The Scheming Consort's Daily Struggle to Survive

[Next up: Husband, Didn't You Promise to Help Me Marry Up?]

▲ A beautiful village woman bent on marrying into a powerful family discovers she can't get out of the house no matter what

▲ Neither lead is perfect; they both have flaws and will grow over time

▲ The heroine is the real daughter who was switched at birth, rising from a country woman to a queen of commerce

Blurb

The wise and mighty new emperor is tricked into giving his heart and his body. The heroine puts on a coy, affected act wherever she goes, and the hero falls for it every time.

Career blurb: I expose a child-trafficking conspiracy in ancient times and become the leading fighter against kidnapping.

Romance blurb: After waking up, Fuying finds herself a beleaguered princess of a fallen kingdom, bullied from the front and poisoned from behind, with the added complication that she is secretly a spy from an enemy nation.

Before she can even process what is happening, the rebels have reached the city gates. Disguised as a palace maid, she flees amid the chaos, only to run straight into the rebel leader. She puts on the performance of a lifetime, playing a pitiful young woman with a tragic past to perfection.

But the bearded man merely looked down at her and said coldly, "Take her away."

The day her identity as a spy was exposed, the man showed no mercy and confined her in the Cold Palace. She had no choice but to fall into a carefully arranged "accident." Her face flushed, her eyes glistening, she threw her soft, shapely body into the man's arms and said coyly, "Your Majesty, help me."

Chu Chen's eyes were dark and inscrutable. He pinched her fair cheek. "What makes you think I would want you?"

I can play any part you love.

But later, she didn't just deceive him in body and heart; she faked her death and escaped. Three years later, Chu Chen watched, eyes bloodshot, as she walked beside a tall man, holding the hand of a little child.

Wait, why does that child look so much like him?

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Next up: Husband, Didn't You Promise to Help Me Marry Up?

Su Tang is struck by lightning and sent to ancient times, where she becomes Pei Ziyuan's wicked original wife, a selfish hellion who carries on an affair.

At this very moment, the original owner is humiliating her husband, who has a broken leg, by making love to her lover right in front of him! Luckily, she'd only taken off half her skirt?! Looking at the drafty thatched hut and the two boys, thin and sallow, she swallows a fleeting impulse to pity them. Under the murderous gaze of her broken-legged husband, she gathers her belongings and even takes the one tael of silver the original owner hid in the corner.

But then, with a thud, Pei Ziyuan drops the bloodied brick in his hand. Dragging his broken leg like a dead dog, he lifts the hair beside Su Tang's ear and asks gently, "Do you want to join him in the afterlife?"

??? Her legs go weak in spite of herself. Su Tang uses her superb acting skills to get out of the predicament unscathed. Hah, men! Before long, she returns to her old ways and dreams of marrying into a powerful family for a better life.

Pei Ziyuan bears a blood feud and is a demon returned from hell. He sees that Su Tang is restless and can't stay faithful, but instead of getting angry, he helps her plot her schemes. So she flirts with Chen, the tavern owner in town, Li, the young master of the silk shop, and the youngest son of Landlord Liu...

Years later, Pei Ziyuan returns home in glory with Su Tang. His former brothers, seeing the once-infamous woman at his side now docile and virtuous, ask him for advice: How do you keep your wife in line?

The rules of marriage his wife had drummed into him echo in his heart. He replies coolly, "I examine myself three times a day: Did I listen to my wife?"

I know she's foolish, vulgar, and has no sincere feelings, yet I'm still willing to be under her thumb.

Theme: Love quietly changes our imperfect selves.