何为贤妻

by Yue Xia Die Ying, 月下蝶影

สตรีผู้หนึ่งต้องดีงามเพียงใด จึงจะได้ชื่อว่าเป็นภรรยาผู้เพียบพร้อม

ควรยึดหลักสามคล้อยตามสี่คุณธรรม เชื่อฟีงบิดาและสามีไปทุกสิ่ง ต้องมีเมตตาแม้แต่กับภรรยาน้อย ถึงขั้นต้องอดกลั้นยามคนเหล่านั้นมอบความอยุติธรรมให้ ต่อให้เป็นชาติภพที่บุรุษเป็นใหญ่ นี่ก็ยังนับว่าเอาเปรียบกันไปสักหน่อย คนแข็งกร้าวไร้ความอ่อนหวานเช่นเธอ มีหรือจะก้มหน้ารับชะตากรรมแบบนั้น หากดีงามแต่ยังมัดใจสามีไม่ได้แล้วอย่างไร มีศีลธรรมแล้วเป็นเบี้ยล่างคนอื่นอยู่ร่ำไปก็เท่านั้น เครือญาติมากเล่ห์ เหล่าสนมเมียรองมากมารยา จะให้ยิ้มรับก็กระไรอยู่

แม้เธอไม่ใช่ชายาที่ร้ายกาจจนระรานใครไปทั่ว แต่ก็ไม่มีทางอยู่เฉยให้ใครรังแกแน่ ศึกนอกศึกในไม่มีขาดสาย ขืนทำตัวอ่อนแอไม่รู้ความคงไม่รอด เป็นหวางเฟย...ควรใช้อำนาจกับภาพลักษณ์งดงามให้เป็นประโยชน์ ต้องกุมหัวใจท่านอ๋อง กำราบเมียรอง เชิดหน้ารับมืออริทั้งหลาย เช่นนี้ต่างหากถึงจะนับว่าเยี่ยมยอด ให้เป็นภรรยาผู้เพียบพร้อมคุณธรรมอะไรนั่น เกรงว่าเธอคงไม่อาจทำได้

Genres: Romance, China, Historical, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Novels, Adult

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Associated Names:
* Yue Xia Die Ying
* 月下蝶影
* เยวี่ยซย่าเตี๋ยอิ่ง, เยว่เซี่ยเตี๋ยอิ่ง, เย่ว์เซี่ยเตี๋ยอิ่ง (Thai)

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

SECOND READ: 2018!!!

I'm not pretty sure if this is going to be a yearly tradition to re-read this story hahaha!I've mentioned previously that Qu Jing Ju is my TOP heroine of all eras and she still is as of the moment.
I have coincidentally read this 'while' enjoying watching the Untouchable Lovers series so maybe there's a reason why I picture out Qu Qing Ju as:







and He Heng as:







(God, look at the hair.... geez)

This was a time-travel story but it wasn't expounded how the 'heroine' went back in time and 'occupied' the body of Qu Qing Ju. What I learned about her (from the snippet of memories) was she was a manager in an entertainment industry in the modern times. Her age, status in life, etc were not mentioned.

Qu Qing Ju got sick months after she was married into the He Heng's fu. The personality of the original Qu Qing Ju was like that of a mud (that's what others described her). She suffered from abuses from her own home (Cinderella story haha) and her step mom did not even educate her about the 'political' life of a wife or a consort or even a concubine in a fu. Qu Qing Ju even taught her self on how to dance from the books. She was bland, loved plain clothing and jewelries. Others took advantage of her even in He Heng's fu.

So imagine their surprise when she woke up from the sickness and found a woman who was vicious and cunning. The old Qu Qing Ju was gone and this new person who loved red dress and fine jewelries got into their skins hahaha.

The amazing thing was, the "new" Qu Qing Ju still had the memories of her past life (modern) and the memories of the original Qu Qing Ju. It was an advantage to our heroine because she knew who slighted her and how to exact a revenge.


Qu Qing Ju's words:
"In the past, I always thought the best of others but it is today that I have decided to use goodness to repay goodness, use evil to repay evil. That is the way to live in the Imperial Family."


It was because of this new personality that caught her husband's attention. I would say he was a lil bit curious and then he got curious some more hahahaa.


In time, He Heng fell in loved with her but she was a practical girl. I don't know if this trait was from her past life or this was also the original's Qu Qing Ju's hidden character. She was head over heart (I never even remembered that she said the three words to him). This was her belief:

From a certain perspective, she enjoyed the good He Heng gave her, and she would return the same to He Heng. If He Heng really had feelings towards her, she would be delighted. If He Heng had no feelings for her, she wouldn't be heartbroken. And she had the confidence that before she would die in exhilaration, she would dig a hole for He Heng.

Love wasn't essential in life but if there was love to flavor in life, she wouldn't reject enjoying it.

In the novels, the women tortured themselves because of love. But she wasn't the female protagonist, she didn't have to walk the road they did. She wasn't even scared of death, would she be scared of this thing called love?



He Heng's words:
"Zhen thought, as a man, one should be filial to elders, esteem his wife, and love and protect his children. As a woman, one should have proper conduct, esteem her husband, be virtuous and intelligent. Only like this, can husband and wife be harmonious."



