The Marquis's Second Wife

The Marquis's Second Wife is a time-travel domestic-strife and slice-of-life web novel by Xiaoxiang Academy author peanut, serialized and completed on Xiaoxiang Academy in 2015, running over 1.3 million characters. The protagonist, Su Wan, is a modern woman whose soul transmigrates into the position of a marquis's second wife. Her situation is awkward: before her stands the lingering prestige of the noble first wife, behind her a cousin-concubine who was the marquis's childhood sweetheart and has won his favor; around her are clever, magnanimous legitimate sons and daughters, as well as concubine-born children who defy the legitimate mother's discipline. She holds the title of marchioness yet has neither favor nor children, regarded as a dispensable ornament, while various beauties in the household covet her position and hope to replace her. Facing the legitimate daughter's disregard, the concubine daughter's contempt, the cousin's smugness, and the marquis's coldness, Su Wan does not endure in the manner of a traditional virtuous wife. Clear-headed and believing that "life is short, enjoy it while you can," she navigates the layered infighting of the marquis's inner household while actively plotting a way out for herself. The author drives the main plot with a "leveling up by fighting monsters" wish-fulfillment rhythm, following the marquis's second wife all the way to the imperial court, until Su Wan ultimately rises to become empress and finds fulfilling love with the man she favors. The book is interspersed with abundant slice-of-life details—daily routines, household management—where social dealings and the bustle of courtyard life intertwine; the characters are vividly drawn and the prose fluent and delicate. Readers regard it as one of the more talked-about works in the "time-traveling second wife's counterattack" genre, and it has been adapted into a multi-voice audiobook.