After My Dead Wife Returned

A Mei is the most awkward secondary consort in the Eastern Palace.

Born an orphan, she was rescued by a marquis of the current dynasty while searching for her family and running into bandits. She then rose from the marquis's residence to become Crown Prince Jiang Chi's secondary consort. A pheasant had flown up onto a branch, and it was an immense favor.

But she just happened to look exactly like the late wife the crown prince hated most.

Everyone in the capital knew that the crown prince disliked his ill-fated wife, who had died on their wedding day, and forbade anyone from mentioning her. It was easy to imagine how a secondary consort who looked just like her would be treated after entering the Eastern Palace.

On the second day of their wedding, A Mei, still weak and sore, saw the crown prince sitting in the room, polishing a long sword. His voice was cool and detached.

"From now on, stay quietly in the residence. Don't go anywhere."

A Mei trembled as she agreed.

*

To avoid making the crown prince hate her for wearing that face, she avoided him whenever she could.

When he bestowed beautiful clothes on her, she never dared wear them casually. When he summoned her to his bedchamber, she pretended to have a stomachache and refused. Later, she even moved herself into the room farthest from his.

Yet the crown prince was always like a ghost, appearing from some corner and staring intently at her. "You really didn't go out today?"

A Mei answered nervously, "Really."

"Then what were you doing today?"

A Mei racked her brains. "Today, I was wishing for the crown prince to enjoy good health."

The next day, he caught her again, his icy voice asking once more, "What did you do today?"

A Mei hurried to reply, "Today, I was wishing for everything to go smoothly for the crown prince."

Later, A Mei began volunteering her answers. "Today, I was wishing for the crown prince to always be smiling."

"Wishing for the crown prince to have plenty to eat and warm clothes to wear, and to be loved and admired by all..."

Gradually, rumors spread through the capital that she was a "bewitching consort," a scheming woman skilled in seduction who had the crown prince all to herself every night.

A Mei wanted to cry. She wasn't. She hadn't done anything.

She was just waiting for the crown prince to throw her out, and she'd already packed her bags.

Until she heard that the crown prince planned to promote her to primary consort.

A Mei was dumbfounded. No, how could making things up on the spur of the moment get her promoted? Wasn't she just a joke everyone despised?

*

His wife fell from a cliff and died on their wedding day.

For many nights after her death, Jiang Chi's longing for her became an obsession.

But in the winter three years later, he saw her again.

Everyone said she was merely a lookalike, a substitute who would eventually be kicked out of the residence. Even she believed it.

But Jiang Chi knew she was the real one.

She had changed her identity and name, and even lost her memories, so she no longer recognized him.

But none of that mattered.

As long as she was by his side, all he had to do was take her home, then... teach her to love him.

The blurb is from an outsider's perspective. The male lead had a reason for disliking his late wife. No angst.

One-on-one romance.

Final version of the blurb, archived on 2025.12.23.

Coming soon: After Marrying a Gentle Husband

Coercive pursuit | A powerful man bows his head | The regretful pursuit of a wife

Delicate flower princess younger sister & cold, unhinged crown prince older brother (pretending to be gentle) 💛

Everyone said Xie Wantang was lucky. The orphaned daughter of a prince with a different surname, she had been adopted by the royal family as a goddaughter and was deeply favored by the emperor. Her betrothed was also young and accomplished.

Yet behind Xie Wantang's glamorous life hid a shameful secret.

At the engagement banquet with her betrothed, she got drunk and slept with her sworn elder brother, Xie Yunchun, the crown prince.

After that night, she was confined to the Eastern Palace under the pretense that the princess was recovering from an illness. Her hairpins fell one by one, and she became a bird in his cage.

Xie Yun was cold by nature, but took particular pleasure in tormenting people in bed. After suffering through his abuse, she finally seized the chance to flee when he traveled south and begged her imperial father to arrange her marriage to her betrothed. She escaped the madman.

*

During her first month in her husband's family, her husband was just as gentle and kind as the rumors claimed. Every day he went out and brought her pastries. When she had nightmares, he held her and soothed her softly, his gentle hands brushing over her damp temples like a spring breeze.

"Wantang, don't be afraid. Your husband will always be here with you."

Their affection deepened day by day. The only flaw was that her husband always wore a cold, expressionless mask, day and night. He never took it off, not even when they shared a bed.

"My face is injured. I don't want to frighten you."

Her husband's voice was gentle and apologetic, and Xie Wantang was deeply moved.

"Your appearance doesn't matter. I'll love you no matter what you look like."

She searched everywhere for renowned doctors to treat him, wholeheartedly hoping to live happily with her husband, and almost forgot the nightmare of her past.

But the good times did not last. In the second month after marrying into the Xu family, she realized her husband seemed to have become a different person.

He smiled as he said his face was injured, but when he wore the mask, his presence was cold and murderous.

The neighbors said he was kindhearted and owned nothing, yet Xie Wantang saw him wield a long sword and cruelly wipe out an entire household.

Before marriage, he had been restrained and proper. After marriage, he demanded her all night long. Beneath the red bed curtains, the man's icy gaze rested obsessively on the side of her neck as he bit it, leaving bruised marks all over.

"I only killed a couple of insignificant ants. Why are you so scared, darling?"

"Didn't you say you'd love me no matter what?"

Xie Wantang panicked. She was afraid. The second time she caught him murdering an entire household, she decided to run away.

*

After burning down the home she had once shared, Xie Wantang packed her clothes and left the capital in the middle of the night. She never expected to be surrounded before her boat could even head south of the Yangtze.

She looked up in terror and saw a familiar figure standing amid the flames. Her husband, who had once been so considerate and tender, wore a prince's robe, and his voice was completely different.

"Where do you think you're going, my wife?"

Hearing that familiar voice, Xie Wantang backed away again and again. This was clearly...

The face beneath the mask was revealed, and she felt as if she had fallen into an icy abyss.

During those two absurd months together, the person in her bed had been none other than the sworn elder brother she had gone to such lengths to escape!

Later, in a pitch-black room, Xie Wantang's hair was damp and disheveled. Hot, uncontrolled kisses nipped at her neck, while a golden chain stayed wrapped around her wrist day and night.

"Is marrying someone else better than being my crown princess?"

"You like him? How about I chop off his head to celebrate?"

"Little sister, if you dare run away one more time, I'll do it one more time tonight."

Delicate flower younger sister & cold, mad older brother

A little coercive pursuit & a little regretful pursuit, though overall it may be a sweet romance

The male lead killed the husband before the wedding

And the heroine isn't on his household register, so they aren't related by blood.

First version of the blurb, screenshotted on 2026.05.05.

Theme: Ten years, life and death, two vast worlds apart. I do not think of you, yet I cannot forget.