Chapter 1: Bringing Calamity to the Country and People
Third year of Yuanguang, late winter.
The last snowfall in Jinling City had been going on for five or six days, piling thick snow on the streets inside the city, making it difficult to walk in and out.
At the main intersection closest to the imperial palace, a few women carrying goods on poles could be seen sporadically, their noses red, panting white breath as they struggled to call out their wares.
Suddenly, the tightly closed palace gates opened with a creak in the distance.
It was the New Year holiday break, coupled with days of heavy snow.
The civil and military officials no longer needed to enter the palace for an audience, yet at this moment the palace gates were wide open.
The women selling goods looked over at the sound. Two palace attendants walked out of the imposing palace gates, dragging a straw mat on the left and right, casually walking out of the palace gates.
On the snow-white ground, a shocking trail of blood was dragged out.
The corpse on the straw mat was brutally mutilated, its face beyond recognition.
The weather was cold. The short palace attendant shrank her neck and exhaled: “Damn it, in this cold weather, dumping a corpse is really not a good job!”
“Be careful with your words, there are ears beyond the walls at the palace gates. If it reaches the ears of the Emperor Consort, we’ll all lose our heads.”
“Bah! Don’t worry, Sister Li. In this icy snow, it’s difficult to walk around. Looking around, there’s not a soul in sight. Who would be watching us do our job?”
The short woman laughed nonchalantly. She put down the straw mat and rubbed her frozen hands. Her sidelong glance swept over the shattered corpse on the straw mat.
She clicked her tongue and sighed: “Alas, who would have thought? The once influential Pei Yuanshao Lang, who ruled from behind the curtain and was revered throughout the world, would end up like this.”
Hearing this, the tall female guard looked back uneasily. Seeing the palace gates tightly closed, she finally responded: “That’s how it goes, extreme prosperity leads to decline, it’s just the way things are!”
As the two palace attendants were sighing, a carriage engraved with the “Liu Mansion” family crest rolled its wheels, approaching from afar and stopping not far away.
The horse woman lifted the carriage curtain and set up the footstool.
She called out to the golden phoenix-engraved interior of the carriage: “Master, we’ve arrived!”
The person who walked out was a woman, wearing a moon-colored straight-collared brocade robe, covered with a white green-calyxed plum great coat. Her palm-sized face was buried in the fluffy collar.
She walked slowly, holding an oiled paper umbrella, her black hair tied up with a simple white jade phoenix hairpin. As she walked, the hanging tassels swayed gracefully.
As they got closer, the two guards finally saw the face of the newcomer clearly.
It was said that there were two peerless beauties in the world, one male and one female.
One was the person lying on the straw mat today, Lang Pei Yuanshao, with red clothes and black hair, a hooked lip, dazzlingly beautiful, with peach blossom eyes that could captivate one’s soul.
The other was the current Prime Minister Liu Changning, of extraordinary talent and beauty, a woman like jade, as if cut and polished.
With the legendary great person right before their eyes, the palace attendants trembled, their hearts quivering.
The two knelt down shakily and bowed in unison: “Greetings to Great One Liu!”
The woman in white did not respond. She walked past the two with light steps, leisurely approaching the straw mat.
Snowflakes fell thickly, covering the blood-stained face of the person on the straw mat with a thin layer of fine white snow. A few snowflakes landed on the bluish-purple lips. No trace of past glory remained, only a scene of utter misery.
She crouched down, and the maid behind her swiftly handed over a red garment.
She gripped the edge of the clothes, unfolding the red brocade, and along with the falling snow, covered the person on the ground.
She lowered her head, her willow eyebrows slightly furrowed, gazing at the disfigured face of the person on the ground. She murmured softly: “After all, it’s a life. Pei Yunzhi went too far!”
Pei Yunzhi was the name of the current Emperor Consort. Everyone in the world knew that the Emperor Consort hated it most when others mentioned his surname.
Pei was the surname of the previous dynasty. For Emperor Consort Pei Yunzhi, it represented a sordid history.
Even though people throughout the land had many criticisms about the Empress and the Emperor Consort, this history and the Emperor Consort’s surname would eventually become taboo words for the entire dynasty.
Of course, no one in the world dared to speak of it. Prime Minister Liu Changning was an exception. She was the favored minister of the current Empress, honored beyond measure, and the Empress treated her with sisterly courtesy. Even if the Emperor Consort had been cruel to others by directly calling out his name in the past, he had to lower his head and avert his eyes in front of the Prime Minister, avoiding her sharp edge.
The woman in white paused for a moment, patted the snow off her body, and turned to walk back to the carriage.
After taking a few steps forward, she seemed to think of something and turned her head to sweep a glance at the shivering palace attendants kneeling on the ground.
She spoke in a faint voice of admonishment: “The Lang of the previous dynasty was once honored. Now that he’s dead, the light has gone out. You should bury him properly, and must not be negligent.”
The two bowed their heads, feeling the pressure from above, repeatedly agreeing, no longer harboring any disrespectful thoughts.
