The Clan Matriarch Wants a Divorce

[Writing isn't easy, so please support the official version. The revised edition adds 30,000 words and adjusts some characters. Pirated versions are incomplete, so don't read or repost them.] My next novel has a similar theme and a reborn protagonist: Reborn Before the Shotgun Wedding. Blurb at the bottom. Please add it to your favorites, mwah. Blurb: The matriarch of the Shen family is clever and capable, the finest wife in the capital. But Wei Fuyi thinks she's about to lose her position as matriarch. With a difficult mother-in-law above her and a scheming younger sister-in-law below, she has to hold up a clan of hundreds all by herself. Even with a thousand arms like the Bodhisattva of Compassion, she'd be exhausted and powerless. What's more, everyone in the Shen family calls Fuyi by her elder sister's name. * On the eve of the aristocratic families' arranged marriage, Miss Yao eloped with a poor young man. In the midst of her father's and brothers' fury, they noticed Fuyi, who had always been overlooked, for the first time. For the Wei family, the marriage alliance met everyone's needs. Even her mother was pleased with Fuyi's good fortune: a concubine's daughter had married into the prestigious Shen family. No one cared that Fuyi had lost her name and hidden her true nature, like a puppet whose joints were pulled by the strings of her title as matriarch. She was born to soar through the sky like a bluebird, not to be a caged sparrow trapped in the inner quarters. Her husband, Shen Zhengyan, had taken up the position of clan head at a young age. Through his own abilities, he earned the emperor's favor and held sway over the court. As his wife, Fuyi had to stay sharp and clear-headed at all times. People often tried to meddle in the clan head's household. Fuyi once tested Shen Zhengyan about it. Seeing his cold, distant expression, she thought he had at least some conscience. Until one day, she heard him call a woman she didn't know the mother of his daughter. The woman was a widow whose husband had only just died. Shen Zhengyan brought her into the house and told Fuyi to treat her like a sister. * When Shen Zhengyan saw the divorce agreement Fuyi handed him, he didn't take it seriously at all. He held power over the court, the clan was stable, and their married life was harmonious. They already had an eldest daughter, and Fuyi was pregnant with his child. Everything was going well, so there was no need to change anything. He thought it was just like when she got drunk and sprawled across him, making a fuss. That was until he saw his sweet, charming wife, one hand on her belly, smiling as she tucked a velvet flower into the hair of the new top scorer in the imperial examinations. They chatted about poetry, and then he heard her sweetly tell the man: She was going to divorce him. He should wait a little longer. Shen Zhengyan laughed angrily. Divorce? Dream on. * Wei Yao had been spoiled since childhood, proud and arrogant, always wanting to snatch every good thing for herself, until she had a dream. Not long after she married into the Shen family, disaster struck. They called her a bringer of bad luck. Her family feared getting dragged into the trouble and disowned her. In her panic, she came across Wei Fuyi, as carefree as a salted fish, and pushed the wedding clothes and all the bad luck onto her. Years later, Wei Yao returned home in dejection. Hearing of the matriarch of the Shen family's great reputation, she was unconvinced and went to visit. She saw a beautiful lady sitting comfortably in the seat of honor, while the men and women in the hall looked at her with respect. The man who should have been Wei Yao's husband sat upright and solemnly, preparing to host the capital's most extravagant birthday banquet for Fuyi in his capacity as clan head. Wei Yao regretted it and seethed with anger, but she couldn't take back the good marriage she'd lost. #The Clever Matriarch Tames Her Husband Substitute marriage, love after marriage, lighthearted household intrigue, raising children and pursuing one's wife, and a host of repentant exes. Here's my next upcoming novel, with a similar theme but a reborn element. Please add it to your favorites, mwah. (Go straight to the next jar in my column: Reborn Before the Shotgun Wedding.) Cheng Fuzhen was kind and gentle, the finest of the capital's seventy-two noblewomen. Everyone envied her fated marriage to the Grand Secretary. But Fuzhen often thought that if she could start over, she would never marry her brother-in-law again. * On the eve of her elder sister's wedding, Fuzhen accidentally became bound by a love spell to Shen Youxun. By the time anyone discovered it, it was too late. Her stepmother struck Fuzhen from the family register, and her concubine mother fell ill with grief. When her mother-in-law discovered that the bride had been switched, she treated Fuzhen, who entered the family pregnant, with endless cruelty. With no one to rely on, Fuzhen didn't dare complain. She treated her in-laws with respect, supported her husband, raised their children, and managed the Shen household with great efficiency. As time passed, Shen Youxun, who had mistakenly believed Fuzhen had put him under a spell, gradually let go of his resentment. For the sake of their two adorable children, he gave her a little respect, neither too much nor too little. Twenty years later, when her eldest son welcomed his bride, Fuzhen slipped while serving tea to her daughter-in-law and unexpectedly was reborn back to the night before her wedding. Her elder sister's plea for Shen Youxun to marry her as a secondary wife was still vivid in her mind. Having lived through two lifetimes, Fuzhen remembered clearly that Shen Youxun had agreed at first. * When Shen Youxun received Cheng Fuzhen's letter breaking off their engagement, his expression was impossible to read. Born into an aristocratic family, he was a man of impeccable virtue and unmatched refinement. At twenty, he became the youngest Grand Secretary, at the height of his glory. The only mistake he ever made in life was being framed into sleeping with his fiancee's younger sister, then marrying her because she was pregnant. Throughout their twenty years of marriage, he and Fuzhen had treated each other with courtesy, and he had done his best to accommodate her wishes. For example, he liked wearing loose white robes, but his wife said he looked more imposing in black, so after that, he never wore white again. After making love, he also liked to rest his head on Fuzhen's lap while she used a dark teal pencil to draw a little mole on the side of his nose. Until one day, Shen Youxun happened to discover a portrait hidden in his wife's collection of poetry. From the topknot to the black clothes to the mole that couldn't be rubbed away, the person in the painting looked almost exactly like him. But it wasn't him. It was his daughter's father-in-law. Reborn to the night before their wedding, he heard that after Fuzhen returned the wedding clothes to Cheng Lingyuan, she had agreed to marry her future in-law. Clutching Fuzhen's congratulatory letter wishing him and Cheng Lingyuan a happy marriage lasting a hundred years, Shen Youxun laughed in anger. Marry someone else while carrying his child? Dream on. * Cheng Lingyuan was the most doted-on legitimate daughter in her family, proud and arrogant. She had never taken Cheng Fuzhen seriously. In her previous life, she heard that Shen Youxun intended to break off their engagement and, in her panic, cast a love spell. She never expected her lowborn half-sister to benefit instead. After being reborn, Cheng Lingyuan was overjoyed when Fuzhen took the initiative to end the engagement. But then Shen Youxun threw her into prison and changed all the betrothal gifts and marriage documents to bear Fuzhen's name. As the prison cart passed the Shen residence, Cheng Lingyuan saw servants hanging festive lanterns everywhere. The man who should have been her husband was carefully supporting Fuzhen's belly, softly asking if his wife was pleased. Even though the love spell hadn't affected her this time around, Cheng Lingyuan still paid the price. #A middle-aged couple are both reborn to their youth and fall in love all over again Love after marriage, shotgun wedding, raising children and pursuing one's wife after being reborn, lighthearted household intrigue, and a host of repentant exes. Theme: Look inward and let your charm shine outward.