Ranking

I stayed beside Xie Chen from the days when he had nothing until he became a wealthy man, only to discover his affair seven days before our wedding.

He expected me to forgive him, protect his company, and leave our marriage with nothing, but I had built his success with my own hands and knew exactly how to take my life back.

While his first love fought to become Mrs. Xie, I divorced him, sold my shares at a premium, and founded a company of my own.

By the time their so-called true love collapsed under greed, debt, and betrayal, I had already learned that the best time to call off a bad marriage is the moment you see it clearly.

After wandering the mortal world for more than six hundred years, I hear that a once-in-a-century sword prodigy has appeared.

The young man has also found a dragon that sounds remarkably like the one I lost long ago.

Cultivators from across the realm flock to the mountain, some to seek the dragon and the Dao, others to kill and seize treasure.

I am different.

After a long, dusty journey to the Sword Sect, all I want is to set up a little stall at the foot of the mountain and sell wontons.

Mother always said that if a woman wanted to stay radiant, she had to know how to nourish herself.

Ginseng and deer antler were useless.

What truly nourished a woman was a young, vigorous man.

Following that regimen, she still looked sixteen well into her forties.

Having grown up under her influence, I understood the secret by the time I turned eighteen.

Scholars were lean, generals solid, actors charming.

I had sampled them all.

The one I found most intoxicating was Shen Zhaoye.

I lavished mountains of gold and silver on him, yet never so much as put an arm around his waist.

Then he came to take his leave, claiming he had found a more powerful patron.

Furious, I followed him by lantern light into Springwater Lane.

When I kicked open the door, he was kneeling beside a couch, offering tea to someone.

The beauty reclining there lifted her eyes lazily.

My lantern went out, and my soul nearly fled with the flame.

“Mother?! You’re sleeping with my man?”

Lady Wang and I went into labor on the same day.

She bore a son, while I bore a daughter.

When I awoke, lines of floating comments suddenly appeared in the air.

[The supporting woman is going to die of rage when she finds out the emperor switched her son for some stray girl.]

[With a family like hers, do you think the emperor would ever have risked letting her get pregnant if it weren’t for our precious Lulu?]

[The emperor is willing to corrupt the imperial bloodline for Lulu. The god of pure love has fallen!]

The next moment, Pei Yangxi carried the baby girl to my bedside.

“Ah Ci, look how adorable our child is.”

When the hundredth prodigy of Sword One Sect abandons the Way of Heartlessness for love, its exasperated master orders the entire sect to embrace the Carefree Way instead.

Fourth disciple Ying Ruge expects a delightfully chaotic new life filled with matchmaking schemes, sect rivalries, and the silent devotion of her second senior brother, Meng Yu.

But when Demon-Suppressing Mountain breaks open, their carefree creed is tested by a battle that forces every disciple to decide what freedom, duty, and love are worth.

Nan Tao, an enslaved maid in a wealthy household, discovers that the baby-shaped ginseng fruit her mistress orders buried is alive.

As the fruit reveals the truth behind the household’s miracle heir, Nan Tao uncovers a cycle of trafficking, forced pregnancy, and women transformed into trees harvested for profit.

With a holy monk and his three disciples, she must uproot the dead tree that holds her soul—even though destroying it will erase her forever.

A dark feminist reimagining of a mythic delicacy, Ginseng Fruit turns supernatural horror into a haunting story of inherited violence, motherhood, and liberation.

After I accidentally fell into the water at six, I became the silliest girl in all Jiangnan.

And yet, I was also the luckiest, for I had a husband who was wonderful in every way.

From what I wore to what I ate, he personally took care of everything for me.

Then one day, I wanted a second bowl of iced cream at dinner.

When he refused, my cousin, who had never liked my husband, questioned me.

“A-Fu, don’t you think your husband bosses you around too much?”

My husband answered coldly on my behalf.

“She doesn’t.”

My cousin tried again.

“Your cousin never bosses you around like that, so doesn’t that mean I’m still the better one?”

My husband frowned, then calmly wiped the corner of my mouth.

“Good A-Fu, did you hear that?”

“Your cousin is trying to drive a wedge between us.”

“He’s absolutely rotten.”

My family had three daughters, each lovelier than the last.

When we came of marriageable age, suitors nearly wore our threshold smooth.

Even the Emperor decided to interfere.

He insisted that one of us marry the great general, Xie Yuan.

Father and Mother could do nothing but sigh.

My two elder sisters exchanged uneasy looks, so I rose with righteous resolve.

“What’s there to worry about? Marrying a general would be glorious, and I might even get to ride a great stallion!”

