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Marquis is Innocent
In a time of chaos, after enduring the pain of losing his father and brothers, Wei Shao dedicated himself to the responsibilities of his family. As he led his clan to avenge the past atrocities of the city’s slaughter, he discovered that what the common people truly needed was not revenge or warfare, but peace.
To secure the livelihoods of the people, he extended a marriage alliance to the Qiao family, who had betrayed the Wei family. The youngest daughter, Qiao Man, was forced into marriage. Rumors portrayed Wei Shao as a ruthless conqueror, and Qiao Man understood that her marriage was merely a temporary measure. She lived in the Wei household with caution, treading carefully.
After navigating numerous crises, Qiao Man and Wei Shao gradually became drawn to each other’s intelligence, strategy, and open-mindedness. However, the enmity between their families loomed over them, creating a barrier in their relationship.
When the Wei family faced a life-and-death crisis, Qiao Man vowed to defend the city at all costs, ultimately winning the hearts of the Wei clan and Wei Shao. In the end, the two genuinely fell in love, using their mutual understanding to resolve family conflicts and together restore peace and stability to the people.
To secure the livelihoods of the people, he extended a marriage alliance to the Qiao family, who had betrayed the Wei family. The youngest daughter, Qiao Man, was forced into marriage. Rumors portrayed Wei Shao as a ruthless conqueror, and Qiao Man understood that her marriage was merely a temporary measure. She lived in the Wei household with caution, treading carefully.
After navigating numerous crises, Qiao Man and Wei Shao gradually became drawn to each other’s intelligence, strategy, and open-mindedness. However, the enmity between their families loomed over them, creating a barrier in their relationship.
When the Wei family faced a life-and-death crisis, Qiao Man vowed to defend the city at all costs, ultimately winning the hearts of the Wei clan and Wei Shao. In the end, the two genuinely fell in love, using their mutual understanding to resolve family conflicts and together restore peace and stability to the people.
2130 pages, ebook
18 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Peng Lai Ke
51 books14 followersAssociated Names:
* Peng Lai Ke (English)
* 蓬萊客 (Chinese)
* 蓬莱客 (Chinese)
* เผิงไหลเค่อ (Thai)
* Peng Lai Ke (English)
* 蓬萊客 (Chinese)
* 蓬莱客 (Chinese)
* เผิงไหลเค่อ (Thai)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 15, 2025
this novel has 171? chapters and i finished the version i had with 150 chapters i think it's safe to say I've read most of this book
tbh Idk why everyone literally ignores the child marriage and huge age gap that there is
the girl is a literal child with 14 years of age when she gets married and he's 22 years old like?
ok back at those years it makes sense but was it really necessary? couldn't the ages be a little bit more close?
also, it's important to note that the book definitely includes rape while she's not consenting or she's just asleep or drunk
and it's multiple times and even when they're good together, and weishao never even apologized for it or acknowledged that what he did was wrong
also there's so much description of feet and stuff like I just can't
the girl literally gets pregnant at the young age of 16
this is one of the times that I should say the adaptation was so much better than the book, and a lot of the time it's like that with chinese books and series
i think the drama made a much simpler version of the wars and stuff which could be more detailed
but the depiction of the love between weishao and xiao qiao, and the maturity of it was so much better. Weishao had a lot better of a character development, and at least in the series he wasn't just generally crazy
also at the series xiao qiao was a lot more of a strategist than just a girl with a pretty face, and that's what I like about chinese dramas
anyways in general, i think the drama is way better
tbh Idk why everyone literally ignores the child marriage and huge age gap that there is
the girl is a literal child with 14 years of age when she gets married and he's 22 years old like?
ok back at those years it makes sense but was it really necessary? couldn't the ages be a little bit more close?
