The Empress's Reign Over the Six Palaces

Please add my next book, My Heart Is Far Away, to your reading list~

Amnesiac beauty × ruthless new emperor

After marrying into the Ningbo Marquis Household, Zhao Yunyi manages the household affairs by the book for two years, never making the slightest mistake, yet her in-laws still despise her, and she and her husband are a couple in name only.

On the birthday of the old madam of the marquis household, a family that has upheld strict etiquette for a hundred years chooses to drug its own daughter-in-law in exchange for a promising future for its adviser.

The banquet is bustling and splendid. The sounds of servants chasing one another through the courtyard ring out one after the next. Zhao Yunyi's steps falter, and in her panic she stumbles into someone's arms.

That night, pearl hairpins and jeweled ornaments litter the floor, while red curtains sway around the bed.

After one reckless night, the Ningbo Marquis Household loses a young madam, and the imperial palace gains a favored consort.

Zhao Yunyi enters the palace, only to be poisoned and lose her memory.

When she wakes, her personal maid tells her that she is a palace consort, but because she has no power or influence and is exceptionally beautiful, others have envied and harmed her.

After hearing all this, Zhao Yunyi looks at the breathtakingly beautiful face in the bronze mirror, then glances around at the empty room and the rumpled nightclothes on her body.

She slaps the table and leaps to her feet. So what if she's only a favored consort? She'll fight for her place! If she doesn't, won't all that unmatched beauty go to waste?

The emperor hurries over, only to see the beauty acting completely out of character, fluttering into his arms like a butterfly as golden tears roll down her cheeks.

The new emperor knows that Zhao Yunyi has lost her memory, but has her warm, fragrant body in his arms. As she cries to him, his fingers curl slightly. After a moment, he wipes away the tears at the corners of her eyes. “...It was my fault. Ah Yun, you have suffered.”

Ling Yu ascends the throne over the corpses of his father and brothers. From childhood, he has shut his heart to love, until one day, while traveling, he meets a woman among the common people.

The beauty smiles sweetly, a vibrant crabapple blossom tucked into her hair. Her bright, sunny gaze bursts into his view. He sends someone to inquire about her, only to learn that she is the new bride of the Ningbo Marquis Household.

That night, the Imperial Bedchamber urgently summons the imperial physicians. The emperor suddenly suffers from insomnia. Despite being given many prescriptions, his condition shows no improvement.

Everyone is frantic. Then the newly arrived Lady Zhao somehow manages to make the emperor's illness improve in just half a day.

The whole palace is amazed. It is only later, as the beauty's consort rank rises again and again, that everyone gradually understands.

Reading Guide: 1. Both leads have had no other partners; one-on-one romance.

2. A powerful man learns to yield. The heroine regains her memories later in the story, and the second male lead gets his comeuppance.

Please add My Heart Is Far Away to your reading list~

A Yao has grown up at Mingjing Terrace. Born with a face that is both innocent and alluring, she draws every eye. Her mistress has always held her tenderly in the palm of her hand, making her practice singing and dancing day and night.

On the day she is to be sent to a husband, she glimpses from behind layers of gauze the wealthy merchant who has recently become the talk of Su Shui City. He looks like an immortal, sits in the seat of honor, and seems to be feared by everyone.

A Yao wants to survive and does not want to become the second wife of a county magistrate past fifty, so she sets her sights on this “merchant.”

Afterward, she serves the “merchant.” A Yao knows her place: she asks no questions she shouldn't, is attentive and considerate, and fulfills all the duties expected of a concubine. Just like that, she is taken back to the Eastern Palace.

Everyone around her envies A Yao, saying she is lucky. Being chosen by the crown prince is a blessing others could only dream of.

But A Yao doesn't see it that way. She lies awake all night, hiding a secret that would surely get her killed if the crown prince discovered it.

One day, while bringing the crown prince cloud-slice cakes, A Yao casually asks how he would punish her if she were ever to commit a serious offense.

The taciturn crown prince merely pats her head and says coldly that he never keeps anyone with ulterior motives by his side.

The cloud-slice cakes fall to the ground and shatter, just like A Yao's heart.

A Yao values her life and doesn't want to die, so she can only run.

To investigate a salt-smuggling case, Crown Prince Ying Xu disguises himself as a wealthy merchant and travels to Su Shui City. By chance, he takes A Yao as his concubine.

On the eve of his return to the capital, he looks at the woman sleeping beside him, curled up against his side. The usually decisive crown prince is silent for a long while.

Ying Xu knows that his little concubine is a timid thing. She needs someone beside her even to sleep, clings to him all day, and insists that she loves him so much she couldn't live a single day without him.

If that's the case, then... he might as well take her with him.

From then on, people hear that the Eastern Palace has a famously favored concubine who stays by the crown prince's side day and night and is deeply cherished by him.

They are terribly curious and are just about to make inquiries when word gets out that the Eastern Palace has caught fire. In the blaze, the concubine perishes, leaving no remains. The crown prince's most beloved concubine is gone just like that, and the news leaves the people sighing for a long time.

Three years later, in a rural region a thousand miles from the capital, a laugh drifts past on the breeze as he rides by a hillside. The man on horseback instantly reddens around the eyes.

Seeing beneath a tree the figure he has longed for night and day, Ying Xu rushes toward her like a madman, but freezes when the young woman takes half a step back at his approach.

“Is there anything A Yao wants?”

“To be able to stay by Your Highness's side is A Yao's greatest wish in this life.”

Ying Xu still remembers how the young woman shook her head then, her eyes shining brilliantly as she looked at him. She is nothing like the woman now hiding behind another man and avoiding him as if he were a snake or a scorpion.

“So all those words of love were lies... She's a little liar.”

Theme: Those who come later can still rise to the top. How can you not fight for what you want?