Shang Gongzhu

A gentle, highly-emotional-intelligent chancellor who rose from humble beginnings vs. a cold, enchanting, and temperamental princess. The female lead is morally ambiguous, while the male lead has a mind as intricate as a beehive:

One day, while revising the national history, a historian sought to document the story of Princess Danyang and her husband, the current Prime Minister Yan Shang.

The princess sneered, “Between him and me, at first, it was nothing more than a relationship of ‘subordinates overstepping their bounds’ and ‘superiors taking advantage of inferiors.’”

The prime minister smiled gently and said, “That part doesn’t need to be recorded in the national history.”

The prime minister reflected further: “At the beginning…”

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It all began after the death of Princess Danyang Mu Wan Yao’s first husband. She traveled to Lingnan to heal her heart, staying with a local gentry family.

On a rainy day, amidst the ceaseless patter of rain, the princess was awakened by the sound of someone reading. She parted her curtains and saw a handsome young man studying fervently by the window. Through the misty rain, his brows resembled distant mountains—broad and serene.

Captivated, the princess fanned herself and leaned close to whisper teasingly into his ear: “If all you do is memorize blindly without understanding the essence of the texts, lacking both conviction and eloquence, and if you refuse to network despite having no influential family background… even if you study like this for another ten years, you’ll never pass the imperial examinations.”

Under the dripping rain, the young man looked up, blushing under her gaze but feeling grateful that this princess finally showed signs of being human.

Years later, thanks to her guidance, the young man rose to prominence in the imperial court. Eventually, he married the princess, became the prime minister, and earned unparalleled renown as a statesman.