What I like about this was, their love was subtle and it defied or changed traditions in their dynasty.
He Heng fought for her and Qu Qing Ju fought for him. I mean, they never took their relationship for granted and they savored every moment. And they were actually friends too - -






I've mentioned it also before that with the right cast, director and crews, this would be a beautiful movie / series. This was a journey of not just of Qu Qing Ju and He Heng but of all the people in their dynasty.

PS
I know, I know but I just couldn't get the Rhong Zi and Chuyu in Untouchable Lovers from my mind hahahahahaha... I really pictured them as this story's characters soooooo....



















Bye for now, hahahaha... Maybe I'll re-read this next year and will have some new insights about this one. Mwah

******************************************************************************

FIRST READ: 2017!!!


The apathy of men, the resulting pain would be multiplied on the women. The weakness of women, the resulting pain would be multiplied on the children.

I only read the translated story of this since I don't read/write Chinese. And as a modern Filpina, I read this in the context that this story was inspired from another era (no matter how fictional) and from another culture. So, I didn't really judge that the Hero, He Heng, had many concubines and had one legal wife, Qu Qing Ju, our heroine. I know that many would be discouraged about this theme alone but the story was very intriguing and the characters were very engaging.

Also, the chapters were too long, a total of 123, so this might also turn others off.

It was said that this was time-travel romance but the reason of time travel was not expounded well. It was only mentioned that the heroine's spirit took the body of the original, etc etc etc. She had a fragment of memories of her past life, etc etc etc. The entire story evolved around the heroine as a young wife (16 yrs old) to an imperial son (who was in his early 20s) and how their relationship grew.

There was no love in the beginning. The original Qu Qing Ju was 15 when she got married to He Heng, somehow a weakling (her childhood story was like a Cinderalla type), got sick to the point of death. Perhaps she really died and the soul of another woman from the future (a talent manager) came to her body. Then everyone was surprised that Qu Qing Ju became well. And gradually changed into a strong woman. He Heng slowly changed her perceptions on this certain woman, his wife, and started to appreciate her gradually. And came to love her slowly.

"One's wang fei, one naturally should love."


Our heroine was head over heart, a very practical heroine. I really liked her personality. In an era where she was victimized by her own family and fell under the jealousy of her husband's concubines, she really knew how to retaliate using her brains, her grace, her being a "virtuous" wife. As of the moment, Qu Qing Ju is on the top of my favorite heroines from ancient and modern stories :-)

It was He Heng who fell in loved first, and our dear heroine was not verbally expressive in showing her deep feelings for her husband. Although somehow vain, she was not a shrew wife. She supported her husband and He Heng supported her. Their relationship was good and harmonious.

"I would never know that a man and woman can be together like this."

I never really knew how the story would come to an end. Certain events surprised me "A LOT!". But what really admired me was the oneness of this couple that it defied traditions on their dynasty. Their love is subtle yet powerful.



P.S. Sometimes, this really got confusing so I re-read a certain chapter a couple of times. And sometimes, I retraced some chapters to get to know the meaning of a certain event or the re-appearances of certain people. HE HE HE

If in time and with the right team (producer, script writers, director, actors, crews, etc) this would be a good movie or series.

[Inn Auni · Rating 2 out of 5]

BEWARE of SPOILER

Well, this is awkward. This book got so many rave reviews that I'm wondering what the heck is wrong with me.

1. I don't mind that some terms were not translated. I've watched too many Chinese drama to know what the terms meant. But, for the sake of translation, it should have been translated. Some reviewer said that the untranslated terms gave off the authentic sense to the story. Nope, it didn't. It's just plain lazy.

2. Was there any difference between this imperial harem than any other imperial harem story out there? None, except for the part where a soul from the future took over FL's body. Oh wait, it have been done before. I would have prefer it if instead of transmigration, the FL rebirth and went bad-ass on the people that abused her.

That was my main two downside of this story. The story was lazy on the writer part and lazy on the translator part. At least I am done with it and can move on to greater story.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting some badass modern sassy low key genius female lead, but this book is actually quite disappointing :(

The interactions between the male and female leads kinda based on lust I would say, not love. And they both really just lack in chemistry. As for the female lead, she’s supposedly from the 20th something century right?! At least she needs to show some characters that represents us modern woman!!

I wouldn’t recommend this book, but since everyone seems to love it maybe you guys can give this one a try?! Instead, try Poison Genius Consort (although it’s not yet completely translated it already has 600 something chapters)

[Delirious Disquisitions · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put off reading this for the longest time, mostly because I did not enjoy this author’s other work, 八宝妆 Eight Treasures Trousseau. While I still have my issues with this novel, I was also pleasantly surprised by it.

The synopsis of To be a Virtuous Wife is kind of misleading. It paints a picture of the kind of badass, indifferent heroine atypical of this genre. It is that, but also very, very laid back. In a nutshell, To Be a Virtuous Wife follows our very lazy, indifferent heroine, who has just transmigrated into the body of a recently married princess, as she navigates the politics of her husband’s harem. The novel is a vignette of the daily lives of the women in the inner courtyard. It reads almost like a slice of life, following the everyday hum drums in the lives of these lonely, terribly bored women. The routine monotony of the story, reflecting the ennui of these women living in a very constricting time period, is at times dull and boring; the writing is dry and without much embellishments. While some might find this type of writing entertaining, I like my stories with a little more spice (and no I don’t mean smut, though this novel has its fair springlings of that too) I found this hard to slog through at times.