“If neither of you will marry him, I will.”

Later, Xie Yuan pinned me in his arms and coaxed me again and again:

“Are you shirking again, Mianmian? Why won’t you ride your great stallion tonight?”

Noble Consort Qin was a peerless beauty, alluring enough to make the emperor cast aside his first wife and depose his legitimate son.

With tender eyes, Noble Consort Qin murmured, “His Majesty and I were joined as husband and wife in our youth. We are as devoted as a pair of mandarin ducks…”

Emperor Gaozu, inveterate male chauvinist: “Lady Qin is a mere concubine. How could she possibly have been joined to Us in our youth?”

“Throw this insolent wretch into the cold palace at once-and bring Us five hundred jin of memorials!”

◆ Male-chauvinist emperors with a single-minded devotion to a rich nation and a powerful army ◆

◆ We have no need of love. We want GDP! ◆

Notes:

1. This is a male-lead story in a fictional setting, and an unconventional quick-transmigration novel told through feudal monarchs who enter romance stories.

2. The emperors are written as typical rulers of feudal eras. They care only about raising GDP and have no time for romance. And yes, they truly are male chauvinists. Emphasis very much intended.

3. This is a wish-fulfillment story hostile to the pampered-concubine trope, with face-slapping and scum getting what they deserve. The emperors’ values do not represent the author’s. Please do not derail the discussion.

4. The direction and pace of the plot are entirely the author’s decision, and the author reserves the final right of interpretation.

1. The Emperors Reunite in the Underworld

In the seventeenth year of Huangtong in Great Zhou, the sovereign passed away.

A man in the Son of Heaven’s informal robes lay on the couch, already breathless. The fierce eyes that had once overawed all quarters were shut; never again would they look upon the realm he had conquered with his own hands.

Several senior ministers and imperial princes stood solemnly to either side. Beyond a curtain, the palace consorts knelt in an adjoining room, their muffled sobs drifting out. Outside the hall, palace attendants and eunuchs covered the ground in a dark mass, all wailing aloud.

The Crown Prince, Li Derun, stood to one side, his face bloodless. Attendants stepped forward to dress him in the Son of Heaven’s ceremonial crown and court robes, while other eunuchs presented the Six Imperial Seals.

His voice choked with grief, the Minister of the Imperial Clan came forward and implored, “The Late Emperor has passed. Your Majesty must proceed to Chongzheng Hall and ascend the throne at once, that your title and station may be set in order!”

The Crown Prince gave an almost imperceptible nod, his expression stricken. He turned and kowtowed three times to the Late Emperor upon the couch. When the rites were complete, he rose with grave composure and departed for Chongzheng Hall.

The Son of Heaven possessed all within the four seas, but the heights were bitterly lonely. His Imperial Mother had died three years ago; now that his Imperial Father was gone as well, he was truly alone in the world.

In the pale light before dawn, tears rolled from his eyes and struck the floor without a sound.

The Late Emperor was dead, but his spirit remained. Standing beside the bed, he watched his eldest son leave with reluctant eyes and called after him in anguish: “Construction has already begun on the imperial road from Jianzhou to Quanzhou. You must never let My death halt it. There are many old ministers at court, and redundant offices have begun to multiply. Be patient and deal with them gradually-do not take too large a step at once. Since I fell ill, the Northern Rong have repeatedly stirred. Once news of My death spreads, they will certainly make a move. You must guard against both arrogance and impatience…”

The Underworld’s envoys drove a soul-bearing carriage out of the void, its wheels rumbling. The hour of parting had come.

After one final look at his son’s resolute, upright back, the Late Emperor burst into tears. “Run’er, you and your brothers-take good care of yourselves!”

…

The Late Emperor’s surname was Li, and his personal name was Yuanda. He died on the sixteenth day of the fifth month in a gengzi year, at the age of forty-nine.

His achievements had been illustrious. He ushered in the golden age of Huangtong, brought prosperity to the people, and inaugurated four centuries of Zhou rule.

According to the laws of posthumous naming, one who ordered Heaven and Earth was Wen; one broad in virtue and learning was Wen; one diligent in study and eager to inquire was Wen; and one benevolent and loving toward the people was Wen. His posthumous name was therefore fixed as Wen, and his temple name as Gaozu. Thus was he known as Emperor Wen, Gaozu.

…

In the mortal world, Emperor Gaozu had been an enlightened Son of Heaven, protected by the Heavenly Dao. In death, he was no ordinary ghost. A party of underworld bailiffs respectfully escorted him to the Underworld, where his name and particulars were recorded before Yama. Then, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in life, the Ten Kings of Hell weighed his merits and faults and released him from the cycle of mortal existence, leaving his spirit imperishable.