also, it's important to note that the book definitely includes rape while she's not consenting or she's just asleep or drunk
and it's multiple times and even when they're good together, and weishao never even apologized for it or acknowledged that what he did was wrong
also there's so much description of feet and stuff like I just can't
the girl literally gets pregnant at the young age of 16
this is one of the times that I should say the adaptation was so much better than the book, and a lot of the time it's like that with chinese books and series
i think the drama made a much simpler version of the wars and stuff which could be more detailed
but the depiction of the love between weishao and xiao qiao, and the maturity of it was so much better. Weishao had a lot better of a character development, and at least in the series he wasn't just generally crazy
also at the series xiao qiao was a lot more of a strategist than just a girl with a pretty face, and that's what I like about chinese dramas
anyways in general, i think the drama is way better
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2026
Llegué a este libro luego de ver la serie "The prisioner of beauty", como me fue tan atrapante, quise saber más. Realmente hubo muchos cambios en la serie, y los agradezco.
Aunque la vértebra de esta historia es el amor que se construye entre Xiao Qiao y Wei Shao, si alguien busca un romance, esta no es la lectura adecuada. Su historia es también la construcción de un imperio, muchos capítulos son sobre estrategias, guerra y relaciones políticas, que bajo la narración es realmente agradable y disfruté mucho de ver la transformación de los personajes y del imperio. (incluso Shao y Xiao pasan meses sin verse)
Por otro lado, Wei Shao es el protagonista masculino más cuestionable que he leído. Como es mi primera vez leyendo una novela china historica, fue un poco impactante su muestra cruda del comportamiento de los hombres sobre las mujeres, principalmente los cambios hechos en la serie se concentran en los abusos de Shao sobre Xiao. Entre todo, puedo asegurar que no hay una romantización sobre su comportamiento, sólo se pasa como la forma en la que un emperador trataba a su esposa (una niña de 14 años), ciertas escenas pueden ser muy sensibles para algunas personas. La transformación de este personaje es importante, y aunque no hace olvidar que es un protagonista con una moral muy gris, le tomé cierto cariño, especialmente los capitulos añadidos que muestran a un Wei Shao muy distinto que me habría encantado leer por lo menos desde la mitad del libro.
Xiao es una protagonista maravillosa, muy inteligente, astuta y con una moral y lealtad inquebrantable. No desentona en la época en la que vive, aún es una niña que su función es ser una buena esposa, pero sabe como influir sobre todos aquellos que tiene a su alrededor.
En general todos los personajes están muy bien construidos, la historia está tan bien constituida que me hizo sentir que estaba leyendo la historia de China. Es una lectura disfrutable, ligera (aunque extensa) y originó una serie que adoro.
Guardaré con cariño esta historia.
“Oh heavens! I wish to grow old with you! Life after life, our forms and shadows following each other! Even if the great river one day runs dry, my heart can never be taken away!”
Aunque la vértebra de esta historia es el amor que se construye entre Xiao Qiao y Wei Shao, si alguien busca un romance, esta no es la lectura adecuada. Su historia es también la construcción de un imperio, muchos capítulos son sobre estrategias, guerra y relaciones políticas, que bajo la narración es realmente agradable y disfruté mucho de ver la transformación de los personajes y del imperio. (incluso Shao y Xiao pasan meses sin verse)
Por otro lado, Wei Shao es el protagonista masculino más cuestionable que he leído. Como es mi primera vez leyendo una novela china historica, fue un poco impactante su muestra cruda del comportamiento de los hombres sobre las mujeres, principalmente los cambios hechos en la serie se concentran en los abusos de Shao sobre Xiao. Entre todo, puedo asegurar que no hay una romantización sobre su comportamiento, sólo se pasa como la forma en la que un emperador trataba a su esposa (una niña de 14 años), ciertas escenas pueden ser muy sensibles para algunas personas. La transformación de este personaje es importante, y aunque no hace olvidar que es un protagonista con una moral muy gris, le tomé cierto cariño, especialmente los capitulos añadidos que muestran a un Wei Shao muy distinto que me habría encantado leer por lo menos desde la mitad del libro.
