Brother, I Want to Be Empress

[Please leave a five-star review or a long review!] Jun Wu Yan was the youngest legitimate prince, raised with a silver spoon from birth. He lived the most carefree and uninhibited life imaginable. Looking back on his life, he realized he had everything, except a partner. After looking high and low without finding anyone who caught his eye, he thought he’d grow old alone. Then he suddenly realized that his tall, elegant older brother, who was waiting for him, was just the right choice! But before anything could come of it, it seemed his brother had grown to hate him. His brother, who had indulged him in everything since childhood, demoted him to Jiangnan and then sent him to the frontier. No explanation, and no permission to return to the capital. Just as he was losing hope and thinking his love was unrequited, an imperial decree suddenly arrived at the frontier. He looked closely and saw that it was a decree naming him heir to the throne. What on earth did his brother mean?! Unable to sit still any longer, he led the troops back to the capital at full speed. - A lovely story has long circulated among the people: the self-disciplined and proper sovereign always grants his younger brother’s every wish, a bond between brothers so deep that none before or since could compare. But only Jun Wu Jue himself knew that when, at the coming-of-age ceremony, that soft little bundle had passed over gold and silver treasures to come to him, everything he had done was a betrayal of the dying wish entrusted to him, a corruption of that pure dependence and trust. The laws of society and morality made every choice a plunge into the abyss. Yet even if he were cursed for all eternity and met a horrible end, he would never regret it or change his mind. So when he waited in the dark, shadowy hall deep within the palace, and the person in red swept in before him with a fierce air, he smiled faintly and reached out to catch the one destined for him, whose fate he had bound with a golden bell lock he had crafted with his own hands that very year. He had never used his imperial schemes in court. He had saved them all for the one heavenly gift standing before him. [Obsessive little-brother-con emperor gong × proud, softhearted beauty shou] No blood relation, age gap The blurb doesn’t start with either of them knowing they have feelings. The shou’s feelings don’t change before he learns the truth about his birth. Silly fake court intrigue. I just love a good melodramatic plot, so don’t overthink it. Next book: childhood friends in a low-key romance, Rekindling an Old Flame with the Dragon-Blooded Protagonist Who Was Jilted The foremost cultivation family in the cultivation world has spent generations hoping that one of their clan will become the greatest cultivator in the world. Their heir, Jing Mian, is the strongest candidate, but his Primordial Body is flawed. From then on, he becomes a short-lived cripple who can’t cultivate. Until one day, he wakes from his deep sleep with something called a System in his ear, and learns that he’s in a power fantasy novel about a dragon-blooded protagonist’s rise to greatness. The protagonist overcomes his tribulation, breaks through his delusions, comprehends the Dao, and severs his emotions before attaining supreme status. As for Jing Mian, he’s just a cannon-fodder character who becomes crippled because of the protagonist and dies before the ending, not even reaching fifty. Jing Mian sits by the cold spring and listens to all this, then asks, “Who’s the protagonist?” The System answers without hesitation, “Why, it’s Ying Xu, of course. Both his parents are dead, he’s suffered all kinds of injustice, but through his own hard work he’ll become the greatest cultivator in the world!” Jing Mian: “?” Talk about running into an enemy everywhere. My fiancé. - Jing Mian hurriedly says goodbye to his family and sets off alone to find Ying Xu. In the original story, the protagonist had a benefactor he admired who had saved his life. The System thinks Jing Mian intends to take that role to get revenge, and keeps urging him not to get in the protagonist’s way and to turn back before it’s too late. Jing Mian ignores it. Sitting on a tree branch, he looks down at the youth being ground into the mud and asks, “Want to come with me?” The boy’s muddy hand, wiping against his clothes, clearly hesitates, but his eyes are stubbornly fixed on Jing Mian, as if trying to memorize him. Before the boy can answer, Jing Mian closes his eyes and leaps down. Just as he expected, someone catches him. The boy holds him, his hands and voice trembling. “...All right.” Many years later, just as the book foretold, Ying Xu comprehends the Dao on an immortal mountain and perfects the Path of Ruthlessness. After the tribulation clouds disperse, Ying Xu rests his forehead against Jing Mian’s. Jing Mian looks up and sees the joy of surviving calamity in his eyes. Suddenly, he grabs Ying Xu’s sword and presses it to his own heart. The System shouts to stop him: “Aaaah, what are you doing? Now that the death tribulation is over, you can both live!” Jing Mian says coolly, “I was the one who broke off the engagement. We’re enemies. Besides, if I kill the number one cultivator, doesn’t that make me number one?” The System: “...” So that was his plan! - By the cold spring on Maple Mountain, Jing Mian reclines on a couch, watching the snowflakes drift down. The System asks, “Weren’t you going to become the greatest prodigy?” Someone approaches from behind, wraps an arm around his waist, and tips up his chin. The stern, cold immortal lord presses down with a kiss, restrained yet warm. Jing Mian tilts his head back and accepts it, answering calmly, “That’s right, the number one beauty in the three realms.” Theme: Who can say the phoenix and the phoenix are not one? Who can claim that the paulownia tree and its blossoms do not live together?