The Emperor and His Consort

The twenty-first year of Xingping, late autumn.

Qiong Mountain remained lush and green, untouched by spring. The emperor, Tangxi Jin, took his children and nephews on an autumn outing, where deep in the forest he came across a flash of white.

The woman seemed like a ghost from the mountains, or snow from the mortal world. Her sleeves looked as if they had been steeped in mountain mist, her figure so hazy it was hard to make out. It seemed she might vanish into the wilderness at any moment.

The emperor brought her back to the palace, bestowed upon her the title of Consort Ye, and gave her the pet name Lingling.

He had always thought the ancient books' tales of women bringing ruin to empires were nothing but jokes. He never imagined he would fall so completely himself.

He rebuilt Changle Palace with extravagance far beyond what protocol allowed. He canceled morning court for three days and personally picked osmanthus blossoms for her throughout the western suburbs. Even when she casually remarked that the palace was dull, he immediately ordered his people to gather all manner of rare treasures, all just to win a smile from her.

The court officials all called the emperor absurd. But when Tangxi Jin looked at her serene features, he felt that even giving her the empire to play with would not be worth as much as the occasional curve of her lips.

Yet he never dared ask, "Is there a place for me in your heart?"

He feared she would lower her eyes and say nothing, and feared even more that she would look up and say, "No."

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. Frost had long since touched Tangxi Jin's temples, but the woman still looked as she had when they first met. There was not a single fine line at the corner of her eyes. Time had left no trace on her.

The emperor lay on his sickbed, his thin hand clutching the hem of her skirt. His voice was faint as a dying breath. "Lingling, would you come with me into the underworld, so we can be together forever?"

The woman only gazed at him in silence. After a long while, she gently shook her head.

Before he closed his eyes, the emperor lay dying on the bed and watched the woman shed tears as a pair of long-fingered hands reached from behind her and gently drew her into an embrace.

The owner of those hands was his crown prince, Tangxi Yan.

In the meticulous records of history, Tangxi Yan was a tyrant who murdered his father, the criminal who sent the Great Xuan dynasty tumbling into its grave.

The historian's brush was a blade, cutting away the truth.

No one knew that the world-shaking infamy was a crime spanning a thousand years, one he shouldered for a single person.

Autumn rain, autumn rain, falling day and night, drop by drop, misting and drizzling.

The new emperor, Tangxi Yan, ascended the throne and changed the era name to Yongning.

With the court in turmoil, Ye Qing vanished like a snowflake within the layered palace walls.

The name "Consort Ye" became a secret of the inner palace, one no one dared mention again.

Until the second year of Yongning.

Rain beat upon the mountain forest, a thousand leaves rustling with a thousand sounds. Hoofbeats crossed the curtain of rain. This was no caravan, nor a woodcutter, but a net that had finally drawn tight, reaching the small town by the mountain that had nearly been forgotten.

Soaked to the skin, the new emperor stood outside the door, gazing at her from afar.

His voice was hoarse, carrying the wind and rain, and entangled with an obsession unchanged for ten years.

"I found you."

In the fifteenth year of Yongning, winter, Luocheng.

The rebel army's banners reddened half the sky.

At their head stood General Shen Xu, clad in cold armor, his features sharp as a blade.

The future Son of Heaven that Tingfeng had spoken of had already taken Luocheng and now stood face-to-face with the last emperor of Great Xuan.

-

Ye Qing once wanted a love that felt like a home invasion.

And then she got it.

...Though perhaps not quite in the way she expected.

No one told her that after she transmigrated, she'd get robbed for free. Though, come to think of it, that was probably normal in ancient times...

She transmigrated, and before she could even figure out where she was, the old emperor inexplicably whisked her away. From then on, she lived a happy life of fine clothes and delicious food, ancient-style.

Wait, did she get the heroine's script?

I've discussed it with my editor. The novel will go premium next Friday, with a 30,000-word update that day!

Thanks so much for your support!

Please read before starting!!!

1. This is a rather inexplicable favorite-consort simulator...

(Forced-love story) (Lots of potential triggers, read with caution) (Doting-wife story) (An outline-free writer who makes it up as she goes)

2. Temporarily one-on-one relationships. Neither the heroine nor the male lead is a virgin. Here, that refers to Tangxi Jin; the other male leads are all virgins who have kept themselves pure for the heroine, so don't worry. The male leads are all stereotypical, patriarchal old men (but with lovesick-brain versions). Some male leads have a significant age gap with the heroine, so read with caution if that bothers you.

3. The heroine is adored by everyone, a moon among the stars. Yes, that famous chart. Everyone will be sorted into its categories, whether they like it or not. The heroine's feelings for the male leads are in a Schrödinger's cat state. The story in the blurb probably won't happen until much later (yes, really). The whole novel will be around two hundred chapters, and the plot moves fairly slowly, with quite a lot of court politics.

4. The heroine's age stays fixed at the age she was when she transmigrated. She is immortal in the universal sense of the word. Other than her hair growing longer, nothing else changes.

5. I forgot to mention this, ahhhhh! The heroine will kill a ruler, so feel free to guess which one.

6. The crown prince, Tangxi Yan, will have a crown princess, but only in name.

Theme: May people always do what they want to do.