The Noble Consort

The year Yan Xingchuan’s rebellion succeeded, he made his cousin empress. Before she died of illness, he even promised never to make another woman empress in this lifetime. Cui Si was his first wife. She had weathered countless storms at his side and believed their bond was deep and true. She never expected that, once he rose to power, he would demote her from wife to concubine. Reborn in her youth, she listened as her clan elder sister, who seemed to have been reborn as well, knelt in the courtyard and spoke of her love for Yan Xingchuan, King of Northern Yan. Cui Si found it amusing. That ungrateful wretch? Whoever wants to marry him can have him. …Before Yan Xingchuan set out on his final campaign, he told his wife to wait for him to return. Once he came home victorious, he would cast off everything and retire with her to the mountains and forests. But after he left, he never came back. When his spirit drifted back to the imperial palace, he saw his fine son presenting handsome men to his mother. Yan Xingchuan was so furious he nearly burst with rage, but to his surprise, the anger brought him back to life. He had returned to his youth, on his way to Xianyang to marry a woman of the Cui clan. As the long road stretched before him, he thought: That fickle young lady? Whoever wants to marry her can have her., Later, when she tried to marry someone else, he rode a thousand li through the night and stole her away at the wedding.