But there are plenty of things to like if this is the kind of genre you gravitate towards. The characters strictly follow the conventions of the times, even our transmigrated heroine. She quickly adapts to the sensibilities of the time period, so much so that the “transmigration” part seems pretty redundant. In fact, very little is known of the heroine from her real life. Our love interest, similarly, is very much a man of the times. No green flags discourse on this novel, our prince has concubines that he treats very much like toys: kept for amusement and discarded the second they become even mildly inconvenient. The only reason he sticks with the heroine is because he finds her interesting, a suitable like-minded companion who doesn't get in the way of his ambitions. Over time, this interest turns into love.

The romance between these two is very much physical as it is emotional and intellectual. They eventually fall for each other's minds, thoughts, and ambitions. While our hero undergoes a tremendous arc in terms of love, our heroine is more pragmatic, guarding her heart up until the very end when he proves himself worthy of trust. It might not be for everyone, but if you like your OTPs always challenging one another, engaging in battle of wits and equal charm, then you might like this one.

Between the romance, there is also some court intrigue and politics happening in the background. But again, since this story is told almost entirely from the lens of the women in the backyard, the game of throne politics outside of the harem is kept to a minimum. Instead, we see the women navigate every interaction with their rapier sharp wit through so much verbal sparring. It makes you dizzy just reading about it.

While I found the writing dull and dry at times, it had its moments of brilliance. My favourite is the character arc with the 2nd prince, from a philandering, entitled, spoiled playboy, to a love lorn second lead pinning over the heroine. Maybe it's the futility and the taboo nature of his one-sided yearning and secret pinning that makes him such an interesting character. There is no doubt in my mind that part of his enduring love for the heroine stems from its unrequited and unattainable nature. Had he married her, there's no doubt in my mind he would have messed up. Either by sleeping (intentionally or accidentally) with another concubine because, as a man of the time, he would have seen nothing wrong with it. Or knowing he could never reach her heart, his frustration and impatience would have eventually driven him to do something that would have pushed her away forever. But I would have loved to see that BE ending. At least that would have been far more interesting than the version of things we got in this story. 3.5 stars

[Jena]

- English translations (terrible) - https://dreamsofjianghu.ca/2015/09/07...

- Use the manual method to translate instead. Open this RAW file in Chrome browser https://www.256wx.net/read/955/1.html and let it auto translate to Eng. Pronounces are a mess (he/she, etc), but its still better than the above link.


Ended up DNF'ing this, but I might revisit later.
-Although I ADORED the cunning, scheming h and enjoyed reading about the ancient Chinese culture (misogyny TO THE MAX, so its like watching a trainwreck), I'm a romance reader and this book reads more like a historical "slice of life" fiction with a side love story, than a romance novel. It's also too clean, as in hello, no smut. WTH.

Book features a realistic look into the everyday life of the h eg managing the mansion, going to banquets, interacting with her husband, and his numerous concubines (as per their ancient era culture, the H had quite a few concubines/playthings (8). He had them long before he married the h, so there is of course, lots of ow drama & scheming when there is this many women fighting for 1 man).
h is the main wife, so she is 2nd in command only below the H. She manages her hub's women (I know wtf lol, I usually read these with an appalled expression on my face), and their servants, and doing whatever to amuse herself/pass the time.
h is a smart, lazy but no bullshit kind of a girl, and there are no TSTL moments in the book.

- I felt disconnected from the couple, it didnt pull my emotions.
The MCs didnt have chemistry, and they barely had any screen time together.
Maybe they do later in the book, but how am I supposed to believe that they fell in love when all the bedroom scenes are not shown, and the only time he sees her is at night in her bedroom? There are too many time jumps in the beginning - 1 month later, few weeks later, and we're simply told that the H went to her bed every night and didnt see his other concubines, and thats how we're told he's falling for her, huh?

- If you're a safety reader, its safe.
H is faithful to the h the entire book, they're in a monogamous relationship when this was unheard of during this era, which makes it that much sweeter. And he apparently promises her that he won't favor any other women at the end (but I stop midway so I dunno, but he lost interest in all his other concubines after meeting the h, and ignores all other women).

- The h is a 25+yr old modern day actress who is transported back in time into the body of a timid, abused, beautiful noble girl (16) who just recently got married to a high ranked prince/H (20), who has a chance at ascending the throne. So basically she wakes up as a princess consort( his wife in modern term).

I wanted her to be against sleeping with the H UNTIL he got rid of his concubines, because he slept with her thinking shes just one of the many, but h didnt care at all!
She didnt care because she didnt care about the H at all. She was just lazy and wanted to enjoy her life while it was good, and not focus on a man. She wanted to eat cakes, laze around, nap and have a good life. She didnt care what the H did.
Her attitude was like, I'll sleep with him because he wants me now, and when he gets tired of me (and she believed that he will one day), I wont sleep with him then *shrugs*.
She just didnt care - at all! lol

- The only gripe I have about the h:
I went in thinking this book is gonna be like, "How NOT to be a Virtuous Wife" (because she's a modern day woman with self respect, right?), but instead she DOES act like it (in this era, everything depended on the hub's favor, who had it will have the most power). She only *thinks* she is different than his concubines if that makes sense. Her inner dialog is quite different from her actions.
She thinks she's not like these ancient day women, because she doesnt trust or care about the H, and I disliked this attitude.
A reviewer said h made the manwhore H faithful, thats one of the reasons why I read it, but thats not quite true. She didnt do anything. He just fell for her by just being her. Lazy and not caring about him. lol

- Even though they're faithful and will be forever, all his concubines did annoy me as a safety reader, and thats one of the top reasons why I'm DNF'ing.
I disliked her indifferent attitude about his fidelity.




