#but i also don't trust qin zheng

[incorrect-ironwidow]

Do you ever think about the absolute BEEF Yizhi and Qin Zheng are gonna have? Yizhi is the rich boy and Zheng is the revolutionary.

Also: both kind married to the same woman.

[chaostroberry1]

Qin Shi Huang absolutely wrecked

⚠️btw, no hate to any of these characters! I just wanted to make another story. Please don't come at me alvitr and ying Zheng fans, I really like them I swear 🥲⚠️

Part 2 here!

⚠️Cheater QSH × reader angst where he can't really understand what he's feeling. I haven't continued reading the manga so I don't know when he'll wake up after recovering, so the part where he does wake up is made up by me.⚠️

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Imagine being his wife, is empress, and his supporter. Yet, he still has the audacity to do this to you?

You watch on the edge of your seat, excited for your darling's entrance, hope and excitiment running down your veins.

But, there was no denying the sadness it brought you to think of what would happen to him if he were to lose the fight. But you decided to have hope, because he was your dear husband.

Any negative thoughts like that would be bringing dishonor to him.

Happiness bursted through you when you saw him make his big entrance, not even noticing the big funny looking smile you had on, just for him. When he walked, he looked towards you, before slightly raising his blindfold upwards, Giving you a wink.

Your face flushed in embarrassment, before you quickly redeemed yourself.

Nows not the time to be playing around, especially when his life and the sake of humanity, was on the line. So you give yourself a nervous smile, a small little prayer mumbled from your lips in hopes of guiding your darling through the fight.

You suddenly snap out of it when you hear a yell from below. Seeing that it came from a pretty looking girl, who looked gravely upset.

"who's she?" Your eyes trailed off to where she was looking, before seeing that her grumpy little comment was towards your husband.

You couldn't hear much due to all the talking and whispering amongst watchers, but you could make up a few words— Like how Zheng didn't practice völundr with her, and other stuff. Not that it really mattered right now.

You giggle to yourself. Of course, that was so like him; one of the many things that made you love him so much. Such a charming man he was, indeed.

Before you could happily ascend into cloud nine with all the lovey dovey memories, your thoughts were quickly disrupted when you saw your dear beloved husband, pick her up with little effort.

Your heart dropped, a little feeling of sadness clouding your emotions. Why was he picking her up like that? And Why's she blushing so much?

You shook your head a little, shaking off those negative feelings, knowing your darling would never do anything to betray your trust.

Right?

You were immediately proved wrong when he pulled her closer, as her face heated up even more. Before there was a flash of light, along with her loud whine of how it was "unfair" or something.

Something in you felt like it was going to crack. Him? Her? YOUR HUSBAND, and, HER?

When the transformation of völundr was set in place, Huang felt a strike of energy hit him like an arrow through the head.

Yes, the man had an upset wife sensor 🙂

He quickly looked over to where you were sitting. A hint of worry plastered on his face which you couldn't really make out because of his blindfold.

But both of you exchanged sweet smiles, before the fight soon started.

...

As Huang was announced the winner, you watched as he fell down after a brief exchange of conversation with the Valkyrie girl.

You were horribly worried for your husband, but you were also very happy that he was the winner.

Things could have ended worse. This was basically a miracle which you were very grateful for.

Somehow, in some way—you couldn't get rid of the weird feeling swelling up in your chest. Especially whenever you saw him and that Valkyrie together. You just couldn't understand, why did you feel so negative even though he ended up winning? You already got the miracle that you wanted, so what else could have possibly been missing?

Everytime you saw them speak to one another, you'd see so much adoration in your beloved's eyes.

No, actually, Both of them had that look. One that could only be described as love.

You knew it was selfish to think that way, especially when they were just trying to help each other survive..

But, when you saw how he held her so gently when she was about to fall, even when he was literally MISSING an arm...

that was it.

Jealousy

...

A little while passed, and you went to a different Valkyrie girl, who went by the name of Brunhilde, who led you to your husband.

He was recovering from his injuries , so you figured you'd just come back later. Maybe you can just get some food and breathe up some fresh air.

