Mei Gongqing/ The Bewitching Courtier 媚公卿 by 林家成 Lin Jia Cheng (HE)

Mei Gong Qing

In her last life, she used every possible means to replaces Jue Jie, and become that man’s wife. In the end, her husband never once stepped into her room. Finally, in her hopeless state, she committed suicide by self-immolated. After her rebirth, in this Wei-Jin dynasty that focused particularly on family status, she started lowly, but with great strategies and utilizing her knowledge of the future, she carefully revealed her talents. The beautiful and elegant seventh son of the Yang La family, Wei-Jin’s finest scholar, responds to her exploitations and escapes with, “Is it because I don’t broadcast my feelings and that I am too magnanimous and aloof that you think you can use me whenever you want, and leave whenever you want?

[Ebook] [Audiobook One or Two][Eng Translation] [Mị công khanh]

 

42 Responses

  1. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 1, 2014 at 12:42 am |

    Thank you skyblu, you are so efficient:) Have you started to read/listen to the novel or have you already finished? Chancy, atsu & I are listening to it at different pace. I won’t say I love this book but it is a bit different from other time travel and palace book in that she gets to relive her own life all over again. It is interesting to see how she can avoid the mistakes she made in the first time. Her scheming is not to get an emperor or a guy but to prevent herself from being married off as concubine. The novel also portrays the low status of woman especially those from humble background or without a father or brother to protect her.

    The book lacks humour but May may like it bcos the female lead is pretty smart. As for the male lead, it is quite obvious but Chancy managed to ship the wrong guy, lol. Initially she shipped the right guy but after reading a spoiler in baidu, she changed ship. Luckily I came on time and rescued her back to the right ship, lol. Don’t always trust the spoiler in baidu for those who love to read spoiler:P I am very confident I am on the right ship all along and it is happy ending with some angst.

  2. HuiEr
    HuiEr March 1, 2014 at 2:16 am |

    Agree with P – Its not fantastic, and the story is just plodding along. It’s just interesting enough to keep me going.

    I’ve caught up with practically the latest now. The good news is that i’m not on any ship, but just observing from the shore, so as of now, won’t be really heartbroken.

  3. chancy
    chancy March 1, 2014 at 12:24 pm |

    I’m very far in. Lol her plan up at ep 65 is still to live peacefully. Too many people have bad motives on her because she has no brother or father to defend for herself. She became very pitiful in her previous life, so she’s trying to avoid certain situations in her previous life. Many times she just barely escapes. I really don’t see revenge playing in yet. She doesnt really do anything against those who hurt her in the past, but they still not letting her off easy this time. This story isn’t particarly touching or exciting, but manages to still get you wanting to know what’ll happen to her. I like all the guys here ★_★

  4. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 1, 2014 at 12:24 pm |

    HuiEr !!!!! Where’ve you been???? Abandoned your poor blog & friends:( I tut you gave up novels for kdrama, sob sob. Ha, turned out that you are still listening to audiobooks secretly, lol.

    I’ve asked Chancy to write something bcos she was the one who recommended this novel to me & told me it is not draggy. I’ve to admit it is not very interesting yet it is still interesting enough to keep me going, sound contradictory, lol?

    I’ve to say I need to listen to this b4 I go to bed daily as I always end up sleeping like a baby, lol. Chancy & I like the male voice so we may be slightly bias, haha……I think this novel gonna end around 150 chapters, one of the shorter one on cxt8. Plus, I think the readers gonna finish it, not leave it on hiatus. There seems to be limited choice of good audiobook so I need to be less choosy. I checked some reviews & baidu and most said the book is quite good so I’ll give it a chance.

    I am only at chapter 21. Isn’t her big plan to avoid Ran Min and all the mistakes she made eg. find a good husband????

  5. HuiEr
    HuiEr March 2, 2014 at 2:23 am |

    P – I’m coming back! I’ve finally settled into my new dept. Plus my boss hired two other ppl to share my workload, so I can actually do my work properly instead of running around firefighting. XD

    To be more specific, Chen Rong’s ultimate goal in this life is to marry someone who has more or less the same status. She swears not to be involve in an obsessive and unattainable love anymore, so she’s trying to avoid RM and WZ.

