I just skimmed through the latest chapters as I wanted to know who the ML is. I almost raged when I thought the hubbie was ML. Spoiler: The Emperor He was hubbie's imperial uncle. She met him when she escaped after the 2nd sister almost miscarriaged. She thought that he worked as an assassin (since he was undercover in street when they met.) I'll gave more spoiler once I go home at night (it's currently noon in my country and I'm outside).
At what chap will she meet the ml ? ....also will the hubbie divorce her or will she just run away and fall in the ml's lap?
So no divorce untill chap 400?? ....where does she live?....with the ml? ....or with the hubbie? what happened with the sister?
@alexfilia ML saw MC around chapter 14, they met when she revealed that the group of beggars he had given lot of money was in fact a con men. She was in the middle of running away but caught by hubbie about 2-4 chapters later. (the chapters are short, so I could only estimate). Spoiler: the divorce They hadn't got divorce, the reason was because the marriage was decreed by the Emperor.... Actually it was the hubbie who asked for the marriage decree. Around chapter 340th, hubbie finally realised that the girl he had fallen in love 8 years ago was in fact the eldest Shen (previous host), not 2nd Shen daughter (his newlywed concubine). (Too late, jerk) Spoiler: the past between the hubbie and MC 8 years ago, hubbie was drown in a lake or somewhere, MC (the previous host) save him. He could only remember a fairy like figure. After he woke, he asked around and they told him that it was Shen 1st daughter who saved him. So he vowed to marry her alone and asked for marriage decree. Then about a few months before the marriage, 2nd sister's wetnurse came to him and explained that the one that saved him 8 years ago was in fact the 2nd sis, not the 1st. He met 2nd sis (he never met face to face with 1st) and realised that 2nd sis was similar to the person in his image (yes, of course, you moron, they're siblings). He tried to cancel the marriage decree, but bc it had been granted, w/o proper reason, the Emperor couldn't do that. So he ended up hating the previous host for getting in way between him and his true love. After that he basically turned to blind eye for everything that the 2nd sis did to MC. 2nd sis and her wet nurse was afraid that hubbie would accidentally saw MC's face. If he saw, then he would realised that the person who saved him 8 years ago was really MC, so they constantly trying to kill MC. Spoiler: at the 2nd sister's wedding MC came, she drew her face ugly, so hubbie would feel humiliated for having such an ugly wangfei. Then she accidentally found out and revealed to all the guest that 2nd sis was in fact already pregnant. Hubbie was angry at 2nd sis for not telling him. 2nd sis chased after him and slipped, causing her to almost miscarriage. Hubbie somehow decided that the one that caused 2nd sis to almost miscarriage was MC. Spoiler: how hubbie found out the truth Few days before, bc of some plotting by the 2nd sis (for the n-th time), MC drown into the lake, well, but not before causing 2nd sister's face to be stung by bee. Hubbie dived in to save her when he just realised that he couldn't swim. So MC ended up saving him. On his last conscious moment, he saw MC's figure, who was really the one who saved him. When he regained consciousness, 2nd sis lied that she had dived in to save him and then wet nurse pulled her back, so the one that saved him was his own guards. Then he accompanied her to the bedroom and personally applied the medicinal ointment to her bee stung wounds gently. 2nd sis and the wet nurse were afraid of hubbie found out the truth, but felt relieved bc they saw how gently he acted. He even asked her to attend the palace banquet at the 10th day of the 4th month. Spoiler: asking for divorce MC decided to ask Emperor for divorce decree at the incoming palace banquet in the 4th month. Emperor's sister, hubbie's imperial aunt, would let her meet with the Emperor for that purpose (MC didn't know that ML was the Emperor). The aunt liked MC, she was on MC's side bc she saw how hubbie had treated MC. When she went to meet the Emperor, she found out about his identity. (at this stage of story, it's still ML's one sided love to MC). Then at the banquet, she asked ML in front of all of the guests. She thought that hubbie would be gladly divorced her, but then he rejected and asked for her ground of divorce (rly?). She told him 3 things. 1) When she almost died and in coma, not only he didn't send her any physician, but he moved her into some isolated place, causing her to almost die (well she had actually died). 2) He proceeded to marry 2nd sis and had relationship with 2nd sis before he married MC, that caused 2nd sis to be pregnant. 3) When 2nd sis married in and tried to kill her many times, he only turned blind eye. Then hubbie explained that all of what he did was "just" a case of mistaken identity. He revealed that the girl he loved was always her (well too bad the previous host had died). But bc he mistakenly thought it was 2nd sis, so he indulged 2nd sis in everything. Anyway, he then suddenly acted lovingly and gently toward MC. While MC reacted like any normal, sane people would, disgusted and disbelieved. He told her that he would wait for her, not forcing her and would indulged her, not letting her get hurt anymore. Well, I was almost touched and thinking that perhaps the hubbie was not bad at all and deserved forgiveness, if not for the fact that just after he said that and they were going back from the banquet, he tried to raped her in the carriage! Spoiler: the 2nd sis' fate The ointment that hubbie had been gently and devotedly applied to 2nd sis' face everyday was in fact poison. It made her face grew with pus and very ugly. Then after the banquet, hubbie revealed everything. He also claimed that he never touched 2nd sis, ergo the 2nd sis' baby was not his. When they met 4 months ago, under the aphrodisiac, he almost succumbed but escaped at the last moment, therefore he was not the one who slept with 2nd sis. 2nd sis didn't know about that and insisted that the baby was his. So to solve the problem, MC told everyone to do a blood test once 2nd sis gave birth. Currently, she was imprisoned in cold palace, awaiting her birthing time. ML placed her there to avoid hubbie getting rid of her, and to prevent her of trying to harm MC further. Spoiler: MC where? Before she asked for divorce, she still lived in hubbie's wangfu, she cannot escaped bc he would caught her bc it would be an embarrassment for him if she escaped. Then just when he tried to rape her, ML faked empress dowager's decree to summon her into palace. Empress dowager found out about it and took MC. She punished MC by telling her to copy many Buddhist scripture in a palace temple. MC was in fact prefer this. She only tried to copy some of it, then asked the maid for foods and then went to sleep. She wanted to avoid going back to hubbie's wangfu. But unfortunately, somebody else couldn't take a hint. One of Hubbie's imperial brother had crush on her. He sneaked in and "helped" her copied all of those buddhist scripture. (that was the latest chapter)
Hah, that's a refreshing story. Normally, the hubby would be the ML, the emperor would be the infinitely better choice second male lead suffering unrequited love, and the MC would be a masochist with a victim complex, who's quick to forgive and forget, let hubby push her around, and let herself get raped passively like it concerns someone else. I'm so happy to see an author turn those tropes around. I always imagined such scenarios (the MC leaving hubby and getting with the second male lead, her kicking butt and not letting herself get bullied, etc.) whenever I came upon the above mentioned settings, but it's nice to see a competent author actually write them out.