Watching the slender figure walk away, waiting until the carriage drove back into the white snow, the two palace attendants finally looked at each other and let out a long sigh of relief.
The carriage went further and further away, the sound of hooves disappearing without a trace, and the empty street returned to silence.
Pei Yuanshao’s soul hovered in mid-air, his alluring peach blossom eyes staring at the wheel tracks for a long time.
When he came to his senses, the corpse on the ground was already covered with a red robe, tightly concealing the horrific sight of the mutilated body.
This red brocade seemed to become the last face of the Lang of the previous dynasty.
Pei Yuanshao floated in mid-air, tugging at his mouth.
His life as a human this time must have been extremely unsuccessful.
From the moment he was locked up and thrown into the water prison, not a single person from the entire court, the three palaces and six courtyards, came to his rescue again.
On the day of his death, the palace attendants and civil and military officials who used to curry favor with him all closed their doors and remained indifferent, truly living up to the saying “when the rabbits die, the hunting dogs are cooked; when the birds are gone, the good bow is put away”.
***
“The male lead falls in love first, the female lead is the cold-hearted and rational one, and the male lead suffers desperately because the female lead doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.”
I especially like this concept. Therefore, you’ll see that most of the novels on my website will belong to this trope. Of course, there will be exceptions.
If you’re like me…
So sick of reading stories where the female lead is often foolish, weak, feeble both physically and mentally, usually in a subservient and oppressed role in society such as a maid, secretary, concubine… or to put it bluntly, typically the one who has to serve and please the male lead, always needing protection and rescue from male leads, while the male lead is often described as talented, strikingly handsome, powerful,…
Then please continue reading.
Hi there, girls!
I’m Yuushi L.
Every day, movies, novels and comics continuously reinforce the notion that women are weak, that they can only handle trivial matters in the background, that women are petty-minded and constantly jealous, mocking, and laughing at other women, while men are strong, wealthy, and solely focused on conquering the world, with countless mindless women ready to fall into their arms.
Believe me, once you read Female-dominant (FEDO) novels, your mindset will change significantly.
I am deeply inspired by strong, independent, and rational women who have the power to take control of their lives, and I am fascinated by the way society’s gender roles are reversed in this genre compared to real life.
So I have created this web with the noble purpose of promoting the “Female-dominant (FEDO)” genre of novels.
In my country, there was a rare renowned female poet in ancient times who wrote the following about the fate of women in that era:
“Damn this life of sharing a husband,
One wrapped in warmth, the other left cold.
I’d rather have stayed single from the start,
Than to endure a life so torn apart.”
Perhaps my penchant for reading female-dominant stories is partly a way of rebelling against the realities of life.
* * *
On my site, there will be stories that are not only female-dominant novels, as long as they align with my taste, featuring strong female protagonists and fresh, captivating storylines. Usually, they will be modern or fantasy novels.
I rarely read ancient novels that aren’t female-dominant because they often contain details that easily trigger me. These include the portrayal of men having multiple wives and concubines, which was considered utterly normal in ancient society, and the frequent disdain towards women.
I cannot change the world, as the societal structure that discriminates against women and elevates men has existed for thousands of years. Changing it to truly give women an equal role in society is not something that can happen overnight. If you want gender equality now, it’s laughable. It will never happen when over 90% of national and business leaders are men.
But I can start by changing the mindset of women, sisters, and young girls. Don’t just read dull slogans urging women to be strong and independent; it’s hard to imagine. Read Female-dominant (FEDO) novels to see clearly what true female empowerment looks like.
I believe there will be more and more independent and strong women who prioritize their careers and personal stability over seeking a man to rely on.
In the future, there will be more successful female entrepreneurs, politicians, and thought leaders.
As for me, I will start by making this website grow stronger day by day.
There will be exceptionally brilliant stories, but there will also be mediocre ones. As the Female-dominant (FEDO) genre has fewer authors and readers, the number of high-quality novels is limited.
Therefore, I want to promote this genre to reach a wider audience, which will encourage more talented authors to choose to write in this style, leading to the birth of more outstanding Female-dominant (FEDO) novels.
The Chinese versions of the novels I use for translation are all sourced from various websites on the internet. You know, I don’t have much budget to purchase so many novels.
Therefore, if your financial situation allows, please support the authors by purchasing the original works. You can find the original works using the Chinese titles of the novels.
*
WARNING:
In some novels, there are certain unhealthy ideologies and illegal actions held by the main characters (for example, treating human lives as worthless, or casually deciding to kill someone, forcing others to do things they don’t want to do, arbitrarily imprisoning others, plotting to harm others, using violence to retaliate against violence,…).
This may be because the authors are still young and inexperienced, unaware that what they’re writing goes beyond moral standards and can negatively influence young readers.
It’s important that readers under 18 years old need to recognize these are illegal actions, not permitted to be carried out in real life, always keep a clear head while reading, treat these works only as entertainment, and don’t let yourself be influenced by those plot points.
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If you want to join me, support me, recommend novels, or simply want to connect with me privately, please contact me via email: [email protected]
YUUSHI L
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