    P – which is the right ship?

  6. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 3, 2014 at 1:23 am |

    Skyblu – 4am book is bad for your health, you need your beauty sleep:P This maybe your 4am book 大唐女法医, which I plan to listen next since it has good audio book. If you like it, pls post it:)

    HuiEr – I was tempted to send you on a Titanic cruise but I am too nice to see you drown, lol.

    Spoiler Inside SelectShow
  7. HuiEr
    HuiEr March 3, 2014 at 3:28 am |

    Drowning in tears you mean.

    I like Qi Lang actually. He’s actually quite black bellied. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

  8. May
    May March 4, 2014 at 1:32 pm |

    Thanks for thinking of me Peanuts 😀 Hmmm not interesting but interesting enough to keep you going. What other novels fall into this category?

    How come the female lead can keep reliving her life again? Sounds like Bill Murray in Groundhog day.

    Anyone can give a brief descriptions of the male leads in the book?

    Also, Is this a HE book?

  9. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 4, 2014 at 2:35 pm |

    Haha, I mean not addictive enough for me to lose sleep or chase after it yet still interesting enough for me to continue with it. Yup, this is just like groundhog’s day in ancient setting.

    Don’t worry, I only touch happy ending book.

    Ran Min is Chen Rong’s husband b4 she killed herself. Hence she tries to avoid him like a plague when she gets to relive her life again but as you know in cnovel land, the more you try to avoid, the more it will hunt you. He is a general who is protecting the Wei empire from the Hu tribe. Will the Hu tribe become the Jin empire? I am bad with China history except the Qing dynasty.

    Wang Hong who is the 7th son of the yang la family is also popularly known as Qi Lang. He is quite belly black and is interested in Chen Rong’s but she is also trying to avoid him because of her status she can never be his first wife. However, she will still make use of him to avoid being married off to old man as a concubine.

    There are 2 other guys who are not that significant but I am only at chapter 26.

  10. decembi
    decembi March 4, 2014 at 3:08 pm |

    Oh, how cool! The legendary hui’er has returned haha.

    Peanuts, I miss your modern black belly boss employee recommendations haha. I think I’ve finished them all. Plus, Once Promised made me so sad, I didn’t want to read any other ancient c-novel anymore. Though, I’m now halfway in Lost You Forever haha.

    Qi Lang sounds really good though! Black belly scholar!

  11. atsu-chan
    atsu-chan March 7, 2014 at 10:38 pm |

    Peanuts, you were right! This book puts me to sleep every time. I’m up to about 11 where she meets Ran Min for the first time. The book is slow, but it’s interesting enough to keep you wondering although I don’t think I’m invested yet.

    Chen Rong very admirable but not very lovable. Wang Hong is okay but sort of generic lead male character so far, so I’m waiting for developments.

  12. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 8, 2014 at 10:24 am |

    Oh atsu, you are so slow, lol. I am at chapter 50 now bcos I skipped some of the non Wang Hong parts, lol. I am annoyed with Chen Rong’s whole greedy family. Ah, my 7 lang appears so little and speaks so little. But whenever he appears, they are all so good, heehee. 7 lang is quite playful and is such a tease, lol. At the same time I am reading a novel where the male lead’s nickname is ‘Si Lang’. Oh, I am surrounded by ‘lang’ (wolves), lol. I also always fall asleep & last night I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night when I heard 7 Lang talking, lol.

  13. atsu-chan
    atsu-chan March 10, 2014 at 2:33 am |

    Hahaha… you are totally right though, the audiobook puts me to sleep! Does it get more exciting? I just lack interest (and DST is not helping…)

  14. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 10, 2014 at 3:11 am |

    Hang in there atsu, it’ll get better. I think he kissed her in chapter 23 then left her then every now & then appeared to torture her, lol. Just fast fwd her family parts.

