Carving Jade

After her mother died young, her father proved useless, and her stepmother kept her eyes peeled for a chance to strike. Zhao Linghui had no choice but to pretend to be a weak-willed fool. As if things weren’t bad enough, just when she was caught between a rock and a hard place, she accidentally provoked an evil ghost. But… the ghost wanted neither power, wealth, nor beauty. All he demanded was that Zhao Linghui climb higher. “For the next imperial examination, I want you to place among the top three and take up an official post in the inner court.” Zhao Linghui, who had played the fool for nearly ten years: The imperial exam? Who? Me? Qing Yan died an unnatural death, then opened his eyes to find himself an evil ghost. Consumed by resentment day after day, he never expected to see his beloved again, smiling as brightly as ever. He and his beloved had once shared a love that went both ways. Back then, beneath the warm bed curtains, they had vowed to be a pair of mandarin ducks, envying no immortal. And yet, when he fell from power, she had still turned her blade against him from afar, all for the sake of her long road to glory. He had to get revenge, he thought. Perhaps he could make her become a ghost alongside him, and the two of them could be a pair of wicked spirits. But when Qing Yan followed his beloved home, he finally realized just how much the world had changed.