The Concubine Who Shook the Realm

On her wedding day, instead of a groom, she receives a letter of divorce. Feng Hongluan, the most beautiful woman in Dongli, becomes the first woman in the kingdom’s history to be cast aside before she is even married. A laughingstock throughout the kingdom, she jumps into a lotus pond rather than endure any more humiliation. When she opens her eyes again, her former timid self is gone. Her gaze is cold and brilliant, and she is no longer the same woman. At a wedding banquet, instead of a groom, a carefully planned assassination awaits. Bai Qianqian, a pampered genius of the twenty-first century, makes one fatal misstep and dies at the hands of her new husband. When she opens her eyes again, her soul has entered the body of Feng Hongluan, Dongli’s most beautiful woman and its most useless fool, a woman with nothing but her looks. And the body’s owner is a concubine-born daughter whose father doesn’t love her, whose mother died young, and who has suffered at the hands of her stepmother and stepsisters. So what if she’s a concubine’s daughter? Does that make her less human? Does that mean anyone can trample all over her? How could anyone abandon such a beautiful woman as if she were worthless, or cruelly destroy a flower in bloom? Was that man blind? And as if being blind weren’t enough, he divorces her and immediately plans to marry her younger sister? Damn it! Bai Qianqian swears that she’ll settle the scores from both her past and present lives, and make sure that bastard won’t even know what killed him. A concubine’s daughter? It wasn’t supposed to be that way. She was originally the legitimate daughter, but her father demoted her mother from wife to concubine, turning her from a legitimate daughter into a concubine’s child. The most beautiful woman in Dongli was never a useless fool. She was a woman of learning and inner grace. Being useless was only a facade. As each veil is lifted, her dazzling talent is revealed, and her fame fills the capital. Then the world turns upside down: a fish-eye becomes a pearl, and all those who once looked down on her are left dumbfounded. [A Sneak Peek] “By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Feng Hongluan is gentle and dignified, learned and reasonable. Prince Li is refined and gracious, humble and courteous. They are a match made in heaven. We hereby grant Feng Hongluan in marriage to Prince Li as his principal consort. Prince Li may never divorce her. So decreed!” Holding the imperial decree, Feng Hongluan stands at the entrance to Prince Li’s residence. Looking down at the handsome man in embroidered robes and a jade belt kneeling on the ground, she reads the decree without expression. When she finishes, she says, “Prince Li, accept the decree!” “Your servant accepts the decree!” The handsome man glares at Feng Hongluan, his face dark with anger, and takes the decree. “Thank you for your gracious favor!” “Don’t thank His Majesty just yet, Prince. The Emperor has another decree!” Feng Hongluan looks at the handsome man’s furious face with an amused smile, then slowly produces a second decree and reads it in the same expressionless voice. “By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Feng Hongluan has rendered meritorious service in saving Us, to Our great delight. We hereby confer upon her the title of Imperial Sister. As she dislikes Prince Li and has another beloved, We cannot bear to separate the two and hereby permit her to divorce her husband and choose another match. So decreed!” After both decrees are read, the man glares at the woman, his face dark with fury. She smiles brightly at him. “Congratulations, Prince. The feeling is mutual!” This is a one-couple romance.