Chapter 133: Chapter 63: A Unique Love for the Emperor
The more Song Yunzhao thought about it, the more she felt that things couldn’t go on like this. It was the complete opposite of the book’s plot.
At this point, the female lead should be the one charging into battle while she eats popcorn on the sidelines.
Why was it all backward?
Song Yunzhao furrowed her brow. She had no desire to be the Emperor’s trash collector. Such tasks should be left to the female lead; a professional shouldn’t let her skills go to waste.
As for her?
Song Yunzhao’s eyes swept furtively over the Emperor. ’Isn’t it tiring to fight with so many concubines?’
As long as she could win over the Emperor and give birth to a Prince, becoming the Empress was too difficult, but she could take a shortcut and aim for the position of Empress Dowager.
At this thought, everything became clear to Song Yunzhao.
In the book, the Emperor didn’t have his first son until the grand finale. ’There’s no wall that can’t be undermined, only a hoe that doesn’t work hard enough.’
She was determined to win over the Emperor.
However, this man was suspicious and a clean freak. It wouldn’t be easy to win him over.
Her mood greatly improved, so Song Yunzhao picked up a storybook to read. But as she looked at it, something felt off. ’Isn’t this the one I wrote?’
’Oh, but the Emperor doesn’t know about my secret identity. I have to keep that under wraps.’
Song Yunzhao’s mood was now quite peculiar. The storybook she had written had passed through the Emperor’s hands and returned to her own. Reading her own work like this... it was a strangely thrilling feeling.
Staring at the storybook in her hands, an idea suddenly lit up in Song Yunzhao’s mind. ’I have a plan!’
Immediately, she put on an act of being completely captivated by the storybook. Next to her was a copy of *Golden Jade Hairpin*—the very story Xie Jinshu had someone act out at Yuquan Building. She deliberately ignored that one, instead picking up the second book she had given to the Xie family.
This one was a rather cliché story, but like old wine in a new bottle, it had its own charm.
It was an upgraded version of the story of Wang Baochan and Xue Pinggui. In the original, Wang Baochan waited faithfully in a desolate home for eighteen years, only for Xue Pinggui to return with a Princess in tow and ask her to be a co-wife of equal rank. The magnanimous Wang Baochan agreed, and the story ended with the three of them living happily ever after.
Song Yunzhao had never liked that story. Why should Wang Baochan suffer for eighteen years? Her most youthful and beautiful years were erased by time, and her family had disowned her because of Xue Pinggui. She had truly suffered for eighteen long years, waiting for her husband to come home.
But what about Xue Pinggui?
He claimed he never forgot his deep love for Wang Baochan, and that even after attaining high office and great wealth, he was still willing to let her be his co-wife. Just listen to how heartless that sounds. Wang Baochan’s eighteen years were a complete waste. Loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness were all well and good, but not at the expense of someone’s entire life.
Eighteen years later, the Princess was young and beautiful, while Wang Baochan was a wreck, ravaged by a life of hardship. How could Xue Pinggui truly feel any joy looking at a wife like that?
He probably only made Wang Baochan his co-wife for the sake of his reputation. And even if she became a co-wife, so what? Wang Baochan’s future was predictable: with her faded looks, she would never be favored and could only watch as Xue Pinggui and the Princess doted on each other. Wouldn’t such a life be a slow, torturous death for her?
So, Song Yunzhao changed the names and wrote a book called *Mandarin Duck Pendant*. In her story, the heroine didn’t wait for eighteen years. In the fifth year, she got news of her husband and traveled a thousand miles to find him, only to arrive just as he was marrying another woman. The heroine caused a huge scene at the wedding, furiously cursing her husband for his faithlessness. She had waited for him back home, enduring endless hardship and suffering, only for him to find a new love.
"I heard you have a new love, so I came to break it off." She took out their token of love, the Mandarin Duck Pendant, and smashed it on the spot. From then on, they made a clean break, with no ties between them.
