TSNCWEM Chapter 62

Song Yunzhao increasingly felt that things couldn’t go on like this; it was entirely off track from the plot in the book.

At this point, it should be the heroine taking the charge, while she watched from the sidelines.

Why had the roles been reversed?

Song Yunzhao furrowed her brows—she didn’t want to be the Emperor’s ‘trash sweeper.’ Such tasks should be left to the heroine; no need to waste the skills of a professional.

As for her?

Song Yunzhao’s eyes quietly swept over the Emperor. Wasn’t it exhausting, fighting against so many consorts? 

As long as she could win over the Emperor and bear a prince, becoming an Empress might be challenging, but she could totally aim straight for the position of Empress Dowager—shortcut unlocked.

Thinking this through, Song Yunzhao suddenly saw the light.

In the book, the Emperor only had his first son at the very end. There is no wall that cannot be undermined, only shovels that aren’t working hard enough. 

The Emperor’s wall—she was determined to dig it out.

However, the Emperor was both paranoid and a clean freak, so winning him over wouldn’t be easy.

Song Yunzhao, in high spirits, picked up a storybook to read, but as soon as she opened it, she found something odd—wasn’t this the one she had written?

Oh, but the Emperor didn’t know her secret identity, so she had to keep it tightly under wraps.

At that moment, Song Yunzhao felt rather conflicted. The storybook she had written had gone through the Emperor’s hands and then returned to her own. Reading her own work felt oddly surreal.

As she held the storybook in her hands, a bright idea suddenly struck her!

Immediately, she pretended to be deeply engrossed in the storybook. Nearby, there was another book, Jade Hairpin, which had been the one Xie Jinshu staged as a live performance back at the Yuquan Tower. Deliberately, she didn’t pick up that one first but instead held the second book she had given to the Xie family.

This particular book was a rather cliché story, but the old tale repackaged in a fresh way still had its charm.

The story was an upgraded take on the tale of Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui. In the original, Wang Baochuan waited faithfully in a cold cave for 18 years, only to have Xue Pinggui return with a princess and suggest she become his concubine. Wang Baochuan, with grace, agreed, leading to a ‘happy’ ending where the three lived in harmony. 

However, Song Yunzhao didn’t like this story. Why should Wang Baochuan suffer for 18 years, letting the best years of her youth slip by? Her family had disowned her because of Xue Pinggui, and she truly endured 18 years of hardship waiting for her husband to return.

But Xue Pinggui?

He claimed to have undying love for Wang Baochuan, yet after attaining high status and wealth, he still had the nerve to ask her to be his concubine. That sentiment was heartless. Wang Baochuan’s 18 years were wasted. Loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and righteousness are all good virtues, but they shouldn’t require the sacrifice of a person’s entire life.

After 18 years, the princess was young and beautiful, while Wang Baochuan had been ravaged by life’s struggles. Faced with such a wife, how could Xue Pinggui genuinely still feel affection for her?

Most likely, for the sake of his reputation, he had no choice but to make Wang Baochuan his concubine. Even if she became one, what then? Her future was predictable. With her appearance, she would not be favored and could only watch Xue Pinggui and the princess live happily in love. For her, wouldn’t such a life be a form of torture?

So, Song Yunzhao changed the names and wrote “Mandarin Duck Pendant”. In the story, the heroine didn’t wait for 18 years. By the fifth year, she got news of her husband’s whereabouts, journeyed a thousand miles to find him, and stumbled upon his wedding to another bride. Furious, the heroine disrupted the wedding, condemning her husband for his infidelity and heartlessness. While she had endured countless hardships at home waiting for him, he had abandoned her and found new love.

Upon hearing that he had such intentions, she came to break ties, taking out the mandarin duck pendant symbolizing their relationship and smashing it on the spot, severing ties completely.

