In her previous life, Zheng Xiangyi insisted on marrying the Second Prince Feng Yu against the late emperor’s advice. As a result, in the fourth year after Feng Yu ascended the throne, the Imperial Concubine entered the palace and became pregnant, and Zheng Xiangyi’s position as empress was in jeopardy.
The late emperor was most worried about her. Before his death, he held her hand tightly and asked:
“Xiangyi, will you regret marrying him?”
“No regrets.” She answered firmly at the time.
But she did regret it in the end—regretted defying the emperor’s will to marry Feng Yu, regretted angering the late emperor to the point of vomiting blood, and most regretted that those eyes that always held tenderness only showed disappointment when they looked at her for the last time.
Zheng Xiangyi burned down the Phoenix Palace, and when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the year she was fifteen.
At this time, Feng Yu had not yet gained power, she had not pledged her life to him, nor had she caused the Emperor to fall ill.
In this life, she coldly pushed away the fawning Second Prince and turned to the warm embrace she hadn’t seen for four years.
“After you left, they all bullied me.”
—Emperor
Jingzhao’s greatest strength in life was restraint.
Only with Zheng Xiangyi did he break all the rules.
Clearly just a little girl entrusted to him by the Empress Dowager on her deathbed, yet he doted on her more than a princess. He taught her calligraphy and painting, tied a cloak around her neck in the snowstorm, and the whole court knew that she was the Emperor’s most precious jewel.
He originally planned to choose a good husband for her when she came of age to protect her for life.
But when Xiangyi drunkenly snuggled into his arms, muttering “Your Majesty is better than them all,” all his plans instantly collapsed—
why should the little girl he had raised with his own hands be sent to someone else to suffer?
Feng
Yu despised Zheng Xiangyi’s arrogance and willfulness, yet he was captivated by her stunning beauty and coveted the emperor’s favor behind her.
To advance his ambitions, he flattered her relentlessly, and amidst repeated cold treatment, he genuinely fell in love.
“Father, I humbly request to marry Xiangyi,” he finally knelt in the Zichen Palace, pleading for the emperor’s permission.
But when he looked up, he saw—
Zheng Xiangyi, who had always disregarded him, languidly nestled in his father’s arms, her eyes casually glancing at him, her red lips alluring and tempting.
His supreme father, the Emperor, was holding her in his arms, and upon hearing this, he raised an eyebrow indifferently:
“Unfortunately, I am also interested.”