Xiao es una protagonista maravillosa, muy inteligente, astuta y con una moral y lealtad inquebrantable. No desentona en la época en la que vive, aún es una niña que su función es ser una buena esposa, pero sabe como influir sobre todos aquellos que tiene a su alrededor.
En general todos los personajes están muy bien construidos, la historia está tan bien constituida que me hizo sentir que estaba leyendo la historia de China. Es una lectura disfrutable, ligera (aunque extensa) y originó una serie que adoro.
Guardaré con cariño esta historia.
“Oh heavens! I wish to grow old with you! Life after life, our forms and shadows following each other! Even if the great river one day runs dry, my heart can never be taken away!”
January 8, 2026
Mungkin ini salah satu momen saat aku merasa versi adaptasi TV lebih menarik, plotnya fokus, kedua MC lebih memorable dan mudah disukai.
Aku mencoba membaca versi buku sebenarnya untuk mendapatkan background cerita yang lebih lengkap, lebih utuh dan bonus scene yang mungkin tak diangkat ke layar kaca.
Ternyata memang background world building lebih banyak tapi tidak penjelasannya juga membingungkan. Aku suka unsur historikal yang dimasukan dan beberapa info tentang setting latar yang diberikan. Tapi unsur multi universe dan reinkarnasi yang berulang-ulang ini nyaris tidak memberikan banyak arti.
Untunglah versi adaptasi menyederhanakan bagian ini dan membuat mereka punya lebih banyak space untuk membangun chemistri antar pasutri kita.
Di buku FMC masih sangat muda, belum 15 th. Walau era itu memang masih wajar pernikahan dini dilangsungkan apalagi untuk kepentingan politik, tapi menyajikan banyak scene SA dan r*pe ini sebagai bagian dari romantisme RT terasa berlebihan dan glorifikasi toxic marriage. Aku berharap ada grovelling dari MMC tapi ternyata minimalis juga.
Jadi extra points untuk versi adaptasi lagi.
Aku mencoba membaca versi buku sebenarnya untuk mendapatkan background cerita yang lebih lengkap, lebih utuh dan bonus scene yang mungkin tak diangkat ke layar kaca.
Ternyata memang background world building lebih banyak tapi tidak penjelasannya juga membingungkan. Aku suka unsur historikal yang dimasukan dan beberapa info tentang setting latar yang diberikan. Tapi unsur multi universe dan reinkarnasi yang berulang-ulang ini nyaris tidak memberikan banyak arti.
Untunglah versi adaptasi menyederhanakan bagian ini dan membuat mereka punya lebih banyak space untuk membangun chemistri antar pasutri kita.
Di buku FMC masih sangat muda, belum 15 th. Walau era itu memang masih wajar pernikahan dini dilangsungkan apalagi untuk kepentingan politik, tapi menyajikan banyak scene SA dan r*pe ini sebagai bagian dari romantisme RT terasa berlebihan dan glorifikasi toxic marriage. Aku berharap ada grovelling dari MMC tapi ternyata minimalis juga.
Jadi extra points untuk versi adaptasi lagi.
June 26, 2025
My review is not for intelligent discussion. It's what I felt/thought while reading the book. Starting 2021, I would rate the book this way:
1 - DNF'ed
2 - Did not like it at all
3 - It was bearable
4 - It was enjoyable but it doesn't mean I recommend it
5 - I will re-read this for enjoyment
Themes: time travel/rebirth, war, smut, romance, enemies to lovers
I read the novel before I watched the drama. There is something in enemies to lovers trope that would make me focus my attention. It's as if my being is touching something forbidden and the slowburn romance is so fulfilling.
When it comes to this novel, I would say that this is really an enemies to lovers theme. Weis and Qiaos started as friends but ended as enemies when the latter betrayed the former. The betrayal caused the lives of three generations from the Weis, leaving only the sole heir: Wei Shao. At 22, he became ambitious, driven with revenge, started his campaign to expand his territory (or reclaim what was lost 14 years prior). This startled the Qiaos. They then offered a marriage of alliance between the two clans.