He had been a heroic emperor among men. After crossing the threshold between life and death, Emperor Gaozu was dazed for only a few days before quickly recovering his equilibrium. He had a ghost servant lead the way and set off to tour the Underworld with considerable interest.

He passed the ghost-haunted Wangxiang Terrace, admired fields of red spider lilies stretching for ten thousand li, and paid his respects to the solemn, majestic Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. After a lifetime spent looking upon the mortal realm’s mountains and rivers, he found roaming the far reaches of the Underworld rather diverting too.

Human emperors from every temporal dimension came to the Underworld after death, where the Ten Kings of Hell judged their merits and faults. Those whose accomplishments were brilliant enough to be handed down through the ages could become ghostly divinities and dwell in the Underworld forever, deathless and undying. Emperor Gaozu was assigned to this district as well.

On his second day after settling into his new home, someone sent over a visiting card. Emperor Gaozu unfolded it, took one look, and laughed. “Why, he even shares My surname…”

His eyes quickly swept over the card. He asked the ghost servant standing below, “What sort of Son of Heaven was this man surnamed Li and personally named Shimin? I have never heard of him. Do you know?”

The ghost servant replied with utmost deference, “This sovereign ruled Great Tang. He ushered in the golden age of Zhenguan and was considered an exceptionally enlightened ruler even within his own temporal dimension. His posthumous name was Wen and his temple name Taizong. He arrived before Your Majesty and owns the residence to the west.” He then gave a detailed account of the life, deeds, and failings of Emperor Wen, Taizong.

“Oh?” Emperor Gaozu listened with fascination, then clapped his hands and laughed. “He shares My surname and even bears the same posthumous name. I should very much like to meet a man with whom I share so curious a destiny.”

The visiting card proposed the following day, but Emperor Gaozu could not wait. He ordered a ghost servant to fetch some fine burial wine from his treasury, then carried it personally to call upon the residence to the west.

When Li Shimin heard from his ghost servant that an emperor surnamed Li had just moved in next door, he too found the coincidence extraordinarily pleasing and sent over a visiting card. To his surprise, his new neighbor came to call that very day.

He went out to welcome him in person and found a visitor who appeared about thirty, tall and broad, strikingly distinguished, with an unmistakable air of power about him. Li Shimin immediately thought well of the man. They exchanged a few laughing pleasantries and soon felt a strong mutual admiration. Li Shimin ordered his ghost servants to lay out a feast with wine, declaring that they must drink until they were thoroughly drunk.

Emperor Gaozu was bold and forthright by nature, while Li Shimin was no petty man himself. When their conversation reached its liveliest point, each fetched a weapon and went to the training ground for a contest. After a hundred exchanges, neither could gain the advantage. They threw back their heads and laughed, then returned to the banquet to drink together.

After more than an hour of passing cups back and forth, they inevitably began to talk about their experiences as emperors in the mortal world. From affairs of state, the conversation turned to their wives and children.
Emperor Gaozu heaved a long sigh, tears in his eyes. “My wife, Lady Xu, was gentle, virtuous, and wise. She stood at My side from our youth-truly, a companion bestowed by Heaven. When My temper rose, none of the ministers dared remonstrate with Me; she alone had the courage to speak plainly. How hateful that Heaven granted her so few years and took her before Me. Do not laugh at Me, Shimin, but had our children not remained, I would have wished to follow her in death…”

At this point, the two men discovered that they were fellow sufferers. Their shared sorrow cut even deeper.

Wiping away his tears, Emperor Gaozu said, “Not long after Empress Xu died, My youngest daughter fell ill and passed away too. She was our littlest child-only six years old. I had not even had time to choose a Prince Consort for her or grant her the richest fief before she followed her mother. An old man burying his own young…” The tears he had only just managed to stop began streaming down his face once more.

Li Shimin broke into wrenching sobs. “My Sizi! I gave my daughter that childhood name in the hope that she would be strong and free from illness, but instead… She was only twelve when she left me!”

The two mortal emperors wept face-to-face, and everyone within earshot shed sorrowful tears with them.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked in from outside with his hands clasped behind his back. At the sight, he sneered. “You are grown men. Why put on the airs of weeping children? All this sniveling is enough to make you a laughingstock! I heard that a certain Li Yuanda had just arrived-a man born among commoners who climbed all the way to the imperial throne. I thought at last there might be someone worth talking to. Yet the moment I step through the door, I find you two wailing in each other’s arms. Shameful!”