Since the story was meant to be a “feel-good” one, naturally, it should depict the heroine divorcing the scumbag, standing on her own feet, and finding beautiful love. Years later, when she meets the male lead again, the heroine is happily married with a harmonious family and children, while the male lead’s life is far less fortunate. Her grand disruption of his wedding caused a rift between the male lead and his new wife. Over time, their relationship became fraught with quarrels rather than affection, and their lives descended into chaos.

The story ended with the male lead encountering the happily fulfilled heroine years later, imagining what life would have been like if he had not married someone else back then.

In this story, Song Yunzhao particularly emphasized the heroine’s sorrow, despair, and heartbreak after being betrayed. It was this emotional depth that laid the groundwork for her divorce and remarriage.

Only when the emotions reach a certain level will others not think the heroine’s remarriage was too harsh.

So many beautiful poems were written about love because humanity yearns for love, for emotional resonance, and for a lifetime of companionship—something complete and perfect.

Love, once tainted, becomes worthless and provokes anger.

“What do you think of this story?” 

Song Yunzhao knew the Emperor would come to ask her. With all her cleverness whirling in her mind, she feigned anger, saying, “Zhou Sijing (the male protagonist) is just too excessive. Liu Peilan (the female protagonist) is truly pitiful.”

Feng Yi sat across from her. Meng Jiuchang promptly served tea, frightened by Noble Concubine Song’s raised voice, retreating hurriedly with a lowered head, thinking this woman was really bold and fierce, fearless like a newborn calf.

Feng Yi first drank tea to suppress his thoughts, then looked at Song Yunzhao, asking, “You think Liu Peilan is pitiful?”

Song Yunzhao looked at the Emperor with a puzzled expression, saying, “Isn’t she? What did Liu Peilan do wrong for Zhou Sijing to treat her this way? What kind of love sealed with oaths and promises is this? I think Zhou Sijing just lusted after Liu Peilan’s beauty, tricked her into his grasp, promising to achieve scholarly success so she could live a better life. But really, he couldn’t handle life’s hardships. When the Liu family truly disowned their daughter, leaving him with no benefits to gain, he decided to climb up the social ladder elsewhere.”

“What?” Feng Yi was stunned. Were they reading the same story?

Song Yunzhao matched the Emperor’s shocked look with her own, saying, “Isn’t this what you think, Your Majesty? If Zhou Sijing truly loved Liu Peilan, how could he marry someone else so quickly? In just five short years, Liu Peilan endured hardships waiting for him, while he, unwilling to suffer, turned around and married a girl from a better family. Isn’t that just taking a shortcut to avoid hardship?” 

“Men having multiple wives is common; it’s nothing significant.”

Song Yunzhao: ……

This dog emperor!

Truly, he was the most “rationally justified” man to have countless beauties sleeping in his arms without blushing or gasping.

She spoke seriously, “Your Majesty is right, but the premise is to avoid desecrating love.”

Feng Yi: ……

He inexplicably felt as though Song Yunzhao had insulted him, yet had no evidence to prove it.

Song Yunzhao assumed a righteous and serious demeanor, saying, “Love is such a sacred emotion—how could it be used as an excuse for someone like Zhou Sijing, a hypocrite and a selfish man, to climb the social ladder? Your Majesty, do you think if Liu Peilan had been a farm girl, Zhou Sijing would have fallen in love with her at first sight? The phrase ‘love at first sight’ would have taken one look at Zhou Sijing and run the other way.”

Feng Yi: …

Seeing the Emperor’s expression, Song Yunzhao felt satisfied. Since she was going to be romantically involved with him, she had to sort out his worldview completely, laying a solid foundation for her to be as dramatic as she wanted in the future.

In the days to come, she intended to embody a woman blinded by love. Whoever tried to take the Emperor from her would become her enemy. She would ensure the Emperor felt utterly cherished, as though he were the only one in her heart.

Why did the Emperor have such a strong sense of cleanliness?

It stemmed from his distrust of all forms of affection in the world.

She was here to save him—offering him a unique and unparalleled love, while he provided her the most noble honor in the world. Each would get what they wanted. It was perfect.