My Ex-Husband, Whom I Abandoned, Has Ascended the Throne

Shen Mingyu never had an easy life growing up. At sixteen, to escape the fate of being sold, she ran away.

Hearing that a young man in Baiyun Village, twenty miles away, wanted a wife and offered thirty taels to the matchmaker—thirty taels—Shen Mingyu’s eyes lit up, and she packed her bundle to seek him out.

The man was a pitiful orphan with no parents, self-reliant from a young age. The young youth was inexperienced, but honest, hardworking, and resilient. He was a man worth marrying.

To win him over, Shen Mingyu would smile sweetly and call him “Pei Lang,” offering warm regards day and night, mending his clothes, and baking handmade flower pastries for him. Eventually, the two of them tied the knot.

In the second year of their marriage, Shen Mingyu unexpectedly discovered she was not a peasant girl at all, but the true eldest daughter of a marquis’s estate who had been switched at birth. She fled, taking Pei Shumin’s money and leaving behind an apologetic IOU to fund her journey to the capital to find her family.

Pei Shumin had no parents since childhood and grew up alone in the village. By five, he learned to wash clothes and cook; by eight, he chopped firewood on the mountain; by ten, he carried game to town to sell. Relying on his sharp mind, by seventeen, he had saved up a tidy sum for a bride fund.

Like most ordinary men, young Pei Shumin intended to use this money to marry a wife and have children. Then, a young girl broke into his barren life, bringing a warmth he had never experienced before. For the first seventeen years of his life, he finally knew what a “home” felt like.

But later, Shen Mingyu vanished, taking all his savings with her. At that moment, staring at the empty house, Pei Shumin let out a wretched, bitter laugh.

After being recognized by the marquis’s estate, Shen Mingyu entered a life of luxury and wealth. The first thing she did upon returning home was think of her ex-husband back in Baiyun Village.

Shen Mingyu wanted to bring him over, but the marquis family rules forbade it. So, she could only send someone to deliver three thousand taels as repayment to Pei Shumin, hoping he would forget their marriage and find another good woman. Half a month later, without a single word, the three thousand taels were returned to her intact.

Having done her best, Shen Mingyu had no other choice when he refused it. She continued living her luxurious life.

Until several months later, when the emperor passed away and the crown prince ascended the throne. Word had it that the crown prince had been missing since childhood, wandering the countryside for over a decade before being found. He was well-read, skilled in horsemanship and archery, young, handsome, and excelled at everything—except he kept away from women and refused to select a consort, driving the veteran ministers crazy with worry.

Wandered the countryside?

Shen Mingyu thought that with such a similar background, they might have more in common to talk about. If the new emperor was pleased, she could soar to great heights. Eager and confident, Shen Mingyu attended the banquet—until, at the palace feast, she caught sight of a face identical to her ex-husband’s, glaring darkly right at her.

Having been husband and wife for a year, Shen Mingyu knew all too well that while Pei Shumin was steady and capable, he was a man who always sought revenge for a grievance. Having committed a guilty deed, she was terrified of retaliation.

Unwilling to marry into the palace, she set her sights on a general who had just returned to court, hastily begging her family to arrange the match. A marquis’s daughter marrying a general, a beauty paired with a hero.

On the wedding day, the streets were filled with gongs, drums, and a ten-mile procession of dowry—lively and celebratory as people praised the match made in heaven. Yet, on their wedding night, the bride mysteriously vanished.

Side Theater
The despair after being deceived, the anger after being abandoned, and the absolute emotional detachment after ascending the throne—Pei Shumin thought he hated her to the core.

Later, when the emperor visited the marquis’s estate, he accidentally caught sight of a young boy amidst the bright spring sunlight. The child was only two years old, sitting under the eaves holding a book, pretending to read while shaking his head back and forth.

The servants said this young master was a child the eldest young master of the family had picked up. Pei Shumin let out an “oh,” and just as he was about to leave, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a tiny face identical to his own.

His expression shifted instantly, and he fell into deep contemplation…