Since it was a revenge fantasy story, of course she had to write about the heroine divorcing the scumbag, becoming self-reliant, and finding a wonderful new love. Years later, when she meets the male lead again, the heroine is in a harmonious marriage with many children and grandchildren. The male lead’s life, however, is a complete mess. Her scene at his wedding had created a rift between him and his new wife. Over time, their relationship was filled with more arguments than affection, and their life fell into disarray.
The story ends with the male lead, years later, happening upon the happy and fulfilled heroine, fantasizing about what might have been if he hadn’t married another.
In all of this, what Song Yunzhao focused on most was the heroine’s heartbreak, despair, and grief after being betrayed. This was to evoke empathy from the reader and lay the groundwork for her to divorce and remarry.
Only when the emotions were built up to a certain point would people not think the remarried heroine was too headstrong.
So many beautiful poems were written about love because humans pursue love, spiritual connection, and the lifelong companionship of supporting each other through thick and thin. It is a pursuit of wholeness.
A love that has been tainted is naturally worthless and will provoke public outrage.
"What do you think of this storybook?"
Song Yunzhao knew the Emperor would ask. Her mind was racing with schemes. She put on an indignant expression and said angrily, "This Zhou Sijiong is too much! And Liu Peilan is so pitiful."
Feng Yi sat down across from her. Meng Jiuchang quickly brought tea. Hearing Consort Song’s raised voice, his heart skipped a beat in fear. He lowered his head and hastily retreated, thinking, ’This Consort Song is truly a newborn calf that doesn’t fear the tiger. She’s really something else.’
Feng Yi took a sip of tea to collect his thoughts before looking at Song Yunzhao. "You think Liu Peilan is pitiful?"
Song Yunzhao gave the Emperor a suspicious look. "Isn’t she pitiful? What did Liu Peilan do wrong for Zhou Sijiong to treat her like that? What ’love eternal as the mountains and seas’? I think Zhou Sijiong only went after Liu Peilan for her looks. After he tricked her, he said he wanted to pass the exams and give her a good life. I think he just couldn’t handle a hard life himself. He probably didn’t expect the Liu Family to actually disown their daughter, so when he realized he couldn’t benefit from them, he decided to find someone else to leech off of."
"What?" Feng Yi was stunned. Were they even reading the same storybook?
Song Yunzhao met the Emperor’s astonished gaze with a feigned look of surprise. "Is that not what the Emperor thinks? If Zhou Sijiong truly loved Liu Peilan with all his heart, how could he marry someone else in such a short time? It was only five years! Liu Peilan suffered for him back home, but he, to avoid suffering, turned around and married a girl from a better family. Isn’t that just taking a shortcut to avoid hardship?"
"It’s common for a man to have three wives and four concubines. This is nothing."
Song Yunzhao: ...
’Scumbag Emperor!’
’As expected of the one man in the world who can justifiably sleep with countless beauties. He can say something like that without batting an eye.’
She said with a straight face, "What Your Majesty says is true. However, that’s only on the condition that you don’t profane love."
Feng Yi: ...
For some reason, he felt like he had just been insulted by Song Yunzhao, but he had no proof.
Song Yunzhao adopted a righteous and stern expression. "Love is such a sacred emotion. How can it be used as an excuse for a hypocrite and a scoundrel like Zhou Sijiong to climb the social ladder? Your Majesty, do you think if Liu Peilan had been a farmer’s daughter back then, Zhou Sijiong would have fallen in love with her at first sight? The very four words ’love at first sight’ would turn tail and run if they saw Zhou Sijiong."
Feng Yi: ...
Seeing the Emperor’s expression, Song Yunzhao was satisfied. ’I’m the one who’s going to be in a relationship with the Emperor. I have to drill my values into him and lay a solid foundation for all the drama I’m going to cause later.’
’From now on, I’ll be a little woman, blinded by love. I’ll fight anyone who tries to take the Emperor from me. I will make the Emperor feel the satisfaction of being placed on a pedestal, of being the one and only person in someone’s heart.’
’Why is the Emperor a clean freak?’
’It’s because he doesn’t trust any kind of emotion in this world.’
’I’m here to save him. I’ll give him a love that’s one of a kind, and he’ll give me the world’s most supreme glory. Each gets what they need. Perfect.’
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