Finally, when he did wake up, you find him staring down at the Valkyrie—who you heard from Brunhilde, was a girl who went by alvitr.

They stared into each other's eyes, her face flushed with a soft pink, a puffy angry face while his gaze lingered on her smaller figure.

You quickly hid, wanting to see where it would lead to.

"I have..feelings..."

"you...huh?- wh-What are you on about?!"

"I know it's wrong...but..seeing how much you were willing to go down with me through such events...I liked it very much"

"...."

"I'd like you to be...my..new bride. If that's alright with you."

He gave her a charming smile, as she was left with her brows knitted and cheeks flushed red from the embarrassment it brought her.

And with that, he gave her a small kiss, retreating his face, giving a little "Hao!" Afterwards

....

*CLANK*

You drop the tray of food you carried with you, your eyes wide with fury and betrayal, as the two turned their heads towards the noise that came from a distance.

Huang's eyes widened, and alvitr looked at you and him back and forth, a feeling of panic and worry quickly taking over her senses.

"Zheng....?" You mumbled, as he stood there, speechless, quickly opening his mouth to respond while the Valkyrie near him stood frozen.

"my empress! I-i didn't think you'd come looking for me-"

"save it.."

Your face contorted into one of sadness, as you looked at the face of your dear beloved husband, which was full of dread and nervousness. The Valkyrie also had a similar look, but you couldn't think well enough to process everything.

You storm off as your husband shouted your name, trying to reason with your now angry state, but was quickly stopped by alvitr, who knew that it would put him in danger to walk around in a place swarmed by angry gods.

So now you were left crying, deciding to go to a waiting room to dry your tears, just hoping for the best.

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[asheervasilissa]

Hello there!!!

Sorry to ask, but so you have any headcanons 'bout Daiyu & Qin Shi Huang?

«"You have given me the perfect opportunity to talk about them. I love you, anon ♡♡"» - Asheer/Huī

✧ Qin Shi Huang/Ying Zheng's main love language is Words of affirmation and physical touch. He often praises Dàiyù and reassures her when things go wrong, knowing she has issues expressing her emotions.

✧ Yao Dàiyù's love language are gifts and physical touch. Her gifts come in form of her making soft and loving melodies on her guzheng only for him, also learning to bake just for him.

Her love language when expressing physical touch are normally small and soft caresses to his cheek or arm, clinging onto his arm or leaning her head on his shoulder.

✧ The tropes that would probably describe accurately their relationship are "Arranged marriage" and "Friends to lovers" plus slow-burn

✧ Ying Zheng and Yao Dàiyù have an age difference of four years, and a birthday difference of one day (Feb. 18th/19th).

✧ While in ancient China there weren't so representative symbols of marriage (such as nowadays rings), Zheng and Dàiyù re-established their marriage by their matching earring, each one having the earring the other's missing.

✧ Their favorite place to go is the private's garden of the Empress, same place where Dàiyù keeps her greenhouse. In that place there are multiples venomous/poisonous plants, but there are also beautiful flowers and trees. They often sit down under a tree with Zheng caressing Dàiyù's hair, waist, or cuddling with her while she plays an instrument, commonly the guzheng or maybe the xíqin.

✧ Dàiyù has a strict schedule of when to finish her duties, so when she does and Zheng hasn't, she normally stays in the Imperial bedroom reading while using his Imperial robe.

✧ Ying Zheng himself handcrafted the intricate gold and silver work that complements and conforms Dàiyù's jewelry as an anniversary gift.

✧ They're often side-by-side; either Dàiyù is trying to keep Ying Zheng from causing ruckus, or Zheng is clinging onto Dàiyù while she studies the properties of flowers and herbs.

✧ There are times were Ying Zheng remembers traumas of the past as nightmares and wakes up distressed, Yao Dàiyù always holds him against her chest and soothes him.

✧ Dàiyù looks sort of alike to Chun Yan, specially when she ties up her hair. Zheng sometimes teases her about it but also remarks that It brings him peace.

✧ They trust each other deeply. No lie or circumstance could make them distrust the other.

