Seizing the Bounty

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In the twenty-second year of Guangzhen, the land was peaceful and prosperous, and the people lived in contentment.

Xue Wanying, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites, had been raised and carefully educated within the inner quarters since childhood. Rumor had it she was dazzlingly beautiful, with pearly teeth and skin like ice and bones like jade.

After coming of age, so many men sought her hand that they nearly wore down the gates of the Minister's residence, yet every proposal was politely declined.

It was hard not to wonder: who could possibly have won the heart of the most radiant beauty in the capital?

That changed the day the Grand General Who Assists the State routed the enemy and returned to court.

The emperor was overjoyed. That evening, he held a banquet to reward those who had distinguished themselves.

In this campaign, it was thanks to Duan Zhiheng, the second son of the Grand General Who Assists the State, and his courage and skill in battle that they were able to penetrate the enemy camp and kill its commander. He deserved the greatest credit.

The young general stood proud and spirited. Before the assembled court, he asked for neither fame nor fortune. All he wanted was Wanying.

Only then did everyone understand: Xue Wanying and Duan Zhiheng had been childhood friends. Their love was mutual, and the emperor granted them permission to marry, joining their two families.

Wei Muchen sat far away in a place of honor, his shadowed gaze fixed on the woman kneeling below to thank the emperor.

Only the night before, she had slept in his bed, her eyes rimmed red as she murmured sweet words of love and promised to spend her life with him.

Yet a single day later, she was smiling as she accepted an imperial betrothal to another man. The two standing together were an especially painful sight.

Wei Muchen, the only son of the Grand Princess and the Duke Who Protects the State, had been born favored by heaven. Countless people longed for his attention, yet Xue Wanying avoided him as if he were a poisonous snake.

The more she tried to escape, the more determined he was to thwart her.

# Clearheaded beauty of a noble family VS obsessive, jealous heir to the title. Both are each other's first love, and neither lead is perfect. The male lead has some serious issues.

# Set in a fictional dynasty. Some official titles and historical details are drawn from the Tang Dynasty, with other elements mixed in and original worldbuilding. Please don't overanalyze.

# A melodramatic romance with a little political intrigue, all of it in service of the love story. Includes confinement, faked death, and amnesia...

# An important supporting character dies.

In short, this is a little story full of melodrama, countless twists in the romance, and a roller-coaster plot.

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%Chapters 24-42 are part of the re-release. If you've already read them, please don't buy them again.%

%The text has been revised multiple times. Only the official version is supported.%

Blurb updated on 2025.06.16 (screen-recorded)

[Visit the author's page for the next book, "Qi Zai Zhaomu." Please add it to your library ^_^]

After reading the class reunion messages in the group chat, Mu Yin casually opened the friends list.

"Jian Zhao, is he doing okay?"

Her friend An Lin heard the unfamiliar name and asked in confusion, "Who's Jian Zhao? Someone you just met?"

Mu Yin's finger stopped scrolling. She looked up at An Lin, puzzled. "No, Jian Zhao, our class monitor. Did you forget him?"

An Lin didn't look as if she'd suddenly remembered. Instead, she seemed to grow more and more alarmed.

She pulled up the class's graduation photo on her phone and held it out to Mu Yin.

The photo was clear, and everyone in it wore a bright smile.

The boys and girls, seventeen or eighteen years old, had sparkling eyes and endless hopes for the future.

But the person in Mu Yin's memory was nowhere to be seen.

Had she really remembered it wrong?

But she clearly remembered every look Jian Zhao had given her, and every time he had softly comforted her when she was upset and hurting.

Why did no one remember him...

[Visit the author's page for the upcoming book of the same genre, "After Becoming the Demon Consort of a Fallen Kingdom." Please add it to your library ^_^]

Blurb:

The history books record: "Cui Lingzhen was born at the start of spring. As flowers bloomed, she was born with a wondrous fragrance. Word spread that she was a daughter of destiny."

Cui Lingzhen was brought into the palace as a child and raised personally by the Empress Dowager.

Before she even came of age, she was granted the title of Princess Youning, and later betrothed to the crown prince.

On her wedding day, the city gates fell. Not a single member of the Li imperial clan survived.

Cui Lingzhen was also struck by countless arrows atop the city wall. After her death, not a trace of her body remained.

Later, the history books recorded: "Cui Lingzhen was enveloped in an uncanny fragrance, a clear omen of disaster. The dynasty was doomed. The Li clan's century-old foundation was ultimately destroyed by that demon woman."

*

Cui Lingzhen, who had gone to a haunted house to celebrate her eighteenth birthday, never expected to be killed by the haunted house itself!

When she opened her eyes again, she had transmigrated into a book.

She had become an early-dead background character, not even important enough to count as a cannon-fodder female character. The original novel described her in only a few brief lines.

A beauty, a temptress, the demon consort who brought down a kingdom and wiped out its people.

When Cui Lingzhen arrived, the city gates were still a year away from falling, and she had only one year left to live.

To save her own life, she pushed open the door to a side hall and met the man who, a year later, would slaughter his way through the entire imperial palace.

*

When Wei Yunyi was a hostage, he lived in the most dilapidated palace, wore the thinnest clothes, and ate food that had already gone bad.

He had been mired in the mud since birth, but one day someone came walking through the light and illuminated his bleak life.

She was the demon consort. He was willing to become the tyrant at her side.

Message: Life is vast, and beyond the mountains and rivers, there is still a world to explore.