PLEASE LEAVE IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
Special note, some of the drama viewers were confused because there was first life, second life, etc. This story involved different lives in different time frames. I'll summarize this as:
1st life of FL - modern. She died in her 20s.
2nd life of FL - she became Xiao Qiao / Manman (the first life of Manman)
3rd life of FL - she was still Xiao Qiao. This is the pace of the novel.
It is also important to note that during the first life of Manman, she didn't have any relations with Wei Shao at all. They never met. She married her childhood sweetheart and Wei Shao married her elder cousin, Da Qiao. Wei Shao successfully annihilated all the Qiaos.
In her second life as Manman, she retained all her memories. She used these memories to guide her as she navigated through her marriage with the Wei Shao.
Now that we set the pace of the novel, my thoughts are: there are scenes in the novel that I find uncomfortable and harsher that what I imagined. There are times that I jokingly tell myself that the main focus of the novel are three things: Fighting, Bathing, and the main leads coupling.
As I read the novel, there are some points that I felt that Manman was not really loved by the author. If I remember correctly, she wasn't given a proper name. Also, I questioned myself if Manman's emotions for Wei Shao in their second life were genuine or were those just barriers that she built because she was desperate for the Qiaos' survival.
I already read this twice before watching the drama and while watching the drama. My point of view about the novel is still the same. The drama has no sense of time travel or rebirth - it was just a plain historical setting. If I dare to compare, I love how Wei Shao and Manman were written in the drama and how their communication skills with each other were constructed. The relationship of Manman and Wei Shao is sweeter in the drama compared in the novel.
[image error]
Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel but some scenes would make others back off.
Bonus: I will put some Wei Shao and Manman pics. You may watch Prisoner on Beauty :-D
1 - DNF'ed
2 - Did not like it at all
3 - It was bearable
4 - It was enjoyable but it doesn't mean I recommend it
5 - I will re-read this for enjoyment
Themes: time travel/rebirth, war, smut, romance, enemies to lovers
I read the novel before I watched the drama. There is something in enemies to lovers trope that would make me focus my attention. It's as if my being is touching something forbidden and the slowburn romance is so fulfilling.
When it comes to this novel, I would say that this is really an enemies to lovers theme. Weis and Qiaos started as friends but ended as enemies when the latter betrayed the former. The betrayal caused the lives of three generations from the Weis, leaving only the sole heir: Wei Shao. At 22, he became ambitious, driven with revenge, started his campaign to expand his territory (or reclaim what was lost 14 years prior). This startled the Qiaos. They then offered a marriage of alliance between the two clans.
PLEASE LEAVE IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
Special note, some of the drama viewers were confused because there was first life, second life, etc. This story involved different lives in different time frames. I'll summarize this as:
1st life of FL - modern. She died in her 20s.
2nd life of FL - she became Xiao Qiao / Manman (the first life of Manman)
3rd life of FL - she was still Xiao Qiao. This is the pace of the novel.
It is also important to note that during the first life of Manman, she didn't have any relations with Wei Shao at all. They never met. She married her childhood sweetheart and Wei Shao married her elder cousin, Da Qiao. Wei Shao successfully annihilated all the Qiaos.
In her second life as Manman, she retained all her memories. She used these memories to guide her as she navigated through her marriage with the Wei Shao.
Now that we set the pace of the novel, my thoughts are: there are scenes in the novel that I find uncomfortable and harsher that what I imagined. There are times that I jokingly tell myself that the main focus of the novel are three things: Fighting, Bathing, and the main leads coupling.
As I read the novel, there are some points that I felt that Manman was not really loved by the author. If I remember correctly, she wasn't given a proper name. Also, I questioned myself if Manman's emotions for Wei Shao in their second life were genuine or were those just barriers that she built because she was desperate for the Qiaos' survival.
