In early autumn, outside Hanshan Temple, the maple forest was dyed a fiery red.
In a quiet, rustic guest room in the temple’s rear courtyard.
Zhou Mingyi’s plain cyan dress was half-removed, revealing her fair, powdered shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glistening, as she was pinned beneath a tall and sturdy man.
Moonlight poured in, falling upon the two of them.
The man had handsome features, a sharp jawline, and a pair of deep-set eyes that were completely bloodshot.
“Are you… the one arranged by Mother?”
His voice was hoarse, as if he were desperately suppressing something.
The woman was startled, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
Emperor Qianwu’s sword-like brows furrowed slightly. Why was she so delicate?
He had only asked a question. What was there to cry about?
The woman before him was unexpectedly stunning.
Under the moonlight, her figure was exquisite and well-proportioned, her skin as fair and lustrous as jade. On her small, palm-sized face, her nose was delicate and elegant, and her crimson lips were like red cherries inviting one to pluck them.
Her black hair, exuding a faint fragrance, was spread all over the simple couch.
This woman’s beauty seemed unreal.
Hence, Emperor Qianwu was doubtful and hesitant.
Where had the Empress Dowager found such a woman?
The middle-aged monarch was not a lecherous man, yet he couldn’t help but feel a slight desire to possess her.
With such unparalleled beauty, who else under the heavens besides him was worthy of possessing her?
He just hadn’t expected the Empress Dowager to be so eager for results that she would resort to drugging him to make this happen.
Emperor Qianwu’s expression turned as dark as an abyss. Regardless of her intentions, she had indeed overstepped her bounds.
He had ascended the throne as a youth and had now reigned for a full twenty years.
Yet time had been exceptionally kind to him, showing not the slightest sign of age. Instead, his imposing authority had only deepened, commanding respect without needing to show anger.
Zhou Mingyi’s face was flushed, her charming eyes hazy. Only then did Emperor Qianwu realize something was amiss.
If the Empress Dowager could drug him, she could naturally do the same to this woman…
So be it.
“We will ask you one last time: are you doing this of your own free will?”
Zhou Mingyi let out a soft moan, her slender, snow-white fingers clutching tightly to the man’s lapels. Such a posture was clearly a silent invitation.
Emperor Qianwu held back no longer.
With a rip, the woman’s clothes were torn away completely.
Outside the ancient temple, the autumn chill deepened, but within the room, the air was thick with the spirit of spring…
But in a corner unseen by Emperor Qianwu, the corners of Zhou Mingyi’s lips curled up slightly.
Brother, just wait a little longer!
Mingyi will be able to save you soon!
Zhou Mingyi’s parents were both dead, leaving her with only an older brother. The two of them depended on each other to survive.
Her brother, Zhou Mingchong, was handsome, cultured, and exceptionally talented.
In his youth, however, he was willing to give up his future just to earn a bite of food for her.
How could Zhou Mingyi bear it?
She had been exceptionally clever from a young age. Not only did she teach herself embroidery, but she was also lucky enough to save an old embroideress, from whom she inherited a lifetime of skills.
Her embroidery quickly gained some fame. By working diligently, she had no problem supporting their household.
At her pleading, her brother returned to the academy to study.
Zhou Mingchong lived up to her expectations. He was a natural scholar, and after returning to the academy, he quickly began to distinguish himself.
But on the day he placed third in the highest imperial examination, he caught the eye of Princess Chaoyang, who detained him in the palace and forced him to become her Male Concubine.
Her brother had been missing for many days, and Zhou Mingyi did not know the reason why. She only heard people say that someone had committed a breach of etiquette before the Emperor.
She was naturally alarmed.
Her brother was cultured and exceptionally capable.
Talented people naturally had a bit of pride. If he had spoken out for justice, it was not impossible that he had angered the Emperor.
With no time to think, Zhou Mingyi immediately went to her fiancé, Cen Shaoyuan, for help.
Her marriage to Cen Shaoyuan had been arranged by their elders, but with her family’s decline and her parents’ death, she wasn’t sure if the Cen family would still acknowledge the engagement.
But she had no other choice; she had to try anything, no matter how desperate.
When Cen Shaoyuan first saw her face, he was immediately stunned.
He not only agreed to help her on the spot but also took her into his residence to wait.
But Zhou Mingyi never expected that not only would he not help her, but he would instead present her to the Crown Prince.
Trapped in the Eastern Palace, Zhou Mingyi was no longer in control of her own fate.