  15. May
    May March 11, 2014 at 3:04 pm |

    I was skimming through this story over the past few days and Peanuts you’re right about it being not addictive but still interesting enough – slow going but I wanted to know what happens is the end.

    *SPOILER*
    Chen Rong’s main aim in the second life is to be the wife of someone who loves her and will not take other concubines and mistresses. Just a life of ordinary happiness. Doesn’t need to be a man of extraordinary looks or position. She definitely doesn’t want to be a concubine and be forever derided for her lowly position, be ill treated by other wives fighting for the husband’s love.

    Throughout the whole novel, there wasn’t a woman with a decent character besides the female lead. They are vicious and condescending towards her. It kind of irritated me that the female characters were portrayed in that manner. Chen Rong is described as having a flamboyant seductive beauty in contrast to the ideal beauty of being quietly elegant (which the other girls supposedly have). Maybe the author was trying to make a point about how appearances are deceiving because in the end, it’s the character that counts.

    Although derided for her lowly status and flamboyant almost vulgar beauty, Chen Rong is the only person who loves her man wholeheartedly. This is in contrast to Chen Wei, her clan sister, who claims to love General Ran Min boundlessly but in the end reveals her superficial frivolity. (After marrying him, Chen Wei comes to look down on Ran Min for his less than refined manners as compared to the city gentlemen and wants to leave him for these so called refined gentlemen. But she gets her just desserts in the end)

    Qi Lang didn’t appear much in the story until the second half. When he didn’t seem to have any intention to make Chen Rong his only wife, only agreeing to make her a high ranking concubine, I was thinking that this story wasn’t going to have a happy ending. Then when Chen Rong requested the emperor to allow her to become nun, the chances of having a HE seemed to be even lower.

    After all the crazy stuff (other familes wanting their daughters to marry Qi Lang and some people are plotting to get rid of him), Qi Lang realizes that he is never going to find another woman who loves him the way Chen Rong does and decides that he will be a one woman man. Although the emperor behaves in a silly manner, at least because of him we can get more QL-CR time. (Emperor bestowed on her some boy toys although she’s a nun, this got QL jealous.)

    I was so relieved when the couple had their HE! Reading the epilogues of their life after marriage is more humorous than the main storyline. They had 3 sons (who take after their mum more and are considered pretty boys in appearance) and 1 daughter who is the youngest. QL really wanted a boy with a more 英武 appearance but it was his daughter who got that look instead. In fact, some people mistook the baby daughter as a boy. There’s a funny moment when he asks himself why is he fretting over the appearance of his children. In fact, if you’re feeling bored, can just skip to the epilogues 😀

    In the second life, Ran Min didn’t have much chance with her at all so he wasn’t really a viable male lead. But in the epilogue, he realizes that he messed up in the first life because of some dreams he had and the comments that CR makes.

    Overall, a 6.5/10 in terms of enjoyment.

    (How to do the spoiler tag?)

  16. decembi
    decembi March 11, 2014 at 3:27 pm |

    Thanks May for the spoilers! I’m going to go read the epilogue now. I’ve been trying to get into new novels but none interest me.

  17. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 12, 2014 at 12:45 pm |

    May, before you post your spoiler, type [ spoiler ], without the spacing. After you finish writing your spoiler, type this [ /spoiler ], also without the spacing. Thank you very much for your spoiler which google has read to me in Chinese already, lol. I told you it is happy ending so trust me:P I always do my research properly b4 I start any book, haha…..

    I am still stuck around chapter 50+ bcos I kept on falling asleep while listening to the audio book. I’ll rate the enjoyment level higher than you bcos the readers are quite good and I enjoy their reading. Just that the book is draggy & doesn’t have enough of 7 Lang to keep me awake, heehee…

  18. May
    May March 12, 2014 at 1:20 pm |

    Heys decembi, have you tried 凤隐天下 (also posted in SSB)? The book was quite enjoyable for me. I quite like the male lead and the female lead in the book. The male lead falls for the female lead when he thinks that she is a eunuch. Although there are some other male characters, there’s not really a strong contender. Female lead is quite smart and sassy (maybe it’s the upbringing as a general’s daughter).