-----------------------------------------
(before reading)
For once, you get a h without a love brain. No fainting because the H is near bullshit.
I love seeing h's who doesnt care about the H at all lol. She could care less what he does, who he does, and she makes him work to win her!


- As much as I'm enjoying this book, I might need to DNF.
I really hate romance novels without smut. Yup, I'm sorry, my American romance reader brain cant feel the love and passion when love scenes are fade to black. Here's a love scene from this book - "After the joyful moment, both of them felt very satisfied." the end. lol

[richa ⋆.˚★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Transmigrated from a normal modern young woman to the consort of an emperor should've been fun ! But we didn't have anything exciting apart from the domestic issues — concubines, twisted step family and household. The romance also happened way too quickly. I wanted more scheming and see the slow progress of the romance.

[Valentina Linz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esse livro é como uma joia para aqueles que se interessam em romances históricos e tem curiosidade de saber como seria um fora da Europa.
Título: Para ser uma esposa virtuosa, (To Be A Virtuous Wife), (He Wei Xian Qi – 何为贤妻em mandarim )

Autor: Yue Xia Die Ying

Língua lida: Inglês. Pela Dreams of Jianghu

Tem em português: Não tem. Eu tinha interesse em traduzir, mas não tive retorno na minha mensagem pedindo autorização para traduzir para o português, e não consegui encontrar o e-mail do tradutor

Sinopse em português traduzida por mim:

Como uma esposa virtuosa, isso incluiria tolerar a prima do seu marido, suportar suas concubinas, aguentar a sua mãe?

Se vocês não me deixarão me viver livremente, porque eu deixaria vocês viverem satisfeitas?

Teria o destina a feito viajar no tempo para que ela aprendesse as três obediências e as quatro virtudes*?

Ao invés de agir como uma covarde e sobreviver, não seria melhor viver em satisfação e morrer?



Na verdade, eu iria fazer essa resenha junto com outro livro da mesma autora, e só estava esperando terminarem a tradução desse mesmo livro para fazer a resenha. Esperei, a tradução foi finalizada no final do ano passado, e não tinha feito a resenha ainda. Decidi fazer agora, e decidi separar as resenhas.

O motivo? São dois livros, então para que fazer uma resenha só?

O motivo de antes? O enredo é idêntico, o tom é idêntico.

O enredo de Para ser uma esposa virtuosa e de Os oito tesouros do enxoval (que eu acho que é a melhor tradução para Eight Treasures Trousseau) é o seguinte: uma mulher moderna é transmigrada para o corpo de uma mulher da antiguidade, que se casa com um príncipe. Esse príncipe está envolvida na sucessão do trono. A protagonista só quer viver uma vida confortável e preguiçosa, mas nas poucas horas que precisa, sabe ser esperta. Ela conquista o príncipe logo de cara e o afasta das inimigas.

Até o final dos dois livros é igual. Sério, se você ler um livro, o final do outro é igualzinho!

E creio que esse enredo só vai se diferenciar um pouco de uma outra obra que parece que será traduzida da autora, O trabalho como uma Consorte Imperial (The Imperial Consort Occupation).

E isso me fez repensar no que me fazia interessar por um livro e sobre plágio. Já deixei de ler muitos livros por causa da sinopse, por achá-la simples demais, ou o contrário; ler um livro ruim por causa de uma premissa boa. Sempre a base do enredo foi algo importante para mim, mas agora já não é mais. Por mais que esses dois livros sejam idênticos em questão de história, sejam até mesmo escritos pela mesma autora, que dá o mesmo tom, e que a protagonista é a mesma, o decorrer é diferente. Isso diferencia Para ser uma esposa virtuosa de Os oito tesouros do enxoval. Não o conteúdo, não como é contato, mas sim o caminho que a história percorre. O começo e o final de ambos são quase idênticos, mas o como chegou lá foi diferente. Com isso, mesmo que fossem autores diferentes, eu não poderia falar que um é plágio do outro.

Vamos a história.

Para começar, é bonita. Narrativamente bonito. Como um livro de época, de costumes, a narrativa combina com o clima do ambiente, dando um tom de refinamento quando mais da metade da história é contada dentro do palácio e residências reais. Não só focando na vida dos nobres, mas também um pouco nos servos, mas só pouco. A história mesmo começa com a conversa de servos.

E já falando do primeiro capítulo, vamos começar com o que eu considero um defeito quanto usado na quantidade que é feita nesse livro. Entendo que para alguém que entende as nunces do mandarim, que tem palavras que são preciosas. Um exemplo disso são os nomes dados para os parentes. Dê uma olhada nesse link para conferir que cada tipo de parente tem um nome específico para ser chamado. E creio que algumas palavras em mandarim devam ser traduzidas, colocando uma legenda, para preservar a essência do que se quer dizer. Só que tem alguns tradutores que exageram. Dê uma olhada no primeiro parágrafo da história:

The early morning at Duan Wang Fu was not different from any other day. In the kitchen, the servants moved to and fro without any hint of hurry. Ma pozi, after delivering the required pastries to the neiyuan, came back to the kitchen with a group of yahuan but her face wasn’t looking very well.

