal is on a glazed table in the rear hall. Don’t you want to take a look?”
But Zheng Mingzhu only stared at Xiao Jiang, her gaze as scornful and cold as ever. She didn’t utter a word.
Then Zheng Mingzhu petitioned the Empress Dowager for permission to follow Prince Jin, now demoted to commoner, into exile in Qiongzhou.
In that moment, he felt as if he were still that lowly prince.
He would never let Zheng Mingzhu go. Never.
- -
Zheng Mingzhu had a nightmare.
She dreamed that in her previous life, she had not only failed to become empress, but had also been imprisoned by a man who would neither let her leave nor marry her.
She couldn’t remember the man’s face, only his sinister gaze.
The dream troubled Zheng Mingzhu. She suspected the princes, one by one, as the culprit, overlooking the least favored of them all: Xiao Jiang.
Until one day, she imperiously ordered Xiao Jiang to prune plum branches for her in the falling snow.
When she turned around, she met that shadowy gaze…
Notes:
1. Melodramatic, coercive romance, happy ending
2. The heroine is adored by everyone
3. Both leads have flawed personalities
4. Both leads are each other’s first and only partners (every man who gets involved with the heroine is inexperienced). In the previous life or bonus chapters, the heroine may have been with someone who wasn’t a virgin.
Short filler story: The Male Lead Pretends to Be a System
Jin Ling is the villainess in a romance novel. The System gives her one mission: seduce the heroine’s man and raise the male lead’s dislike of her.
As luck would have it, the heroine is her cousin.
And the man she has to seduce, her cousin’s future husband, is Li Wenchao, heir to the Prince of Changling.
The System promises to grant her a wish once Li Wenchao’s dislike reaches 100%.
The trouble is, Li Wenchao is naturally good-natured, dull, and scrupulous about etiquette. He’s such a pushover that anyone can take advantage of him.
Jin Ling hits him, curses him, and bullies his precious cousin right in front of him. She tries every dirty trick, eventually even forcing him into a secret affair with her.
Yet Li Wenchao only smiles and indulges her, while his dislike score on the System stays at **0%**.
Jin Ling: System, he isn’t even human, is he?
System: You do not have permission to view this information.
With Li Wenchao’s wedding to her cousin fast approaching, Jin Ling really doesn’t want to waste any more effort on him. She doesn’t want the wish anymore, either.
After being involved with Li Wenchao for so long, Jin Ling has learned her lesson. She’ll never get involved with a dull, boring man like him again. Instead, she finds herself a lively, cheerful husband.
On the day of her engagement, in the middle of the bustling crowd, Li Wenchao stands before her and smiles as he wishes her a happy marriage and many children.
But when no one is watching, he leans close to her ear and says in a menacing voice:
“Once you’re a widow, meet me at our old place.”
A moment later, Li Wenchao is smiling warmly again. Jin Ling is so shocked she thinks she must have misheard.
Then the System suddenly comes back to life: Access unlocked.
Male lead Li Wenchao:
[Dislike: 100000%]
[Corruption: 100000%]
[Affection: 100%]
So the dislike score didn’t start at 0% at all!
Reaching 100% meant she had to win Li Wenchao over enough to bring his score down to 100%!
Damn it, and she did all those things to provoke him.
Jin Ling can’t take it. She keels over and faints.
At the same time, the System issues a new mission: Survive at the hands of the smiling tiger male lead.
Later, Jin Ling grits her teeth and tries to appease Li Wenchao. She finally manages to keep this madman under control, and his corruption score gradually falls to 40.
When the mission is almost complete, she walks into Li Wenchao’s room with a smile, ready to say goodbye.
But she sees Li Wenchao standing in the shadows, smiling as he taps the System panel:
Ding!
New mission: Stay with the male lead for the rest of your life.
Love him, cling to him, and let your heart belong to no one else.
Theme: Sand tempered into a blade, a pearl polished by the oyster
This is how our pearl kills the decisive empress 🙏 Xiao Yushu, don't you have some knowledge of yourself? How many days can such a hesitant and kind-hearted emperor survive 😂
This is the first novel I followed in JJ. I came across a pearl drawn by the author in a certain book and liked it very much, so I found the title of the book, downloaded jj and started reading. At that time, Yu thought it was not enough to tie the game overnight, so he also showed the palm element. I like this book very much. The images of the male and female protagonists are not weak, especially the female protagonist. Her tenacity, intelligence and determination make people more and more fascinated by it, and the more they read, the more they like her. The male and female counterparts are not simply black and white (of course, King Jin is definitely a gentle and good man, King Jin is an exception). Unlike many articles, you can guess what the protagonist is going to do at a glance. The other emotional lines of the heroine are also portrayed very well and are not unconventional. Whether it is the golden flower thread or the Jinwang thread, it is decisive and logical, with a kind of restrained beauty. I uninstalled jj before, but I always wanted to see the ending of this book. I downloaded it again today to see the progress of this book. I am very lucky and happy. This book ended yesterday. I would like to give the author a big affirmation and wish the author a better and better writing and a happy life! 🎆
Ascending the throne, ascending the throne 🙏 🙏 our pearl will definitely be very beautiful if we ascend the throne 🙏 🙏
Is Jinhua dead? I'm going to cry to death, he left so hastily. I like him so much and I haven't seen enough of him. He has very few scenes and he is so proud. Why is he gone?
Frog Fun also has a side story, Rolls, I love you 🐶🌹, it's so sweet 🐰
First time commenting!! The heroine chapter is so beautiful
I really feel that with Xiao Jinhua, we can only be a teenage couple. The conflict between the two after marriage is so serious () I feel that if they grow up happily as Wusun childhood sweethearts, there is a possibility of it? But it's too OOC 😂
No matter how the plot develops, Mingzhu Xiaojiang is still more suitable together. They are a match made in heaven and locked together.
Now that things have come to this, when will our pearl ascend the throne 🙏
No matter which life Ming Jewelry is in, her path is actually very difficult.