    (Oh yeah the link for the ebook 凤隐天下 in SSB is kind of incomplete, there were some missing chapters towards the end, had to google for another version)

    Peanuts thanks for the info on the spoiler tag. Does the audio book summarise and focus more on the conversations between the characters? It may be better as an audiobook especially if the reading voices are good 😉

    I guess the first half is more on the setting the background of the female lead,Chen Rong, so that’s not much interaction until the middle portion where the male leads slowly get the their screen time. Probably you can skip to the second half & epilogues where there’s more action 🙂

  19. Peanuts
    Peanuts March 12, 2014 at 2:03 pm |

    Hahaha, lidge doesn’t know Chinese so she just simply put a link:P Anyway I know decembi has her private resource:P In future, pls leave a comment and the complete link so that it can be updated as I don’t read every posted books. I still remember poor Pm reading the wrong book bcos I posted the wrong link, lol.

    The audio book basically reads out the whole book with slight modification to ensure the listeners know which characters are talking. It is still in progress so I can’t skip to the epilogue. I’ll just go slow & enjoy my sleep, lol. Btw some books are rather dry especially at the beginning so they sound a lot better with audio books, like my fav book Who Gets the World. If you ask me to read it, I’ll never touch it:P

  20. May
    May March 12, 2014 at 2:23 pm |

    Yup I wanted to leave a comment on 凤隐天下 but i forgot. Will try and see if I can find the full version again.

    Actually the first half wasn’t dry but not enough interactions between the male and female lead. If you didn’t tell me Qi Lang would be the OTP with her, I wouldn’t have known. And too much focus on her greedy uncle and horrible wives and sisters. But I guess they help move the plot along if not how does Qi Lang get to swop in and save her 🙂

    Yup small doses of the audio book is good! At least you wouldn’t be sleeping late like me :p

  21. decembi
    decembi March 13, 2014 at 2:56 am |

    Hey May, I think peanuts also recommended me 凤隐天下, but I don’t think she has read it. Haha! It’s on my reading list, but my reading list is vvv long. I shall push it up a few notches since you recommend it too!

    I don’t know if I read the correct version of the epilogue because it’s INCREDIBLY LONG almost a sequel and ends abruptly? I think the Ran Min part was well written, but the other parts were hard to swallow – because all her children were so extraordinarily good looking – like it’s actually a plot, how will her oldest son *gasp* survive with his extraordinary street silencing good looks? Haha I didn’t know whether to laugh or take it seriously. Also, everyone is still so mean to her, and keep thinking to themselves, my status is more noble and I’m prettier, how dare she deserve 7 lang’s love? Horrible!!! 7 lang does sound great though, but I think I wouldn’t be able to swallow the plot.

  22. Lithosphere
    Lithosphere July 20, 2014 at 1:54 pm |

    This book is absolutely amazing! I’m in love with it! ^^ my chinese is not good so I depend on the audiobook version, but I can’t go beyond chapter 8 and making an account doesn’t work cause I’m not receiving the authentication email! T-T If someone can point me to another audiobook website that would be much appreciated.

  23. DlonerK
    DlonerK August 17, 2015 at 5:17 am |

    what the chapter when Chen Rong become nun?

  24. hipployta
    hipployta August 30, 2015 at 12:56 am |

    Started reading the English translation today and I really enjoy the book. She’s redoing her life to achieve an ordinary happiness and that’s something I can appreciate. She’ll also try to avoid the horrible this she already knows will happen.

    I would guess she was like the women of the Wang Family the first time around but now she knows better.

  25. Pingyi
    Pingyi September 26, 2015 at 4:03 am |

    The audioboook is great if anyone is hesistating. I’m following hamster’s translation and was enamored by the story … Couldn’t help going further. I’m not complete fans of ran min and 7 Lang. From the first chapter I thought I was going to continue hating on a ran min but he has some many redeeming qualities. Some of his redeeming qualities completely overshadow 7 Lang.