@alexfilia Spoiler: ML? The romance was rather slow paced.... up to chapter 200, I only count 4 of their meeting. So far, hubbie was the male characters who appeared the most. I almost doubt that he was the ML, but at the latest chapters, MC kept getting goosebumps at his advances and She felt safe with ML. Although she still feel that between them was impossible, since she didn't want to be trapped in another cage. Spoiler: 1st meeting First one was when she revealed that the beggars was a con man. She just hurriedly escaped from the wangfu and just brought a small change. They (she and the maid) were hungry, and the maid was persuading her to asked (or con? the MTL was unclear) ML. MC told the maid to avoid ML bc she could sense that he was dangerous. Her maid called ML "a lot of money". Unknown to them, ML and his servant had high martial art skill, so although they were a far, they could heard the whole conversation of MC and her maid. ML told the servant to invited MC to dine, but before the servant managed to find MC, hubbie's underlings had already caught them. Spoiler: 2nd meeting The second one, MC came to a famous restaurant and tried to leave without paying (since she didn't have any money). ML tried to pay for her, but she refused. In the end, she gave 4 famous recipes to the restaurant owner and got 2 000 taels (I think it was the currency, right?) from it. ML told his servant to follow them. He didn't know her identity, and when she was outside, she always wore an ugly disguise on her face. MC managed to shake the servant off. Spoiler: 3rd meeting The third time was when MC worked as fortune teller to gain more money. She was very good at cold reading people. When she was done, ruffians tried to rob her and at critical moment, ML appeared to save her. But unfortunately MC knew that ML was just playing "hero save beauty". She knew that he had arrived earlier but just stepped in at the best timing. MC's maid recognised ML as "a lot of money". ML's servant told her that his master's surname wasn't "money". As they bickered, the ruffians managed to take all of her money. ML asked them to dine together, but before the food was served, he got emergency, so he left but not before giving her a pouch full of gold taels. Spoiler: 4th meeting The fourth meeting was when hubbie tried to harm her by whipping the horse she was on. The horse was of rare breed, but no one could control it, MC could but as she ride in, hubbie whipped the horse. MC didn't fall but went across the wall. ML managed to stop the horse from rampaging on the street, saving her and many people on it. MC was on different disguise. She painted an ugly red dots on her face. Just when she was about to escape from ML, he actually recognised her, from her eyes. He invited her to dine again. As she washed her face and look at it, she was amazed that ML didn't blink when he saw her very ugly face (her make up and the red dots got ruined). Since she felt that ML would recognised her no matter what, she simply used her real face. Then when they dined, MC asked ML to be her bodyguard (LOL). At first ML told her that he was more used to killing people, not protecting one. Then bc of his words, MC thought that he was an assassin, and regretted asking him. She want to get away from him as far as possible. Too bad for her, ML agreed and followed her back to the wangfu (where he found out her identity for the 1st time).
the ML is an emperor yet he has time to come out and play so often does he have kids?.....also did the mc try to run away many times ? ...her hubby must be tired of running after her all the time
@alexfilia Spoiler: the emperor No, he was 24 years old, and he didn't have any wives, concubines nor child. At the latest chapter, Empress Dowager tried to choose consort for him, but he refused. Spoiler: running away No, she only tried to run away once. Later she decided that if she were to leave the wangfu, she would do it proudly through the main gate. ML often sent his servants to "teach her lesson". But she managed to force them to submission. Each time, the servants would reported back, that they managed to teach her lesson, and she was critically injured / ill and must rest for weeks. So she could comfortably live with almost no disruption and could freely go out once a while. Spoiler: hubbie almost found out Once, she got fed up, and planned to throw eggs on hubbie. She underestimated hubbie's martial art skill and almost got harmed. Hubbie managed to saw her real face, but he didn't know that it was her. Then later at 4th meeting, when ML stopped her horse, she realised that ML's martial art was far above hubbie, and didn't avoided him anymore. (she calculated to use him against the hubbie).