Back to the Days When My Wife Was Young

[Main Story Complete]

[Cold, heartless, unhinged former widower and powerful minister who only turns into a lovesick fool for the heroine x A sickly beauty who seems gentle and meek but is actually world-weary and slow to react]

[If you're interested, feel free to let this story build up a bit before reading. It really means a lot to this little author (bows 360 degrees)]

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[Blurb]

After seeing the moon at four in the morning, high school senior He Wenyin promptly died from overwork. In one fell swoop, she transmigrated into the body of a concubine-born daughter from a fallen marquis's household.

She thought she could just lie flat and enjoy a quiet life. But she had neither a System nor a golden finger, and to make matters worse, she had been handed the script of a vicious supporting female character. One wrong move, and she would become a casualty of the household's inner intrigues.

She was even supposed to marry a fifty-year-old man as his fifth wife.

What could she do? With her fate apparently sealed, He Wenyin went out for a walk to clear her head and make the best of things.

As it happened, that was the day she met someone beside the official road outside the capital.

He was strikingly handsome, with the bearing of an elegant scholar and a back straight as a pine, yet his clothes were disheveled and travel-stained. The corners of his eyes were red, and grief seemed to cling to him from head to toe.

Then he rushed over to her and asked if she would marry him, saying he was willing to give her everything.

He Wenyin tilted her head and walked away. What a weirdo.

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Xie Lan, Duke of Qi, passed the provincial exam at sixteen and came first in the palace examination at eighteen. Before even reaching twenty, he already wielded immense influence at court. A talent rarely seen in a generation, he was the object of admiration of every noble young lady in the capital.

Yet he was an odd-tempered, cold-hearted man. He could scold a princess until she cried for three days, then mock a girl who had secretly gifted him a purse for her poor embroidery.

So when news spread that he was to become engaged to Third Miss He, people in the capital privately speculated that it must be a way to dodge the Emperor's insistence that he marry a princess.

But a few months later, someone happened to see the usually aloof and composed duke at a palace banquet, picking up his newlywed wife in his arms in full view of everyone, despite her blushing protests!

That alone would have been astonishing, but he pressed his face against his wife's jade-white cheek, eyes rimmed with red, and said something so bizarre that people wondered if he had been possessed.

According to the trembling account of someone seated beside the duke at the time, he spoke softly, yet gripped the girl's wrist so tightly he nearly left red marks:

"...He Wenyin. How could you not want me?"

"...You're mine."

Everyone at the palace banquet was left speechless.

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In the fourth year of the Zhaoren era, Xie Lan, Duke of Qi, who held all the power at court in his hands, suddenly died in Jiangnan at the age of thirty-one. Everyone was stunned by the news, though one or two people who knew the truth could only sigh in regret.

A man who had been cold and heartless all his life had died for love in the end. How ironic.

But when Xie Lan opened his eyes, he found himself back in the year he had come of age. Forgetting his plans and pressing affairs, he laughed as if he had gone mad, then leapt onto a horse and rode through the night, rushing to the capital without rest.

To find his He Wenyin.

After that, just as he had expected, he discovered that the girl was like a cat that had once been abandoned.

She was plagued by illness, frighteningly thin, and terrified of people. There was hardly a part of her that was unhurt.

But it was all right.

He would love her.

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[Little Scene]

Xie Lan: (earnestly) I ask for nothing in this life, only...

He Wenyin: (held in his arms as he kisses her earlobe) Stop. You obviously want everything.

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Before You Read:

1. A fluffy, everyday romance with a simple, sweet style. The male lead is genuinely lovestruck, head over heels, and never shuts up about it. Slow burn; he appears in Chapter 3.

2. One couple for life, both in this life and the previous one. The heroine will gradually begin recovering her memories from her past life around the middle of the story.

3. An entirely fictional setting, so no historical research is needed. The political intrigue is practically nonexistent and is included only for decoration and entertainment, so please don't overthink it. The writing is fairly amateurish, so if you have high standards for prose, read with caution (bows).

4. Please don't bring up this story under other novels, or other novels under this one. Thank you very much (bows).

5. This is my first novel, so the writing quality varies considerably from section to section. You may want to wait until the story is complete and revised before reading (thank you).

-- Next up: Raising readers for The Emperor's Female Tutor, Who Was Dead One Moment and Alive the Next --

[An innocent, sunny puppy gradually becomes a dark, possessive ghost of an emperor x His amnesiac, frail tutor, a wooden-headed woman who thinks she's only his teacher]

Ming Yang had lost her memories. Aside from her extensive knowledge, she knew nothing about herself.

To make matters worse, she contracted a strange illness when she was eighteen.

Every few years, she would lose her five senses and then fall into a deathlike sleep. It would be several more years before she woke up again.

This was no big deal to her. She didn't particularly care.

That is, until she was disguised as a man and taken in by a poor young boy to be his tutor.

The boy had little money and endless troubles, but aside from sneaking into her room at night, he treated her with respect. So she reluctantly stayed.

But before long, she "died."

She climbed out of a grave, intending to resume her old job as a tutor, but unexpectedly ran into the boy, now a prominent Third Prince at court. He promptly whisked her away.

After asking around, she learned that her dear disciple was apparently attracted to men. Alarmed, she immediately started finding noble young ladies in the capital to set him up with, making her disciple turn pale with fury.

All right, she accepted it.

But her disciple was grown up now. Surely he needed someone to keep him company? So she began finding noble young men in the capital to set him up with.

Why was her disciple even angrier?

Just then, rumors spread through the capital that her disciple's first love, the one who got away, was coming to the capital to become a prince's consort.

Now that her identity as a woman had been exposed, she counted the silver in her hand and decided to bow out gracefully and make room for the two of them. She would use her illness to fake her death and disappear.

But when she woke again, she seemed to be confined in the Emperor's bedchamber.

There was... a gold chain around her ankle, lined with a soft pad.

Her dear disciple sat beside the bed, gazing at her with a lovesick look while holding a book of erotic illustrations. He gave her a dark, chilling smile and said:

"Why did you run away, Tutor?"

"There's something I don't know how to do. Teach me, all right?"

--

The first time he met his tutor, Qi Lingwang thought: So what if I'm attracted to men? I love my tutor. Even if she's a block of wood, I'll love her.

The second time he brought his tutor back, Qi Lingwang was beside himself. It was like flirting with a blind person.

The third time, he finally went mad.

That day, a wandering Daoist saw the red thread on his hand and shook his head. "Why must Your Majesty force a lonely spirit to stay in this world?"

Gently, he wound the other end of the red thread around the tips of his tutor's fingers.

"I insist on keeping her here."

--

To Ming Yang, love meant all the people under heaven and peace for generations to come.

To Qi Lingwang, love meant his tutor, Ming Yang.

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1. The male lead falls first. The heroine isn't interested in sex. One couple for life.

2. The heroine is the first love he never got over.

Theme: Live well.