Emperor Gaozu took no offense. Nor did he wipe his tears. “The human heart is made of flesh. Are emperors somehow different from ordinary men? Shimin and I were recalling our virtuous wives, both lost too young, and the little daughters we each suffered to bury. Our sorrow brought us to tears. I fear we have made ourselves ridiculous before you.”

Zhu Yuanzhang thought of Empress Ma, who had also died too soon, and of his beloved son Zhu Biao. The mockery vanished from his face, leaving it bleak. He pulled over a chair, sat down, and muttered, “Pour me a cup too.”

Emperor Gaozu poured the wine for him personally, then asked, “And how should I address this gentleman?”

“His surname is Zhu, his given name Yuanzhang, and his courtesy name Guorui,” Li Shimin said by way of brief introduction. “He began with nothing but a begging bowl and ended up Son of Heaven. Quite a remarkable man.”

Emperor Gaozu smiled. “So it is Brother Zhu. I have been remiss.”

“What good is being emperor?” Zhu Yuanzhang lamented. Tears spilled from his eyes. “I could not even keep my old wife and son alive. And after my death, my sons and grandsons… Ah, forget it!”

Each of the three was lost in his own grief. No one spoke. A night wind shrieked past, carrying a burst of bloodcurdling screams to their ears, along with what seemed to be the iron tang of blood.

Emperor Gaozu’s expression changed slightly. He instinctively looked toward the source of the cries and the bloody scent, but Li Shimin clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Pay it no mind. It is nothing serious. Ying Zheng is merely beating his son at home.”

Emperor Gaozu stared at him in confusion. “What sort of Son of Heaven was Ying Zheng? If his son was permitted to come here, he too must have been an enlightened sovereign. Why beat him?”

“There is more to it than you know.” Zhu Yuanzhang topped up his cup, taking blatant pleasure in another man’s misfortune. “Ying Zheng was the first emperor in the worlds Shimin and I came from. Men called him the Ancestral Dragon. His achievements were magnificent, and he truly was an emperor for the ages. The son who lives with him is no ordinary son, either. The wretch neglected the government, slaughtered every one of his brothers and sisters, and drove an enormous empire to ruin. Even the Ten Kings of Hell could not stand it. They made a special exception and allowed him here to atone for his crimes and soothe the First Emperor’s rage.”

Understanding dawned on Emperor Gaozu. “I see.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a tall, brooding figure appeared in the doorway. One hand resting on his sword, Ying Zheng sneered, “And how are you any better? Your grandson killed your son; your son killed your grandson. The pot mocks the kettle!”

The taunt struck Zhu Yuanzhang where it hurt most. His expression changed abruptly, and he lurched to his feet to argue the matter through. Emperor Gaozu and Li Shimin each grabbed one side of him and forced him back down. “Drink, drink! Calm yourself!”

Ying Zheng gave a contemptuous snort. His tigerish gaze swept over the three faces at the table, and suspicion flickered across his own. At last, he looked at the only stranger, Emperor Gaozu. “So you are the newly arrived Li Yuanda? Have all three of you been crying?”

“That is correct. Greetings, Shi Huang.” Emperor Gaozu offered him the courtesy due an equal, neither servile nor overbearing. “The three of us thought of wives and children who died before their time. Grief overcame us, and so we wept.”

“You will find no sympathy from him,” Li Shimin said with a low laugh. “He never appointed an empress and was never especially close to any of his children. All he wanted was to unite the six states and live forever. He had no attention to spare for such things.”

Emperor Gaozu was astonished. “Oh?”

Ying Zheng lifted his head, proud and imperious. “We possess all beneath Heaven and strike awe throughout the eight wilds. Our achievements surpass the Three Sovereigns; Our virtue exceeds the Five Emperors. What woman in this world could stand shoulder to shoulder with Us? For all of you to be so ensnared by the affections of wives and children-what womanish behavior!”

Liu Che approached at a jaunty pace and jeered, “It was precisely because you were so harsh and cutting that your son feared you. One forged edict ordered him to take his own life, and he despaired and obeyed.”

Ying Zheng retorted without hesitation, “A man who drove both his wife and Crown Prince to their deaths has no right to say such a thing to Us!”

I was a spoiled princess with an elder sister who came from another world.

With her indulgence, I escaped marriage and raised horses on my border fief while she remained at court and shouldered every responsibility.

Then one day, she vanished.

Everyone thought her era was over.

They did not expect the princess they called useless to ride back to the capital overnight and reveal the strength she had hidden for years.