✧ Ying Zheng when taking off his blindfold, enjoys watching Dàiyù's Qi points. He's genuinely and whole-heartedly convinced she has the most beautiful and fluid Qi in all existence.

✧ When stressed, Ying Zheng likes feeling Dàiyù's fingers tracing circles on his back, It relaxes him.

✧ Their ship's emoji: 👑🌑 (Zheiyù)

Tagging [tagging a few mutuals, in case you don't want me to please say so.]: @sorastar0 @atreyushortcake @amphitriteswife @hellany @ctrldoll

«"Won't lie, got super excited when asked for headcanons and over-exaggerated (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)"» - Asheer | Huī

[craftercat]

Your recent posts about Empress Zhangsun have gotten me curious as to her involvement in politics. How influential do you think she was? What incidents are visibke to historians were one can either see or assume that her influence had resulted in certain decisions? Love your account hope to see more posts! Sorry for bombarding you with questions!

It's okay. I love to talk on the Northern/Southern dynasties or the Sui-Tang dynasties. I don't mind being bombarded with questions!

I think that Empress Zhangsun was influential, but she wasn't as influential as more famous empresses or regents like Wu Zetian, Empress Dowager Feng, or Dugu Qieluo.

Part of the reason is that empresses tend to be less influential than empress dowagers. Empress dowagers who are powerful take advantage of being either the emperor's biological mother or legal mother (嫡母), and due to filial piety sons are supposed to listen to them. While the emperor is the most powerful man in the country, he's still a son, and has to listen to his mother due to filial piety. The empress doesn't have this loophole, and is expected to support and submit to her emperor husband. It's a different scenario.

Therefore, many empresses like Empress Lu Zhi, Empress Dowager Feng, etc. became powerful as empress dowagers rather than empresses, for this reason. This makes influential empresses less common, but women like Dugu Qieluo, Empress Zhangsun, Wu Zetian and Empress Wei still did it.

What these women had in common was that their husband allowed them to influence him politically. Without the loophole of filial piety, the emperor allowing them influence made it much easier to have a political role. Most emperors didn't want their wives to influence them in politics, however some did. Li Zhi, for example, trusted Wu Zetian more than anyone else.

I think Li Shimin allowed Empress Zhangsun to influence him because of her role in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. When he was Prince of Qin, Empress Zhangsun had worked to cover up his mistakes in front of his father Li Yuan. During the actual Incident, she helped Fang Xuanling outline it and encouraged the soldiers to support Li Shimin shortly before the coup.

Due to contributing to his rise to power, he allowed Empress Zhangsun to influence him in political affairs. There are a few political decisions that are attributed to her. The most well-known one is that she seemed to have a large role in clan affairs. She kept Zhangsun Wuji out of major posts and spared Zhangsun Anye's life. On her deathbed, she told Li Shimin to not put her clan in high positions.

Another of her political contributions is encouraging Li Shimin to listen to criticism. She is known for calming down Li Shimin's anger at Wei Zheng, but she encouraged criticism many times. When he asked for her opinion on Princess Changle's dowry, she told him that he must listen to loyal advice, even if he didn't want to hear it. She also reminded him to call back Fang Xuanling and listen to honest advice on her deathbed.

As well, she was able to prevent injustices within the palace. When her servants were unjustly accused of crimes, she convinced Li Shimin to get rid of the injustice. Li Shimin once blamed his horse breeder for his horse's death and wanted to execute him, but Empress Zhangsun persuaded him not to. She also frequently discussed historical examples with Li Shimin and the Zizhi Tongjian states that she was of great benefit to him.

I think her last words give a good insight into her political contributions and her policies. Her main contributions were keeping watch of her clan and encouraging honest advice and honest ministers. Li Shimin actually spoke of her in political terms, once saying she was good at handling "common affairs" and that she was able to correct his mistakes.

However, she wasn't as influential as women like Dugu Qieluo or Wu Zetian. Even in the constraints as being empress rather than empress dowager, she wasn't as influential as Dugu Qieluo. This seems to be because she wouldn't go as far as to find out about government meetings between Li Shimin and his ministers. Despite this, she is still quite influential. She was politically influential and highly praised by historians, which is a rare feat for women in this era.