After All My Scheming, I Still Found You

Jiang Lingyu, the only daughter of a Duke, did two shocking things in her life.

First, she turned Lu Huaijin, heir to the Prince of Nanyang, into her ex-husband. Second, she abandoned a life of wealth and glory to follow her father to the frontier.

Looking back on her life, Jiang Lingyu remembered fighting her father's concubines before marriage, then battling Lu Huaijin's many relatives after marriage. All her talents had gone to waste.

She had fought with all her might, only to win herself a future trapped in the inner quarters. Now, even after her divorce, she was only in her early twenties.

She was tired.

The day she handed him the divorce papers, her husband didn't even look up. He simply picked up his brush with cold indifference.

It made sense. They had been married for four years, and the man known for his brash, unruly ways had treated her with neither warmth nor coldness, always polite and courteous. He must have hated her.

Jiang Lingyu took off her jeweled hairpins, gave up her rouge, and followed her father to the frontier in plain clothes. The only things in her bags were mechanisms she had made as a child, and her mind was full of mathematical techniques others looked down on.

The ambition that had been smothered in the splendor of the capital when she was young grew ever clearer on this barren land.

"Parlor tricks and useless contraptions. They have no practical value."

But no one believed in her, not even the father who had brought her to the frontier.

When the former spouses met again, Jiang Lingyu was being neglected and was about to be sent back to the capital. Lu Huaijin arrived in Yancheng in a sorry state to provide disaster relief, with little water, little food, and no money.

They were equally down on their luck, yet somehow the sight warmed the heart.

Lu Huaijin looked at the water purifier in his ex-wife's hands. "I have an idea. Let's set our grudges aside for now. Help me solve the water shortage, and I'll help you clear the obstacles in your way."

Jiang Lingyu thought it over. "That works."

Later, the officials at court discovered that the former enemies had become the sharpest pair of swords, fighting side by side.

Jiang Lingyu's cannons roared on the front lines, while Lu Huaijin stirred up storms in the court behind her.

A pair of phoenixes had emerged from the capital's political arena.

They were husband and wife, and allies as well.

Male Lead's Perspective:

Lu Huaijin had always thought Jiang Lingyu was pitiful.

She had a fiery personality and many talents, yet her status kept her from putting them to use. But countless people in this world suffered, and Jiang Lingyu was no different from them.

It wasn't until the fourth year of their marriage, when Jiang Lingyu's path to becoming a female official was blocked and she wept in utter despair, feeling around for a shard of broken porcelain in his arms to take her own life, that he belatedly realized he had fallen for her over time.

When his wife sent him divorce papers the next day, Lu Huaijin was silent for a long while before lowering his head and saying, "Fine."

After that, he abandoned his usual reclusive ways, revealed his brilliance time and again, and pursued her all the way to the frontier.

"I'll clear the obstacles in your way, and you can take care of my problems."

He had power, and Jiang Lingyu had ability. They were made for each other.

He watched Jiang Lingyu nod and decided that all her other suitors were nothing special: insignificant, second-rate, and unworthy of notice.

But then, when rumors that the two were getting remarried spread like wildfire, Jiang Lingyu replied to a rival testing the waters:

"Marrying someone powerful is a misery. Better to marry down."

That night, the arrogant heir drank two pots of wine, buried his face in his ex-wife's arms, and wept bitterly, insisting he would resign from every position he held and elope with the woman he loved.

(Not a female-centric power fantasy. A historical mash-up with some scientifically implausible elements. Best enjoyed with your brain switched off.)

An emotionally steady, science-minded Border Collie girl x a scheming, politically savvy Beagle man

Theme: Keep seeking hope for yourself, again and again.