If my sister was gone, how was I supposed to enjoy being useless in peace?

Shen Yuze and her nemesis Jiang Xing have spent nine years fighting, dating, breaking up, and reconciling at the command of a ruthless Couples System.

On the eve of their wedding, they discover that Zhao Fei’er—the supposed villainess wrecking their relationship—is trapped by a system of her own.

With three fortunes and their freedom on the line, the unwilling actors join forces to stage one last spectacular melodrama and finally beat the systems at their own game.

I transmigrated into the daughter of a mistress.

When I arrived, my mistress mother was sobbing her heart out.

“What happened?” I asked.

She said, “The Qi family sent word: either they cancel Bai You’s engagement, or they replace her with Bai Zhuo.”

I rubbed my forehead. “And that’s worth crying over?”

My mother stared at me. “How is it not? Haven’t you studied this hard so you can enter a good university and become a better match for the Qi family’s young master? I lost to that woman my whole life. Must my daughter lose to hers too?”

The noble consort who had been cherished all her life said on her deathbed that she regretted everything.

“If there is a next life, I would gladly trade places with you. I would be a lowly palace maid, endure until I turned twenty-five, then leave the palace and be free.”

“The emperor’s favor, all this hollow wealth and splendor – whoever wants it can have it.”

Tears ran down her face as she said that all she wanted was a love that was pure and true.

Just before she closed her eyes, she clutched my hand.

“Cherry, will you do it? Will you trade places with me?”

Weeping, I pressed my lips to her ear.

“This servant is willing.”

I had spent a lifetime cleaning up her messes.

I was so tired.

I had the sharpest tongue in all of Chang’an.

It was so vicious that I was still unmarried at twenty.

When the dauntless Zhao family finally came to propose, I resolved to mend my ways, retire my lethal mouth, and become a quiet, lovely bride.

On our wedding night, my husband – famed for being as gentle and refined as jade – lifted my veil and rubbed his hands together in excitement.

“I hear that when my lady curses someone out, they have to rewrite their entire family tree before dawn?”

I hurried to reassure him. “Don’t worry, Husband. I’ve turned over a new leaf.”

Zhao Yuanxiu waved both hands, so anxious that he began to stammer.

“No, no, no.”

“From now on, my lady, please be even more ruthless. Spare no one.”

Me: What?

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review withstood enormous pressure, uncovered the true culprit, and cleared my father’s name, sparing our entire family from exile to Lingnan.

My father was immeasurably grateful and swore he would give his life to repay the minister’s kindness.

After a little polite hesitation, Lord Fu said, “My son has reached marriageable age, and I hear the vice minister’s household has several fine young ladies.”

My father understood.

Switched at birth to repay her father’s debt, Li Yuanxi endures ten brutal years at the northern frontier while another girl grows up as a noble heiress.

When she returns to the capital, her family sends her to die in a political marriage and deceives her betrothed, Fu Qingchuan, into marrying the favored daughter instead.

After Yuanxi’s death, Qingchuan turns his grief into a patient revenge, using love, ambition, and an old imperial conspiracy to destroy everyone who betrayed her.

Yet even when justice is done, the ghost beside him knows that nothing can cross the distance between the living and the dead.

Before Qin Ruyu transferred to my school, I was the smartest and prettiest girl there.

After she arrived, I never came first in anything again.

Even when I confessed to Fu Shaonian, he turned me down because he liked Qin Ruyu.

So I hated her to death.

Years later, someone brought her up in front of me.

“What a shame. Why did you two break up back then?”

Me: ???

I’m straight too, okay!

[Two Male Leads + Infinite Flow + Horror Games + Power Fantasy + Rules Horror + Two Powerhouses + Irresistible Protagonist + Unhinged Beauty]

When Xiao Huai wakes up, he finds himself trapped in a bizarre game. Everyone around him is terrified out of their minds. He alone is bored enough to fall asleep.

He remembers nothing of his origins or his past. The only thing he knows is his name.

Those chosen are forced to take part in horror games, while a host of gods watch from beyond. Through the system, the gods can leave messages for the players and bestow blessings upon them.

Unfortunately, these gods are nothing like the ones of legend. They would much rather feast their eyes on bloodshed, violence, and the ugliest side of human nature.

To them, the countless horror games are merely a way to pass the time.

Xiao Huai’s arrival soon makes his livestream the most entertaining one of all.

Keywords: Two Powerhouses, Unhinged, Instances, Games, Power Fantasy

A max-level, irresistibly charming bottom vs. an unhinged, theatrical god top

Lu Yuanshi × Xiao Huai (bottom)

The top appears in the second instance.