At first, the Crown Prince promised her he would rescue her brother from Princess Chaoyang’s grasp.
She believed him.
In the end, after the Crown Prince grew tired of her body and her beauty, he gave her away to others like a plaything.
The Crown Princess seized the opportunity to falsely accuse her of debauching the Eastern Palace and had her beaten half to death with clubs.
As she lay on the brink of death, she had someone carry her to the front of the city gate.
There, Zhou Mingyi saw her brother, flayed and his skin stuffed with straw, hung above the city gate.
The Crown Princess’s people said that it was her brother’s good fortune to be noticed by Princess Chaoyang.
But her brother didn’t know what was good for him and deserved his retribution.
Zhou Mingyi shed a tear of blood, desperately crawling to her brother’s side, and smashed her head against the city wall, killing herself.
…
Unexpectedly, when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the beginning.
Zhou Mingyi was filled with hatred. Hatred for her own naivety.
Hatred for Cen Shaoyuan, who treated her as a rare commodity to be hoarded and used to curry favor with the Crown Prince.
Hatred for the Crown Prince’s fickle heartlessness, and even more hatred for the Crown Princess’s viciousness.
But if she had to name the person she hated most, it would naturally be Princess Chaoyang and the current Emperor.
Princess Chaoyang was a golden branch and a jade leaf, the Emperor’s only child. But wasn’t her brother her only brother?
After her rebirth, Zhou Mingyi obtained a System.
The System told her that if she entered the palace, gave birth to the Emperor’s child, and made it so that Princess Chaoyang was no longer the Emperor’s sole heir, she could save her brother and avenge herself and her brother from their past life!
Without a second thought, Zhou Mingyi immediately bound herself to the System.
As long as she could get revenge, she was willing to do anything!
The reason the Emperor doted on Princess Chaoyang, never punishing her severely even when she acted wantonly and absurdly, forcing any handsome young man she fancied into the Princess’s Mansion as a Male Concubine, was simply because she was the only child he would ever have.
The current Emperor Qianwu had been without an heir for many years, with only Princess Chaoyang as his biological daughter.
As for the Crown Prince, he was an adopted son from the imperial clan.
The father and son did not get along, neither in appearance nor in heart.
If she could give birth to an imperial son, Princess Chaoyang would no longer be the only one.
At that time, she would just be an insignificant princess.
Her child might even be able to inherit the throne.
She would no longer be a pawn to be casually discarded, no longer a plaything to be manipulated at will.
She would save her brother and kill Princess Chaoyang!
She would also get retribution on the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, avenging her past self!
Once she bore the Emperor a biological son, she wouldn’t even have to lift a finger against the so-called Crown Prince and Crown Princess; the Emperor would surely clear the path for her son.
And as for the Emperor who indulged his own daughter in forcibly seizing his subjects…
If one day she held power in her hands, she would deal with him personally to soothe the bitter hatred in her heart from her past life!
As for the act of fawning over a monarch, Zhou Mingyi couldn’t care less.
As long as she could get her revenge, any price was worth paying. It is not being used that one should fear, but having no value to be used.
Zhou Mingyi used the System to adjust her body to its optimal state.
An exquisite figure, skin of ice and bones of jade, hair like a waterfall, and eyes like autumn pools.
Her own appearance was already stunning, and with the System’s enhancements, she had reached perfection.
In her past life in the Eastern Palace, she had once heard that the Emperor had favored a woman at Hanshan Temple outside the city and brought her back to the palace, doting on her for a time.
Zhou Mingyi simply copied the method, took that woman’s place, and was personally sent to the Dragon Bed by the Empress Dowager.
…
Inside a simple and solemn room in Hanshan Temple, the Empress Dowager, dressed in modest attire, was engrossed in Buddhist worship.
After about an hour, the Empress Dowager opened her eyes.
Although time had left some traces on her face, it was clear that she had been a beauty in her youth.
“Zhulan, what time is it?”
The Empress Dowager’s personal attendant immediately stepped forward. “Replying to the Empress Dowager, it is already past nine in the evening.”
The Empress Dowager nodded slightly.
“On the Emperor’s side…”
Aunt Zhulan had been by the Empress Dowager’s side for many years and was a steady person.
She lowered her eyes slightly. “It is done.”
A hint of joy finally appeared on the Empress Dowager’s face.
But then she thought of something.
“By doing this, will the Emperor blame me?”