(leia o resto da resenha no blog, clicando na imagem acima)

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Últimamente he tenido una gran afición a las novelas chinas (obviamente leo las traducciones de estas al inglés porque mi conocimiento de caracteres chino es nulo) y debo confesar que he encontrado un nuevo mundo de gran provecho. To be a virtuous wife es una novela china de 120 capítulos y 3 epílogos, algo corta comparada con las novelas chinas habituales y también con una trama mucho más pasiva y conspiraciones menos detalladas y crueles pero no por eso deja de ser una muy buena novela.

Algo interesante es que la protagonista, Qu Qing Ju, pese a encajar en el típico caso de ser alguien del presente que luego de su repentina muerte renace en x personaje de la antigua china que está al borde de la muerte, es la personificación misma de la pereza; es interesante ver que a pesar de ser inteligente y poseer las habilidades, esta mujer solamente busca vivir una vida plena y relajada, disfrutando al máximo de las circunstancias que la rodean, imponiendo su posición pero simplemente para evitar ser incluida en los problemas. El hecho que ella sea así me gustó mucho. He Heng, el protagonista, no quedó muy detrás aunque la impresión que me dejó fue grata.

Otro singular detalle es que los protagonista se van enamorando lentamente aunque ya compartan un lecho marital (aka tengan relaciones sexuales), cosa que no se ve mucho en la mayoría de este tipo de novelas.

De resto, con una narrativa pausada pero rica, una sucesión de hechos no abrupta pero tampoco carente de acción, y sobre todo la creciente convicción de HH por su amor hacia QQJ incluso después de ser el dragón (es decir, haber ascendido al trono del emperador), To be a virtuous wife es una encantadora novela que vale la pena disfrutar.

Sin embargo, no la recomiendo como primera opción para adentrarse al mundo de las novelas chinas ya que una de las cualidades de TBVF es el uso abundante de términos chinos de realeza, nobleza, gobierno, etcétera (títulos), lo cual por un lado es buenísimo porque eso demuestra la delicada investigación que llevó a cabo el autor para poder adentrarnos a un mejor escenario cultural. Pero, si ya tienen alguna experiencia con este tipo de novela pues no duden en darle una oportunidad a esta.

Amé el último epílogo “That is love” y que se diera a entender (por el hallazgo de la tumba) que ambos murieron al mismo tiempo y fueron sepultados en un solo sarcófago. También el hecho que su historia se haya vuelto una legenda y que en el presente hayan muchas adaptaciones a novelas y dramas. Otra cosa que me encantó fue que encontraran la tumba de He Yuan y en ella la pintura de QQJ durante el Festival de las linternas y por ello nacieran rumores e historias ilícitas de un triángulo amoroso (y que también estos rumores obtuvieron adaptaciones a dramas, y eso)

[Coral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot: 4.5/5
Characterisation: 4/5
Prose: 4/5 (the translator did a wonderful job of translating the flowery prose of the original author)
How much I enjoyed it: 5/5

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love palace dramas...

[vanessa♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

phew finally. i think about dnf this one before because it's SO boring you guys. it's like a lot of things happening but also not really...? idk how to explain.

i think my biggest problem is how the ML has no personality. he's SO boring omg like ik this novel is from the FL pov but cmon give him something... he feels like side character most of the times. i wish the author showed us how "cruel" or "vile" he is in order to obtain the throne from his brothers. i want to see him how he defeated his brothers for the throne, but it never came up??? like suddenly tragedies happened and then he's the candidate for emperor. the process happened very quickly and rather than him, i saw his brothers who schemed instead like... ok bro then what the heck are u doing here tbh?

one plus point is i like how the FL basically doesn't care about him that much like she's very clear in this new world and she can play those people without breaking any sweat. and turned out it's the ML who begs for her love. and I'm glad that he's monogamy... which is very rare in this setting.

so all in all i would give this 2,5⭐

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

01/20/2024 Notes:

Some feelings in this world did not have to be spoken, but if it existed, time would prove it. He seemed to understand what Qing Ju had said. Love was not spoken, but proven through actions.

Quote from the story and it sums up the heart of the LN. 🥰

Due to LNs being translated, I tend to rate down vs up. The translator for TBVW did a great job. They tried to keep true to the original and took the more difficult translation path of writing a mashup archaic-modern hybrid. I loved the translation notes, details for title use, fashion styles, architecture, religions, poetry, food and more. A richly detailed story and main characters you can root for.

Historical Romance with Court Politics + Transmigrated Modern Female

Author's Note: I always wanted to write a pure time-travel love story and finally did it. This is a fulfilled historical romantic fairy tale, the Emperor and Empress will live happily together.

I've read several stories by this author and enjoyed them.