The synopsis doesn’t do it justice; the story itself is much better! ~₍˄·͈༝·͈˄*₎◞ ̑̑

Xu Qiangyuan has spent her life defying the deadly fate only she can see.

When her once-devoted husband returns from war protecting a pregnant widow and chooses the woman’s lies over his wife, Qiangyuan decides she will not merely end her marriage—she will replace the emperor who refuses to grant the divorce.

With the Grand Princess and the formidable Xu clan at her side, Lady Rakshasa sets out to expose a spy, crush a tyrant, and build a realm where no woman must kneel.

After dying a hero, I used the merit I had earned in life to make a wager with the King of Hell.

I would be turned into seven different animals, and if I could get my family to recognize me every time, I would be allowed to return to life.

If I failed, I would stay in the underworld and work there without complaint.

The first animal I became was a giant southern cockroach.

I had lived with the Shen family for eighteen years when they suddenly told me I was a fake heiress.

The real heiress wept and begged my adoptive parents to throw me out because the mere sight of me upset her.

My biological mother grabbed my hand and ran, terrified that my adoptive parents might try to stop us.

After all, we both knew the apocalypse was coming.

My mother had farmland, a house, a little grocery store, and even a storage dimension in the countryside—not a pile of useless numbers in a bank account.

I married Prince Shu in my elder sister’s place, figuring that if he discovered the truth, the worst that could happen was a fight between us.

Little did I know that Prince Shu was not only blind, but also determined to pamper the “wife” he had brought home.

Now he is knocking outside my door. “Little Qiao, we have been married for half a month. May I sleep in the bed tonight?”

Er… How am I supposed to tell him that his bride is actually his male, cross-dressed nemesis?

I was the legitimate daughter of an illustrious clan, mild by nature and untouched by worldly desire, and I should have become the sacred monk’s disciple at the imperial temple, spending my life before an ancient Buddha and a solitary lamp.

For the sake of prestige, however, my parents insisted on marrying me to the eldest son of a ducal household—a well-matched libertine notorious for his debauchery.

Before I left, the monk heaved a long sigh and gave me a fragment of the Buddha’s bone, warning me to wear it at all times and never let it leave my body.

After I entered the Zhu household, my husband first brought home a concubine, then took a proper wife, but I did not mind, and my husband’s aunt praised me for knowing my place.

When my husband molested a colleague’s female relative and the Censorate denounced him, I did not mind, and my husband’s aunt praised my sweet temper.

My sister-in-law kept control of the household accounts, claiming that someone as pure as I was should never sully herself with the stink of money.

My mother-in-law demanded that I wait upon her morning and night and handle every task myself, so that I might become a model noblewoman.

At an imperial banquet, the Grand Empress Dowager took a fancy to the Buddha’s bone at my breast and demanded it for herself.

My mother-in-law hurried to tear it from my neck and offered it up with both hands, fawning shamelessly.

At last, I smiled in deliverance.

Twenty years, you damned bald donkey—let us see how you plan to keep the evil inside me chained now.

After years away from the capital, I returned to find a female study attendant at my fiancé’s side.

I stormed over to demand an explanation, only to drink a cup of drugged tea by mistake.

When I opened my eyes again, I was pinning my fiancé’s stern, old-fashioned, rule-bound elder brother beneath me, his body covered in scandalous red marks.

Our eyes met.

Silence filled the room.

I forced a smile and searched for something—anything—to ease the mortifying tension.

Without a word, he rose, found a length of white silk, and expressionlessly began to—

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll take responsibility!”

“I said I’ll take responsibility!”

When the war ended, the army prostitutes did everything they could to persuade soldiers to take them home, because the alternative was being sold to a brothel.

By the time the dark-skinned, taciturn centurion came looking for me, only an old dying woman and I remained in the camp.

She laughed and asked why I was still waiting for Young General Pei when he was about to marry a princess in a blaze of glory.

That night, Pei Qingfeng pinned me to the bed and ordered me to wait for him at the house he had bought outside the city.

Not once did he ask about the man who had visited me that day.

He seemed certain I would never leave with anyone else.

What he did not know was that I had already accepted the centurion named Zheng Yuan.

On the day Pei Qingfeng married his princess, Zheng Yuan and I would be married too.

On the day my only daughter was born, the Marchioness of Zhenbei gave birth to a son in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

At dawn, Shen Chizhou brought me her child and exchanged him for mine.

When I caught him, he merely raised his eyes and said, “The child born of Wan and me must be raised in the palace.”

Song Wan was the great love he had lost in his youth.

