(In a nutshell: a female-lead-perspective tale of fighting back, and a male-lead-perspective tale of winning back his wife after a bitter reckoning)
Blurb:
From the moment she was born, Liang Jingqing was the luckiest person in all of the Great Liang Kingdom.
Her parents, the emperor and empress, shared a deep and lasting love. They had only two children, her and her brother, and he succeeded to the throne without a hitch. She went from being a little princess adored by all to the Grand Princess.
But at nineteen, a bout of chills took her life, precious as it was.
Liang Jingqing was furious. She pointed at the heavens and cursed them three hundred times, and her ghost lingered among the living, refusing to be reincarnated.
Until the day the Great Liang Kingdom fell. The enemy stood at the city gates, and the face of the man leading them seemed vaguely familiar.
It was the liar who had broken his promise and abandoned her four years ago, when she had traveled south with her parents. He had once been a candidate for her future husband, and now he was the man she hated most.
Liang Jingqing's ghost was so enraged she nearly toppled over. She slipped and fell into the cycle of reincarnation.
When she woke again, she was aboard the ship traveling south. The Great Liang Kingdom was still thriving, her parents and brother were alive, and she was still the little princess everyone cherished.
Thinking she would soon see the enemy who had deceived and mistreated her, driven her brother to his death, and destroyed the Great Liang Kingdom, Liang Jingqing trembled with excitement.
Shen Xieyun, you're a dead man!
*
The imperial pleasure boat drifted across the turquoise waters. Drawing on her memories of her past life, Liang Jingqing rushed to the railing and scanned the lake furiously, intent on settling the score with Shen Xieyun.
Before long, a young man's figure swam up from beneath the water, clear against the limpid blue waves.
Her memories of her past life gradually merged with the scene before her. Liang Jingqing grabbed the oar resting against the side of the boat and thought viciously: Today, I, the princess, will rid the world of this menace!
But in her haste, she accidentally fell overboard, and the young man rescued her again.
His face was frighteningly pale, like a water ghost that had barely managed to float to the surface. Silently, he held her tightly in his arms... as if trying to strangle her.
Liang Jingqing was furious and panicked, but no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't break free. Water kept dripping from his hair and face, and a few drops even slid onto her pale lips.
Liang Jingqing froze for a moment, wondering why the lake water tasted salty.
*
Though her first attempt had failed, Liang Jingqing didn't give up.
She pretended to be close to Shen Xieyun, flirting and playing at being in love, while trying every possible way to kill him and then abandon him.
But no matter how much she tormented Shen Xieyun, he took it all in stride. If she slapped his right cheek, he offered her the left, and his gaze grew more and more ardent with every passing day.
Liang Jingqing was so angry she tore up handkerchief after handkerchief.
And Shen Xieyun would deliberately show up before her with his handsome face bruised and swollen, grinning as he asked, "Qingqing, have you calmed down yet?"
Unable to bear it any longer, Liang Jingqing swung another punch.
This time, she aimed away from his face.
1. Both leads are reborn; one-on-one, happy ending
2. There was a misunderstanding in their past life. A simple romance with very little political intrigue
3. Inspired by the Tang dynasty, but the setting is very loosely based on it
Theme: Not her lover, but her enemy