[Pratyasha Pokhrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic transmigration historical novel.
I loved the FL's smart but lazy attitude, it was unique. But at some point, I realised that she could be apathetic as well. I would've wished that there was more into her character as someone who transmigrated; like some kind of grief of her own, but still, she seemed to have adapted really well to the ancient era (which I'm not that surprised over since she was married into a prince's house). Overall, I liked how she took no bullsh*t but wasn't that calculative and didn't plot behind other characters, haha.
I would've loved to read more of the ML and his schemes. I found that he got the throne too easily, for some reason. But I loved reading how much he pampers his empress, that was cute. The side characters were also good, and Rui Wang had me sobbing by the end of the first epilogue. Ugh, SLS. :((

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise was intriguing - the female lead wakes up as the already married Princess Consort of Prince Duan and he already has a small harem of women. I thought this was very refreshing, she's starting off from total rock bottom and we're gonna see her level up and find love with Prince Duan, right? Well, within just one or two chapters, Prince Duan is on her side and infatuated with her already lol.

After that is your usual predictable palace intrigue cnovel - lots of double talk, manipulative schemes etc. This is very similar to Eight Treasures Trousseau by the same author - meaning that it feels like there are no stakes and nothing's happening. Just a lot of people drinking tea and talking. I recommend Qian Shan Cha Ke for more exciting and bingeable palace intrigue stories.

[Wafa · Rating 4 out of 5]

i personally prefer ETT due to all the scheming we get to see but TBAVW is very satisfying in terms of character development and relationships imo, and you really can’t help but admire qu qing ju

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely story. It started out a little slow and I initially struggled to remember all the names and especially the titles, but after I got used to everything, it became pretty enjoyable.

There's not a single conflict that's resolved, but rather the story follows the life of Qu Jing De after she marries the second Imperial prince. Because of his position as one of the Emperor's four sons, He Heng has a number of concubines in his home and others vying for the position, so inevitably there's a lot of power struggles between Qu Jing De and the other women which I found quite enjoyable to read.

Qu Jing De comes from a Cinderella background, where she was raised by a stepmother who hated her, so my favorite scenes were the ones where she and her husband could take revenge on her paternal family. It felt so satisfying reading about how they were stripped of their titles and kicked out from their home. I felt a little bad for her younger half sister, who entered the Third Prince's house as a concubine, but only a little. Her father and stepmother definitely got what they deserved.

I think there's a time travel component to this story, since Qu Jing De's character is from modern times (she was a manager in the entertainment industry) and somehow time traveled back into Qu Jing De's body after she nearly died from an illness, but the author really glosses over this part. I kept forgetting that the Qu Jing de in the book was from modern day until she makes a small comparison to her previous life. Somehow, she still retains all the memories of the original Qu Jing De though. It's a bit of a mystery to me...

I appreciate that the story has a good conclusion. We know Qu Jing De and her husband stay in love with each other their whole lives and have many children together, and are even buried together one one tomb.

[Humbledaisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the translated from the Chinese version of this novel.

I've re-read this several times - the historical Chinese context is fairly complicated and it helps to re-read it!

Basically, a modern woman's soul is transported back in time to the body of a woman from a medieval Chinese dynasty. It's a fantasy dynasty, not a real time-period, but much of it is based on real time periods.

These kind of time travel stories are very popular in China and some are quite ridiculous. This one is pretty calm and is mostly about how a modern viewpoint would both help and hinder a person living in the past. Lovely, detailed translation online.

[Annemarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I'm not sure where to start on this. This was a time-travel romance, suposedly, but it was only in chapter 12 when there's an actual mention of it "In the previous life, her parents had died early in a car crash but until the last moment, they had been thinking about her." It's never clearly stated, but this might just be a convention of these type of Chinese novels I'm unfamilar with, as I felt the same about Stepping into a New World.
The translation was... rough. The sentences were structured pretty unnaturally (probably in keeping with their Chinese grammar), as well as unnatural ways of translating things. "This one" instead of I etc.
A few examples of what I mean:
"The content of the messages weren't different, but what they expressed was the same."
If the content was the same, of course what it expressed was also the same, since, well, they were the same messages?
"clear your innocence."
clear your name or prove your innocence. Clearing your innocence, wouldn't that just be proving her guilt?
"What did the Empress mean, that she, Han Qing He, was born to be a singer?"
I went back to check the conversation, but she never said this in the translations. Things like this make me feel very iffy about the translation, how much is accurate? I can't read Chinese so I have no idea, but it doesn't give me much confidence.
There were also a lot of untranslated terms, which felt kind of lazy to me. I guess people more familiar with Chinese period dramas and these kinds of books wouldn't find it as annoying, but I did.
Also everyone having multiple names/titles/etc, people could have three different names/way of adress in one chapter. Takes some time to get used to (thankfully the book is long enough xD) and can get confusing at times.

The characters were kinda bland? The female lead is supposedly from the future, but she fits in her new world perfectly and is perfectly aware of all conventions and how to act. I get that she had the previous souls memories but she never slipped up? And she stated she tried not to go through those memories much? How can a modern woman slip into feudal China without problems?
Her character is hard to describe because even after 900+ pages, I have no idea. She smart, beautiful, the best person ever, or something. She seemed rather cunning and cold at times, and I didn't really buy the love stories between her and the male lead.

Onto the male lead. He's also super perfect, of course. Very little personality outside of "really loves his wife (once modern girl inhabits her body, all of a sudden. not before that)". He's kinda overbearing and over the top, like ordering servants to chase away cicadas so she can sleep. Like what? At least he's very loyal, so that's a good thing.

The side characters are all very black and white. They are good, and thus very good or bad, and thus awful. Very little nuance. I did like how some of the servants played quite a big role.