Now that she had borne him a child, he meant to make amends to mother and son at any cost.

The cost was my daughter becoming the young lady of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s household.

She went from an exalted imperial princess to the daughter of a mere court official.

After a long silence, I neither wept nor protested.

Instead, I lifted my face and smiled in approval.

“As it should be.”

After all, a child ought to be raised beside her real father.

The day the bandages came off my eyes, he never showed up; instead, I received a message from his childhood sweetheart.

“You may have saved him, but don’t try to hold it over his head. He doesn’t have time to pick you up, so make your own way home.”

I called him, only for him to hang up the instant his phone rang.

When I finally saw him again three days later, he demanded to know why I had sent such a message to slander his precious childhood sweetheart.

I watched the aura of fortune above his head hemorrhage away.

Suddenly, accepting that I was the heroine of a melodramatic angst novel did not seem so difficult after all.

My best friend and I transmigrated together.

She became a princess consort, while I became… a lynx.

“Save me, save me, save me…” I begged.

“Hang in there!” my best friend said. “I’ll fight for custody!”

Then I demonstrated that I could use a toilet all by myself, and Her Majesty the Empress chose me instead.

Later, when my best friend’s husband rebelled and nearly got her killed, it was her turn to beg, “Save me, save me, save me…”

So I-I sprang up and sank my teeth into the villain’s thigh.

In college, I once “bought” myself a girlfriend.

If she agreed to be with me, I would cover her family’s medical bills.

Humiliated, the brilliant scholarship student from a poor family stayed with me for four years.

Then my family went bankrupt.

When I broke up with her, she was as cold as ever. She did not ask me to stay—not even once.

Years later, I was serving fruit platters at a karaoke club to pay off my family’s debts. She had become a CEO and was dating the handsome star from our class.

She asked me, “Do you regret it?”

“No.”

“Well, I do.”

I fell for the beautiful, powerful, tragic second male lead.

For his sake, I shattered my spirit meridians and lost every trace of my cultivation.

Yet when the heroine burst into our wedding hall, he still abandoned me for her.

I called after him, “Xie Qingxing, take one step beyond that door, and I’m done with you.”

He merely held the girl in his arms and showed me the cool, aloof line of his profile.

“She needs me. How can I stand by and do nothing?”

But he had forgotten that Meng Zhiyuan was not the only person who needed him.

My spirit meridians were completely severed, and without pure-yang spiritual energy to sustain them, they would wither within half a month and take my life with them.

But that was all right.

Xie Qingxing was hardly the only cultivator in the world who practiced the Formless Sword.

In my last life, I married Wei Zheng, and everyone in the capital said that the eldest son of the Wei family and I were a match made in heaven.

Wei Zheng and I spoke of the realm and its people, dreaming of peace beneath all four seas.

We spent more time apart than together, never dwelling on petty romance, because greater duties filled our hearts.

When he went north to guard the frontier, I set up porridge kitchens outside the capital.

When he reviewed official papers in his study, I sat beside him annotating ancient texts.

When work kept him overnight at the government office, I thoughtfully sent him a letter: “All is well at home. Do not worry.”

He said I was unlike other delicate young ladies who cared only for moonlight and flowers and pestered their lovers to count their eyelashes.

He praised me for being calm, sensible, and mindful of the greater good.

What he never knew was that, as an imperial princess, I had once been the most pampered, vivacious girl of all.

I had simply spent everything I had chasing after him, running until I could barely breathe.

Then one day, I quarreled with someone while Wei Zheng watched coldly from the side.

Only after we returned home, when no one else was present, did he say in that mild voice of his, “The other person did have more reason on their side.”

That was when I realized he had never once stood on mine.

Shen Qi had secretly loved my elder sister for years.

When she and I fell into the river together, he mistook me for her and pulled me out first.

My sister was swept away and drowned.

Knowing none of this, I fell hopelessly in love with him.

I made such a scene about marrying him that he gladly agreed.

After the wedding, however, he alternated between warmth and coldness.

At times he treated me tenderly.

At others, he looked at me as if he hated me to the bone.

Once bright and willful, I withered day by day and lived in misery.

Only as I lay dying did I discover the truth…

He was kind whenever I reminded him of my sister.

He was cruel whenever he remembered that he blamed me for her death.

After I was reborn, I climbed onto the bank by myself and watched him rejoice at having my sister back.

Then I turned and walked toward the most exalted man in the realm.

My father was a professor at a prestigious university, and my mother held a doctorate in literature.

But only my older sister inherited their brilliant genes.

