Crossing into Spring

Fu Yaoyao was cast out to the countryside by her powerful grandmother and left to fend for herself. At seventeen, her cousin sent someone to bring her back to the capital. On the surface, it was to help the emperor cultivate a reputation for benevolence and generosity. In reality, her cousin used Fu Yaoyao's reputation and body to conceal her own incurable illness, then buried her alive in the wilderness after she had served her purpose. Reborn, Fu Yaoyao waited for her cousin to come fetch her, ready to take her cousin's place in bed with Young General Xie. But as she left, she deliberately left behind a trace of evidence. She humiliated the down-and-out scholar who loved her so deeply, only for him to become the top scholar in the imperial exams. By day, he accused her of throwing the court into chaos. Alone with her in a private room, he pleaded desperately for her to look at him. “You do have feelings for me, don't you?” The heir of the Jiang Minister's household, who made things difficult for her in public, knelt before her with red eyes in the dead of night and asked, “What will it take for you to marry me?” The ruler of a neighboring kingdom pursued her into the Great Sheng Kingdom, pointing his sword at the man on the throne. “Return everything that rightfully belongs to her, or my iron cavalry will crush the Great Sheng Kingdom. The whole world will belong to Fu Yaoyao.” And then there was her imperial uncle, solitary as a pine tree on a cliff. He cornered her against a wall, his voice husky. “Yaoyao, don't pretend to be strong. I know every secret in your heart.” Young General Xie brandished his broadsword, driving away all the women fluttering around Fu Yaoyao. “Which of us are you going to choose?” Fu Yaoyao: “Don't fight. The game has only just begun.”