The Twin Phoenixes’ Mistake

Sensitive Soul x Unbothered Spirit

1.

Wang Zhuo was raised beyond the pass. She was uneducated and reckless, but had mastered the art of the blade.

When she was eighteen, her father married her off to the Fourth Prince, Gao Jianxun.

The young couple had known each other since they were nobodies, and supported each other through seven years surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Seven years later, Gao Jianxun ascended the throne. His younger sister, who had divorced and was living alone, appeared at the palace gates, pregnant, begging for a title.

Only then did Wang Zhuo realize her husband had never cared for her. He thought her uncouth.

She slit her own throat with a knife. When she opened her eyes again, she was back a year before her marriage to Gao Jianxun.

In this life, her younger sister refused to marry the Seventh Prince, as she had in her previous life. So, at her parents' insistence, Wang Zhuo took her sister's place.

In her memories, this uncle of her future husband was proud of his status, violent and cruel, a heartless war machine. He had once killed hundreds of people and stormed the inner palace alone. Wiping blood from his sword, he had laughed and declared, "My elder brother stole my throne, so I'll kill his wife."

Wang Zhuo didn't expect this jade-faced devil to fall for her.

She would keep her distance and just try to stay alive.

2.

The Seventh Prince, Gao Jiancong, was handsome and refined, with a heart as pure as jade. Wang Shu had once threatened to take her own life just to marry him.

But even after eight years of marriage, she still couldn't win his affection. Their relationship became a public scandal, and they had no choice but to divorce.

After being reborn, Wang Shu knew that Wang Zhuo's fiance would one day rule the realm. She begged her parents to switch the marriages with her sister, then turned around and married the rakish Fourth Prince.

Not long after the wedding, Gao Jianxun was reprimanded by the emperor, and Wang Shu was confined to her home.

She blamed her husband for her misery, thinking that at least her life was better than her eldest sister's.

But when she turned around, she saw the branches in the neighboring Wang residence rustling. Her sister was sitting on the shoulders of the wealthy and noble Seventh Prince, pointing at a loquat tree and giving orders: "Higher, higher... Oh!"

A warm breeze passed. Wang Zhuo tumbled into his arms, clutching a loquat blossom, and the usually cold and aloof Seventh Prince blushed.

3.

When Gao Jiancong was young, he fell in love with someone. After they parted in Liangzhou, he searched everywhere but never found them.

Years later, they met again at a wedding feast. That person was now his elder brother's wife, and the beauty he'd lost was beyond his reach.

Gao Jiancong thought he would live out his days in quiet resignation. So he left with his troops, willing to rule the north as a vassal, never to return to the capital.

Then he heard that the Empress had been accused of using witchcraft to harm others and imprisoned in Weiyang Palace.

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen outside Yanmen Pass let out a low, rumbling cry. His strategist asked whether he intended to seize the throne.

Gao Jiancong replied, "I want my sister-in-law. I want her to live forever, and I want her to be happy."

But when he raced thousands of miles through the night to return to court, his empress was already dead.

*

As more and more people read this, here are some potential trigger points:

1. In her previous life, the heroine was not a virgin and had a child. The male lead was a virgin in both lives.

2. The heroine took her own life in her previous life. The reason is explained in Chapter One.

(The male lead won't go easy on the second male lead. The latter won't get off lightly.)

3. This is not a story about a powerful heroine. She is a woman from the ancient world, with a slow-growth character arc.

Her perspective shifts from [for the family] to [for the greater good] and then to [for herself].

Theme: The ice melts, and the jade tree bows its branches.