As for me, all I could do was chant “Makka Pakka,” the bitter little gourd their family tree had produced.

When my parents divorced, my sister chose Dad.

“I don’t want a retarded little sister,” she said.

I turned to Mom. “Be happy, Mommy. Makka Pakka!”

Luckily, Mom took my advice: she happily quit her job and started a company.

Years later, Dad nearly drove my genius sister out of her mind.

And I, still Makka-Pakka-ing my way through life, became the daughter of a millionaire.

Yan Yuan, a carefree stone spirit, has always known her master sees only another woman’s face in hers.

So when his long-lost love returns, she gladly walks away with Xu Bai—the immortal who has eaten every poison she ever made and loved her long before she understood what love meant.

But after one reckless dose of Truthwine and a deadly battle strip away every excuse, Yan Yuan must decide whose heart has truly been hers all along.

After failing my mission, I returned to my own world.

I married and had another child.

Then, seven years later, the System found me.

“Your former target’s mental state has become dangerously unstable.

“And your first son keeps demanding to see you.

“Host, could you go back and visit them?”

Qiu Yue learned young that in troubled times, only a hard heart and a ruthless hand could keep a woman alive.

When the innocent Jiang Wanning searches an entire city and saves her from death, Qiu Yue vows to protect her for the rest of her life.

So when a scheming scholar tries to ruin Wanning’s reputation and force his way into her family, Qiu Yue quietly leads him into a dark alley.

The scholar dies, a tale about a pig demon spreads through the capital, and her trusting young mistress believes every word.

Anyone who wants to hurt Jiang Wanning should understand one thing: Qiu Yue may wear the sweet smile of a harmless maid, but she has never hesitated to kill.

Ten years after my death, the young crown prince had grown up. Clutching my memorial tablet, he announced that he wanted to marry me.

His father beat him to tears with a court memorial.

The august emperor roared, “Wake up! She’s dead!”

You’re the dead one. Your whole family is dead.

I drifted back and forth, then kicked over his most treasured seal.

It landed with a clack, stamping half an impression onto the memorial—right where my name appeared.

Ruiniang.

The crown prince held up the memorial. The tears on his cheeks had not even dried, yet he was laughing and crying all at once. “Ruiniang! Look, Father, it’s Ruiniang! She’s still alive. She’s still alive!”

The emperor was plainly startled, but did his best to look composed. “Nonsense! I simply lost my grip on the seal!”

I kicked it again. The seal that had just settled flat went rolling across the desk and stamped half a crimson impression onto his dragon robe.

Ruiniang.

The emperor panicked and bolted for the door. Halfway there, he remembered something, ran back, and grabbed the crown prince by the nape.

At least he had some paternal feeling. He knew enough to take his son when he fled.

“Guards! There’s a ghost!” he shouted.

The crown prince, meanwhile, was sobbing as he cried into the empty air, “Ruiniang, is that you? You’ve come back, haven’t you?”

Even in tears, he held my memorial tablet tight against his chest.

I looked at him fondly and reached out to wipe his tears, only for my fingers to pass through empty space.

My fingertips felt hollow. My heart ached a little.

Of course. I was a ghost. I could not touch the living; only the things of the dead would answer me.

While I waited at the hospital for my follow-up appointment, a live broadcast of a celebrated director accepting an award overseas played on the giant screen.

During his acknowledgments, he said nothing and placed a call in front of the entire world.

Then my phone rang…

Sold into a marquis’s estate at seven, Fugui survives by becoming a living screen, a beautiful servant trained to endure heat, cold, and pain without moving.

When another screen maid is condemned to serve as beauty paper merely for attracting the heir’s gaze, Fugui realizes she will be next.

To avenge the woman who raised her and escape a household that treats servants as objects, she turns the nobles’ forbidden desires, jealousies, and schemes against them.

The day I decided to divorce Pei Qingshu was an ordinary one.

Only the night before, he had promised that he would send Miss Liu away the next day, then celebrate my birthday properly with me.

It finally seemed as though our life was about to get better.

Delighted, I rose early, opened my dressing case, and carefully drew my brows while looking into a copper basin.

Then I dug an old pomegranate-red skirt out from the bottom of the camphorwood chest.

After seven years of marriage, I did not own a single decent piece of jewelry.

Seeing my bare ears, I pinched off a balsam blossom and tucked it behind my bun.

On my way out to buy vegetables, I ran into Chunxiang’s mother, who caught my arm with a teasing smile.

“I saw Master Pei buy two hairpins the other day—one gold, one jade. Let me see which one you’re wearing.”

Then she noticed the balsam flower in my hair and froze.