I Threw Up on the Day the Tyrant Took a Concubine

(Warning: This is an old-school angst-heavy romance. Please don’t read if that’s not your thing.) Wen Jin served the tyrant Fu Jingheng for seven years. In public, she was the beloved companion who shared the emperor’s bed. Behind her back, people mocked her as a nameless, titleless servant girl, toyed with by the imperial carriage. Years spent at his bedside never earned her a place in his harem. Instead, he told her, “I’m taking a concubine. You’ll kneel to welcome her tomorrow.” When the new concubine stepped out of her sedan chair, she called Wen Jin a “sultry little fox” and cooed, “I want His Majesty to carry me inside.” Her affected airs made Wen Jin retch on the spot. “Urgh...” Everyone thought she had lost her mind and disgraced herself before the emperor. Wen Jin only stroked her belly. You dog of a man, just wait until you regret this. She packed her things and left with the baby, setting off on a path to rise to the top on her own. She took her mother’s murderer’s life with her own hands, raised her younger sisters and brothers, went into business and became a wealthy merchant. Countless talented young men competed for the chance to become her child’s stepfather. Fu Jingheng stared at her eight-month baby bump and demanded, “Didn’t you say you’d marry no one but me? How did you end up carrying someone else’s child?” She replied calmly, “I got tired of playing with you, you dog of an emperor.” He dismissed his three thousand beauties, knelt before her, and his eyes reddened. “No more games. I’m serious. Marry me and become my empress...” She smiled faintly. “Want to be a stepfather? Get in line...” Fu Jingheng looked around at everyone. “Make way. I’m cutting in line.”