The Third Year After the Bride Swap

[Uncle and Nephew Competing for Love] [Groveling to Win Back His Wife] [Second Male Lead Takes the Crown]

[The blurb for my next book, Regret Too Late, is at the very end. Please add it to your collection!]

Chen Xuzhi was never close to his mother, and his father kept his distance. Even after his biological elder brother ascended the throne, they hardly saw each other.

He disciplined himself, followed the rites, and held himself to strict standards.

Everyone knew he was devoted to Buddha. Eighty-one dark rosewood prayer beads hung from his wrist all year round. His brows were as wintry as snow, and he was reserved and self-possessed, seemingly devoid of human warmth.

But that was not the whole truth.

Alongside the Sacred Heart and the Buddha's image, there was a woman in his heart. Unfortunately, she loved his imperial nephew with all her heart, and never saw anyone else.

He prayed for her, day and night.

/

Wen Changqing was the orphaned daughter of a cavalry general. When she was twelve, her parents died defending Yannan Pass, and her entire family was slaughtered. She alone survived. The emperor took her into the palace and named her Princess Dunyun. She grew up alongside the gentle and refined Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince treated her with warmth and care, so she never imagined that the prince she loved as an elder brother had already fallen for someone else, and even detested her spoiled ways.

On the day their engagement was to be discussed, the Crown Prince risked being charged with disobedience and broke off the childhood engagement they had shared for decades, turning her into the laughingstock of the capital.

Everyone mocked her as a mere orphan who abused her father's military achievements to run wild and act spoiled, and even tried to come between the Crown Prince and the moon in his heart.

The palace servants despised her, and the friends who had once fawned over her all abandoned her. She became the capital's most notorious villain, left to await her humiliating expulsion from the city.

Everyone thought the story would end with the spoiled Princess Dunyun utterly defeated. But then Chen Xuzhi, the royal Buddha who never concerned himself with worldly affairs and seemed to have no human emotions, stepped in.

In the snowy night, the man crossed the snow-covered road and brought the late emperor's edict to the palace, where he had a long conversation with the emperor.

The next day, an imperial decree announcing a marriage spread across the capital:

Princess Dunyun was to marry Prince Yong, Chen Xuzhi.

/

The gentle, refined, and supremely arrogant Crown Prince could not understand why his uncle, who never concerned himself with worldly affairs, had agreed to marry the spoiled Wen Changqing.

He married the gentle woman he loved, and at last the weight on his heart was lifted.

But three years later, he saw Wen Changqing and Chen Xuzhi again.

Worn out from the journey, Wen Changqing felt dizzy from the jolting carriage. She had been cool and formal, keeping a proper distance from him moments earlier, but in front of Chen Xuzhi she kicked off her shoes and pouted, complaining that he had not laid down a cotton cushion for her.

The palace servants despised her spoiled behavior. Even after the Crown Prince rejected her, she still had not learned her lesson.

Everyone assumed Chen Xuzhi would be fed up with her too.

But the Buddha of the mortal world remained calm. He bent down and, with the hand wrapped in prayer beads, affectionately put her embroidered shoes back on, indulging her.

"It was my fault. Don't catch a chill." Then he coaxed her, "The southeastern kingdoms had poor harvests this year and couldn't pay their full tribute. I'll prepare more for you next year."

The Crown Prince watched in silence, his heart constricting.

For some inexplicable reason, he felt jealous.

Jealous that someone else, not him, was now the one bearing Wen Changqing's temper.

-

At eighteen, Chen Xuzhi was confined to a dark room. With the Heart Sutra and Buddhas for company, he wrote down a hundred thousand words of secret longing, unable to hide from it.

"Buddhas and gods bear witness: I love my nephew's wife, a crime deserving a thousand deaths. But I love Wen Changqing, and I have no regrets even if I die a hundred times. I will descend into Avici Hell."

| Past and present lives, not reborn

Here's a little preview of Regret Too Late, my next book ✍🏻

By the fifth year since she was sent to the Fu estate, everyone in the capital knew that the Fu family had gained a young lady, while the palace had lost a disgraced princess.

When Xue Rongzhao first arrived at the Fu estate, she knew she had simply traded one place where she depended on others for another. Still, it couldn't be worse than growing up in the palace. Her ill-fated identity as a princess had unexpectedly become the only thing she could rely on in her turbulent life...

But she never expected that the young master of the Fu family, who was around her age, would spoil her rotten. He spoiled her so thoroughly that everyone assumed they would marry.

They went everywhere together and were never apart, until the fifth year... The palace's true darling, the young master of the Fu family's childhood sweetheart, came to the Fu estate and fell into the water.

When she woke, she cried out hoarsely, "Sister Rongzhao, I know the people in the palace treated you badly, but I brought you clothes in winter and ice in summer. Why did you push me into the water? I made it clear from the start that there was nothing between me and Young Master Fu!"

A flood of false accusations crashed down on Xue Rongzhao.

But who would believe her? How could a princess of the imperial family slander a nobody from who-knows-where?

Xue Rongzhao looked helplessly toward Fu Xunjia, who had always doted on her, only to meet a chilling stare.

He didn't believe her either.

Xue Rongzhao was devastated. The cotton clothes she had given the other girl had been stuffed with reed fluff, and the embroidery workshop had used the princess's gift as an excuse to cut her own allowance. She had gone year after year without winter clothes.

And what she had given her wasn't ice, but burning charcoal, which she had ordered the palace servants to watch her burn every day.

And she had not... She had not pushed the princess into the water, and she had not acted out of jealous hatred.

But no one believed Xue Rongzhao.

Fu Xunjia said with disappointment, "I thought you were innocent and kind, but I never imagined you could be so vile!"

One accusation from the princess and one from Fu Xunjia sealed Xue Rongzhao's wickedness as fact. Overnight, everyone turned against her. Those who had once fawned over her because she was the Fu family's future mistress spat her into the mud.

Still, because the emperor had entrusted her to them, the Fu family could not simply abandon her. They sent her by carriage to Yingchuan, where she was married to Fu Chengxue, a member of a branch family that had moved to the capital years ago. He was still studying for the imperial exams.

Their days were as placid as still water.

In the third year of their marriage, Fu Chengxue went to the capital to take the metropolitan examination, and Xue Rongzhao accompanied him.

The emperor summoned Fu Chengxue and the others to the palace to confer their titles.

Outside the examination hall, Xue Rongzhao saw Fu Xunjia again. He had already inherited his title and become a high-ranking official, above countless others.

Xue Rongzhao did not look at him. Instead, she clasped Fu Chengxue's hand with concern and fussed over him: "Are you all right? Are you nervous? You'll definitely come first."

Fu Chengxue smiled. "Your Highness is a princess of the imperial house. I, your humble servant, will ensure that all your wishes come true."

Xue Rongzhao's ears turned pink. He held her hand, and though they had been married for years, she still wasn't used to being addressed so respectfully as Your Highness.

The proud Young Master Fu watched Fu Chengxue and Xue Rongzhao holding hands in trust, his gaze growing darker.

Xue Rongzhao was clearly living in harmony with the husband she had carefully chosen. Fu Xunjia should have been happy for her, but he watched in silence as jealousy slowly burned inside him.

He couldn't accept that the girl who had once been the apple of his eye was now cherished by someone else.

At that moment, Young Master Fu regretted everything.

Theme: Part the clouds and uncover a treasure.