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  26. hamster428
    hamster428 September 26, 2015 at 12:00 pm |
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  27. pingyi
    pingyi September 28, 2015 at 4:58 pm |
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  28. hamster428
    hamster428 September 29, 2015 at 12:40 am |
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  29. pingyi
    pingyi September 29, 2015 at 1:44 am |

    Hi Hamster, thanks for the clarification. I have not gotten to that part yet (I’m on chapter 112 of the audiobook). But ……… RM. Damn. I think my heart will be teary during that part. RM, has his obvious flaws, but I can’t help supporting him and feeling for him when he’s so openingly candid and upfront about his emotions T_T

  30. manyhx3
    manyhx3 October 16, 2015 at 12:58 pm |

    This story has a charm of its own. I felt like the first chapter should have been a prologue and then moving into the 2nd chance at life. It would have given the reader a better understanding, at least for me.

    I was impressed by CR’s knowledge only that she used her previous life to change her past, and she used it to her own good. That was what got me hooked, because I had to read Hamster’s translations twice to understand what was going on. The author really took her time to go through every single detail of their trip, took her 20 chapters to meet her ex again.

    Then I checked out the vietnamese direct convert translations. It confused me, so I only wanted to know what happens. haha

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  31. Julianne Lin
    Julianne Lin January 23, 2016 at 5:02 pm |

    I’m only on ch 67 from Hamster’s awesome translations. But honestly, am I the only one here who likes Sun Yan best? Maybe he gets worse later on or something, but I really like Sun Yan. When he’s with Chen Rong, they’re happy and carefree and playful together. He’s got a sort of boy-ish charm, and when Chen Rong’s with him, she’s so happy and herself. He’s sort, well, not sure how accurate this description is, but he’s really “sunny”. He’s teasing but good-natured. I think he’s pretty awesome. I also have a thing for generals. I would like Ran Min more if he didn’t tease CR so much when she went to warn him outside the gates of Nanyang.

  32. Passerby
    Passerby February 8, 2016 at 9:58 am |

    I personally likes Sun Yan the most too

    He is like a puppy, in my opinion.
    If CR end up with him, CR would be treated right, and with CR behind the screen, SY would shine brighter

    He is so kind to CR

  33. Ruri Eisblumen
    Ruri Eisblumen April 8, 2016 at 8:57 pm |

    Hi, I’d just finished reading this book through online translator, so the story is a bit unclear for me. Can somebody please clarify for me…

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    Sorry if the spoiler tag doesn’t work, It’s my first time posting here….

  34. hamster428
    hamster428 April 11, 2016 at 12:47 pm |
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  35. Eis
    Eis June 5, 2016 at 6:34 pm |

    @hamster428 thank you for the confirmations 🙂

    A few more questions….

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    On the side note….

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  36. hamster428
    hamster428 June 6, 2016 at 12:07 am |
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  37. renee
    renee August 22, 2016 at 2:37 am |

    The audiobook is excellent!!!!

  38. Tetsuki
    Tetsuki December 31, 2016 at 4:24 pm |
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  39. hamster428
    hamster428 January 2, 2017 at 10:10 am |

    @Tetsuki

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  40. Vico
    Vico July 5, 2018 at 12:54 am |

    Hi, I’m looking for Chinese novels about the historical figures listed there. Do you know any novel about some of them (even if they’re supporting characters). I’m learning Chinese and I thought that could help me
    Xiang Yu and Liu Bang
    Liu Che (emperor Wu of Han)
    Emperor Liu Ping and/or his sister, princess Guantao
    Wang Mang
    Empress Wu Ze Tian
    Sima Yi (I already know Secrets of Three Kingdoms and Romance of Three Kingdoms)
    The First Emperor, Ying Zheng (I know The King’s Woman)
    Empress Dugu Qieluo
    Emperor Kangxi (I already bought Chronicle of Life)
    Emperor Huang Taiji (I know Rule the World)
    Nurhaci’s consort Abahai
    Empress Zhao Feiyan

    Thanks for your help !

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