The plot is very weak. The romance is severely lacking, it doesn't feel like the female lead cares much about the male lead, the male lead is head over heels, but I can't figure out why. There is no development and no reason for them to suddenly be together all the time. Any court intruige is mostly off page as are most of the intresting things. We just get lazy slice-of-life scenes of our leads being in love.

Oh and the sudden inclusion of Wang Rui(?) (the arogant brother) loving the female lead (also for no reason) makes no sense? They barely interacted? And at first they disliked each other? What changed? Just because she wanted his mum to not be executed and instead live in suffering? I'm so confused by this, it adds absolutely nothing.

The female friendships could have been good if they weren't just sprinkled in occasionaly because there needed to be some seperation between the leads. It felt shallow and vapid, because they only showed up to let us know how much closer the female lead was to these important women than whichever other woman. That was all they were for.

It wasn't terrible, I mean, I managed to read 900+ pages, but I definitely don't get the hype.

[Megan Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

One soul transmigrates into the life of Qui Jing De a few weeks after the youth marries the second Imperial Prince, He Heng. Now she must adapt to ancient protocols, find a way to manage the harem, and live as freely as she can.
* * * * * ------------* * * * * ------------* * * * *
DNF @ Ch22
This time traveling romance wasn’t my cup of tea as I am not interested in face-slapping and passive aggressive double speak used for most palace dramas. I do appreciate the demure look at gender relations and the strong cultural context found here. It really focuses on support from matriarch lineages, shi versus di children, rankings inside the household, and acceptable societal behaviors. Further by not translating all the titles to English equivalents I felt like it kept the historic context tightly. However, it also made it difficult to follow at times since this gives eight names/titles per character depending on who is speaking to whom and whether that is a public or private space. Plot wise there is not much tension as our protagonist doesn’t seem to struggle when bringing things into line, it just takes time. Admittedly, the lack of internal monologues and thoughts make the characters seem flat. They are either good or bad, with the ML or against her. The transmigration elements are underutilized and there is not much reasoning for the romance. I’m also a little concerned about the messaging that being kind and noncombative is marketed a failure… And yet it seems thought out, logically progressing, and translated well. It’s not terrible just not personally enjoyable so I’ll look for something else.

[Joelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exams are over, I remember how to read, the world is right again!

THIS BOOK
i couldn't stop reading like wow it had me at gunpoint or something.

The Characters????
Qing Yu is the best female character of a chinese web novel that has ever existed. I will be taking no objections. The way she was written to actually be likable???? Calm, collected and clever???? Didn't let people walk over her but also treated nicely those that treated her well??? Didn't completely forget her personality when a man showed up???? (That's the one I hate amount web novels the most, the FMC will be super cool and then be a pushover and get assaulted by the dude. Like girl slap him)

Speaking of her man...
He Heng is a gift. Okay, yes he didn't start out that way, and yes, he was only seen as such a great man because he didn't take anymore concubines after her which for us modern times people is like the bare minimum. However, ignoring the bare minimum, he was a super loving dude and a clever person; I could really respect his character as a whole. He was so good to her; they had the entire empire thinking like hashtag relationship goals.

It wasn't a plot heavy book, which was fine because for me the two main characters were so interesting it didn't matter. Some of the 'villains' of the book did get a little repetitive as it was mainly women lusting over her man but they did deal with them slightly differently each time and it was to strengthen the fact that He Heng was head over heels for her so it was fine. It was a slice of life so I wasn't expecting much. In fact for a slice of life it had a decent amount of action and drama.

5/5 this ate fr

[Cali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately, this was really boring. I don't understand what the point of being a modern woman and going back in time is if she doesn't really do anything related to being from the future? She's living exactly the same except with a mindset of all men are shit and not worth falling in love with and losing oneself over. She's also kind to the other women. But she doesn't do anything interesting with her foresight or knowledge and essentially follows all the rules of the time so what was the point of her being from the future? The whole love story is also boring since they're already married and then they just spend a lot of time together and that counts as courting or bestowing favor. It wasn't so bad that I dropped it but it was just bland.

Summary: Qu Qing Ju wakes up in the body of a 15 year old newly married to a wang ye, one of the sons of the Emperor, in ancient China. Qu Qing Ju decides she's going to live her life as well as she can while she can and in doing so, the wang ye that had ignored the previous owner of the body, becomes intrigued by her and falls in love with her.

[Joanne Minna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have to say I liked the story. By the end I grasped the expressions in Chinese that have been left in the book by the translator. Would probably given it 4 if not for the tedious task of scrolling to the end of the chapter every time I saw something that I did not understand as it was in a different language.
The plot centers around the transmigrated soul now living in the body of Qi Qing Ju, the newly wedded first wife (di wife) of He Heng, second prince of the empire, and the way she turns around from the meek nature of the original owner of the body to the proud and smart woman that ruled her house and systematically got rid of the treacherous members of the household. The protocols of the everyday life and the rules of conduct fro every situation were intriguing to me and this book was a window into the culture that is foreign to the life I have been brought into.

I recommend this one to any that want a bit of historical romance with a lot of plots and intrigues of a imperial family and harem.