I already read this twice before watching the drama and while watching the drama. My point of view about the novel is still the same. The drama has no sense of time travel or rebirth - it was just a plain historical setting. If I dare to compare, I love how Wei Shao and Manman were written in the drama and how their communication skills with each other were constructed. The relationship of Manman and Wei Shao is sweeter in the drama compared in the novel.
[image error]
Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel but some scenes would make others back off.
Bonus: I will put some Wei Shao and Manman pics. You may watch Prisoner on Beauty :-D
May 28, 2025
In Zhe Yao / Marquis is Innocent, Qiao Xiao is given a glimpse of the future in the form of a nightmare. Determined to save her family, Qiao Xiao must marry Wei Shao, to whom her family must make amends for past misdeeds. But is Wei Shao willing to forgive them?
I was aware that this was a drama, but I originally had no intention of watching it until I was made aware that is an arranged marriage. It's also a rebirth, a transmigration, and covers a number of things that I did not expect to find in a Chinese webnovel.
My only issue was Qiao Xiao's age for most of the book. It's tagged as an age gap, and this is a historical fiction, but some things are harder to get around than others (which is also a theme of this novel). Otherwise, this was a great novel.
(I know the drama will fix this issue, but I am also afraid of which sensible plotline will be changed in what will end up feeling like a tradeoff.)
Ultimately, if you like arranged marriages, rebirth/time travel/transmigration, building an empire, and not-enemies to lovers, this might be worth a peak.
I was aware that this was a drama, but I originally had no intention of watching it until I was made aware that is an arranged marriage. It's also a rebirth, a transmigration, and covers a number of things that I did not expect to find in a Chinese webnovel.
My only issue was Qiao Xiao's age for most of the book. It's tagged as an age gap, and this is a historical fiction, but some things are harder to get around than others (which is also a theme of this novel). Otherwise, this was a great novel.
(I know the drama will fix this issue, but I am also afraid of which sensible plotline will be changed in what will end up feeling like a tradeoff.)
Ultimately, if you like arranged marriages, rebirth/time travel/transmigration, building an empire, and not-enemies to lovers, this might be worth a peak.
August 31, 2025
3.5
I think the connection between the leads could've been developed more because while I understood that any bridge and connection that they built was built off of physical intimacy, due to the difficult family relations, we never see these two have moments where they fully trust each other or are open to each other. By the end, they finally get to be open and start their relationship without the past weighing them down but I longed for more. Wish we had more fleshed out parts of them building their relationship together, the consistent guesswork and icing out got tiring after a while.
The cat part was so 😭
I think the connection between the leads could've been developed more because while I understood that any bridge and connection that they built was built off of physical intimacy, due to the difficult family relations, we never see these two have moments where they fully trust each other or are open to each other. By the end, they finally get to be open and start their relationship without the past weighing them down but I longed for more. Wish we had more fleshed out parts of them building their relationship together, the consistent guesswork and icing out got tiring after a while.
The cat part was so 😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 8, 2025
I’m conflicted about the Wei Shao I met here.
I knew the adaptation-version of him first, so considering everything… (yes, including the so-called period standards and all.) I’d still happily mince this Wei Shao or throw him in a fire just to keep Manman warm.
All in all, I’m glad I got to read about the little princess and prince here.
I knew the adaptation-version of him first, so considering everything… (yes, including the so-called period standards and all.) I’d still happily mince this Wei Shao or throw him in a fire just to keep Manman warm.
All in all, I’m glad I got to read about the little princess and prince here.
February 16, 2026
I should have just dnf but some parts were interesting to read. Overall, the adaptation did a better job of showing character development. FL's cunning journey to make the most of her fate and the ML's journey to overcome familial grudges seem watered down here.
May 26, 2025
Wei Shao and Manman
the couple of my dream
the couple of my dream
July 25, 2025
The original version of The Prisoner of Beauty. At least I knew that both of them become a great Emperor and Empress, raising two kids.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2025
i think i'll just stick and ship to the c-drama adaptation The Prisoner of Beauty. i gave 3-star because of this book, the c-drama tv show happened.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews