The Ugly Princess Consort's Reign of Favor

I recommend my earlier completed novel, "Half a Lifetime of Splendor." It's enormous, so there's plenty to enjoy, with a million words!

In the thirtieth year of Jin Zhao of the Great Liang, war broke out with the Northern Regions. General Song Qing died on the battlefield. Before his death, he left a final wish, and the emperor of Great Liang honored it by marrying Song Qing's plain-looking young daughter and taking her into the palace as a consort, promising to protect her for the rest of her life.

On their wedding night, the emperor was horrified by the ugly woman and swept out of the room. From then on, the consorts in the harem bullied and humiliated her, while people across the realm mocked and ridiculed her.

Later accounts recorded that the emperor once doted on the Ugly Consort for three years, dismissing the entire imperial harem for her and executing a hundred officials, an affair that shocked the realm. But unofficial histories claimed that the Ugly Consort had always been a peerless beauty, that the emperor's favor was nothing but a passing cloud, that he dismissed the harem as part of a scheme and executed the officials as a means of consolidating his power.

The Ugly Consort said: "I came here to offer salvation, but I never expected I had already fallen into hell."

The Tyrant said: "I have always remembered that day, with flowers all around her as she held a round fan. Her every glance and gesture brimmed with grace. One frown, one smile, and I was lost."