[Cheta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a beautiful read, the complexities of the characters especially the female lead, the attention to detail was thoroughly enjoyable.My words fail to describe how good the novel was, considering I never expected it to this good and I almost dropped it at the first chapter because of the Chinese words that were a bit tricky to grasp but I am persisted and I am glad I did.One of my best female lead in a Chinese drama or novel every kept expecting to get let down because the novel dealt with emperor and concubines and these types of stories mostly left a bitter taste in my mouth but this one was different.I don't care for realism or I just chose to be open minded but I loved how the emperor was faithful/monogamous to her, I loved their progression and How at the end they didn't need to vocally express their love because their actions proved it time again.I won't say this is a perfect story but I will say that it was such a beautiful and well matched story that I didn't bother noticing the flaws.

[Aish · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very relaxed novel
I liked
1. How realistic the FL's pov on life was.
2. How women were powerful in ways that were so subtle no one even realised it. Which makes them more scary.
3. How they did not fully explain all nuances of a scheme immediately.
4. None of the enemies were portrayed as truly evil or crazy - just a result of their own choices
5. There were no brutal power plays or obvious face slapping
6. No pure childhood friend 2nd ml who sacrificed too much for FL
7. No making each other jealous using some lovestruck third person as a tool
8. No big massacres
9. Wierd misunderstanding n abuse stuff between the leads.

But
1. The FL's original age before transmigration seems to be 30-40 which makes her confrontation of 16 yr olds look a bit less impactful.
2. I feel like the struggles were too easygoing maybe bcz I just finished - 'Reborn Lady: Unparalleled Daughter of Concubine' - which was full of schemes n plot twists. There wasn't even a plot of betrayal by personal servant.
3. There were no true main enemies for the FL or ML

[Kasumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo leí por recomendación y, aunque la sinopsis no me decía nada, me habían dicho que era de una viajera del tiempo típica de las historias chinas (transmigración de almas) donde el que sea una viajera en el tiempo es lo de menos importante, ya que, salvo por algún comentario de que se aburría sin Internet y algunas de sus actitudes, es símplemente una historia de como una joven decide tomar las riendas de su casa tras recuperarse de una muy grave enfermedad y, mientras pone en orden los criados y las concubinas, su marido comienza a enamorarse de ella al tiempo que él y sus hermanos tienen una lucha cada vez menos sutil por ser nombrados herederos del trono de su padre. Y está genial contado si te gustan las luchas para lograr el "favor" de un hombre, sea este tu padre o al que declaras amar esperando con ello mejorar tu futuro.

[King Ventura · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've read tons of novels but " to be a virtuous wife " is one of the novels that surprised me. the one thing that i liked the most was the writing. i really couldn't pick anything wrong with it. throughout the novel , just like the fl , i was cautious of the male lead's feelings. I was constantly on guard and reasonated with the female lead. so when she finally opened her heart up a lil bit due to the drunken words of ml , it made me view the following chapters in a different way. Reading this novel me feel good. there wasn't anything bad that happened to female lead and not because of plot armors but because of the female lead's smartness and the way she didn't make it difficult for other people. i really liked the last 3 chapters of the novel but i still wanted more to happen in the ending... but still it was a good and happy ending . I'm happy i read this novel <33

[Erika Masr · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Asian novels out there!

This is one of the first web novels which I read that had me hooked on Asian novels to begin with. Before reading this I had little idea behind the Chinese historic premise on which a lot of romance novels are based of and I had little idea how the whole 'main wife' and concubines system worked. This novel opened my eyes to the whole genre and I have to say it is by far my favorite of all of them if I consider historic Chinese romance!

The female lead is cool, careful and smart but knows not to overstep and how to behave in all situations. The male lead is also smart and I loved to see how he slowly started to develop feelings for FL. The whole book was paced very nicely with no idiotic villains or main characters getting caught up with multiple love interests (which usually happens in these types of novels).

Definitely recommend.

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read the english translation of this novel online. What a classic.

Palace intrigue. Hidden motives. Verbal attacks. All very elegantly done.

This is one of the better fan-made english translations of Chinese novels that you can find at
wwyxhqc.wordpress.com
I liked how the translator really took the time to explain things about the culture and politics. Plus the english was waaay better than the other chinese novel translations I’ve read online. There are a few grammatical errors here and there, but it didn’t bother me at all. I still felt that the translator’s work was exquisite, and that this book is a precious gem.

This book is worthy of being re-read. It’s the kind of story that gets richer after a re-read.

[Jamahat Julaiha · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. Cerita yang menarik. Dari seorang Wang Fei yang tak disukai oleh Wang Ye menjadi satu-satunya wanita yang paling dicintainya. Prinsip hidupnya yang baru, menjalani kehidupannya sepenuhnya yang penting dia gembira, kalau mati pun sekurang-kurangnya dia bahagia. Siapa yang baik dengannya dia akan balas baik dan jika ada yang berbuat jahat dengannnya akan dibalas balik perbuatan itu dengan caranya tersendiri. penuh kebijaksanaan sehingga orang sekeliling kagum dengannya.

Nak baca untuk kali yang kedua :D

[Aalis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for free on novel updates, It was really hard to start as I didn't know about much of the Chinese terms but once I had some experience I loved every bit of it, you could finish this in a day and I wish I could bye the physical copy in the UK but I am unable to. It is a really good palet cleanser for those of you who have read a lot of historical transmigration novels. It is light and more realistic, the main character isn't a mary Sue and she adapts the best she can, I wish more people could read it, It is a shame I cannot get hold of a physical copy.