The Path to Clearing Her Name

Shen Zhiyi was the daughter of a country coroner. She examined corpses and solved cases without a trace of the propriety expected of a proper young lady. But after her mother died under mysterious circumstances, the Marquis's household took her back and made her marry the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Pei Yun, in someone else's place.

On their wedding night, Shen Zhiyi begged her new husband, Pei Yun, to help her clear her mother's name. He only gave a cold laugh. "Why should I help you? The authorities have already closed the case and archived the files. It's over." Shen Zhiyi offered her skills as a coroner in exchange: she would help him examine bodies and solve cases, and he would help her seek justice for her mother.

Pei Yun still remembered how, on their wedding night, he had been forced to marry Shen Zhiyi as a substitute bride. He had thought she would be a puppet he could control at will. Then she volunteered to take on the case of a princess's murder, and her expert forensic skills won his wholehearted respect, causing him to lower his guard before he knew it.

Who would have thought his wife would be so slow on the uptake? They were married, yet because of the rules they had agreed on, he could only love her in secret. He could see her, but not have her... and quietly descended into darkness.

Between them,

She wielded the knife to examine corpses, while he laid out his plans like a game of chess.

With her delicate hands, she uncovered hidden truths amid rotting flesh and bleached bones;

With his three-foot blade, he unraveled the tangled mysteries of court intrigue.

When the princess's death ultimately led to a massacre from eighteen years ago, Shen Zhiyi, the sole survivor, finally realized:

This marriage by substitution, this murder case, this fateful meeting,

had all been part of the inescapable web fate had spun.

"Lord Pei, are you my ally, or my enemy?"

"Shen Zhiyi, go ahead and open my heart to see for yourself."

Shen Zhiyi wanted more than to clear her mother's name and seek justice for her family. She wanted the world to know that a coroner's pen could record the rise and fall of dynasties.

Note:

1. Characters: A rational, clever heroine who is hopeless when it comes to romance, paired with an arrogant, sharp-tongued hero who is deep and calculating, but helpless when it comes to her.

The heroine is an exceptional coroner, but her emotional intelligence is lacking. The usually arrogant and sharp-tongued Minister of the Court of Judicial Review finds his sharp tongue useless. "I'm speaking in reverse. Can't you understand?" (I like you. Can't you understand?)

2. Later in the story, the hero will lose control and turn dark because he can't have what he wants and a romantic rival appears. As Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he will disregard the law and morality, and keep pushing at the heroine's fragile nerves. At last, she realizes that this man likes her!

3. This is a fictional setting, so don't scrutinize the details. Although I based the setting roughly on the Sui and Tang periods, I may not have gotten every little detail right.

Here's a recommendation for my new novel, already underway: The Only Way Home Is You [Entertainment Industry]:

Jiang Chi has a secret.

A well-known screenwriter, she happened to take on a student online. As she spent day after day with her young pupil, she gradually developed feelings for him.

When she confessed to him, he rejected her outright, saying they were "just teacher and student." He wouldn't even tell her his real name. Heartbroken, Jiang Chi eventually blocked him.

Later, she wrote her young pupil into a screenplay. The male lead was fickle and heartless, while the heroine risked everything for love and entered the entertainment industry.

When Zhou Shixu read the script, his hands trembled. He knew the heartless male lead was him. But he could no longer hold back because of who he was.

After years apart, in a pitch-black hotel room,

The lights suddenly went out, and Jiang Chi's heart raced in panic.

The man before her let out a cold laugh. "You've been waiting here from afternoon until night. You still haven't figured it out?"

He bluntly exposed her. "If you dared invite a strange man over, shouldn't you have been prepared for what might happen?"

Jiang Chi trembled all over, yet a shameful glimmer of hope passed through her heart. "Is it Zhou Shixu?"

He took her to register their marriage, and everything fell into place. Jiang Chi felt as though she were dreaming.

Everything in her book had come true.

Zhou Shixu has a dream.

Though everyone considers him a top-tier star, he wants to shed the label of an idol. He wants to write a screenplay he can be proud of, then direct and star in it himself.

He anonymously became a student of the renowned screenwriter Jiang Chi.

But he discovered that, although Jiang Chi worked in the industry, she didn't socialize with anyone in it. She had practically turned herself into an old-fashioned relic.

So Zhou Shixu put on a secret identity and finally got to be himself in front of Jiang Chi.

Premise: Show the power of women, and how even a small profession can make a big difference