Sickly Doting

美人与骨天津博集新媒科技有限公司Apr 2026

2.7

Word count: 303K words
Chapters: 131

Report an error Find this book

Summary

[Beautiful Empress Yun vs. the all-powerful Chief Eunuch Xiang]

Editor's review

Set against palace intrigue, "The Favored Invalid" is a two-way game between pawn and player. The heroine, Yun Yi, starts as a plaything offered up by her family; after the emperor dies suddenly the day after her coronation as empress, she takes the initiative, using her beauty as a blade to approach Xiang Lang, the Chief Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Xiang Lang bears the injustice done to his father five years earlier and the old wound from an assassination attempt; he enters the palace as a slave, rises step by step to wield half the power, and should be the hardest man to move—yet he ultimately bows willingly. What makes the book readable is that the two are not one-sidedly dependent: her seduction hides survival instinct and ambition, while his fall carries clear-eyed indulgence, and the tension centers on the suspense of "who is scheming against whom." Palace intrigue and romance advance together at a brisk pace, suited to readers who like strong plots and high tension and want to read it in one sitting over a weekend. A reminder: the relationship is built on unequal power and a bodily-injury setup, so readers should mind their own comfort level.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Romance readers who love palace intrigue interwoven with emotional gamesmanship
Readers who enjoy a heroine who takes the initiative and refuses to be controlled
Readers comfortable with unequal-power relationships and injury setups
Casual readers who want a high-stakes story to finish in one weekend sitting

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer equal, warm, slow-burn everyday romance
Readers weary of palace scheming and calculation
Readers sensitive to intimacy framed by power coercion

Reading tips

First sort out the power line of Xiang Lang's investigation and the Empress Dowager Zhuang faction, then revisit how the leads' positions shift in each encounter.
Watch for the turning points where the heroine moves from passive pawn to active schemer; this is key to understanding the book's emotional arc.
If the intrigue line is hard going, read the romantic confrontations first, then go back to fill in the court and Directorate power relations.

About the publisher

天津博集新媒科技有限公司

Tianjin Boji Xinmei Technology Co., Ltd. is a publisher focused mainly on literature and general reading. Public information about the company is limited, but its catalog of nearly one thousand titles indicates publishing directions that include mystery and detective fiction, foreign literature, classic works, health, and Eastern philosophy. Representative publications include The Complete Dark Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, the works of Jo Nesbø, Nobel laureates John Steinbeck and Yasunari Kawabata, the collected works of Shi Tiesheng, and the healing books of neurologist Oliver Sacks. Its author resources combine foreign classics such as Poe, Steinbeck, and Kawabata with contemporary mystery writers like Nesbø, supported by translators including Cao Minglun and Lin Liren, reflecting a publishing profile that balances retranslated classics with genre reading.

版权信息
第1章来送皇后上路
第2章两宫册立风波
第3章投诚献计良策
第4章现在孤立无援
第5章天子一怒之气
第6章冻死他的耳朵
第7章最容易被发现
第8章焦州知府困局
第9章给你轰下来了
第10章至少是全乎人
第11章失踪州衙断案
第12章救济棚的跪拜
第13章两只箭的刺杀
第14章他没有回应她
第15章不一样的两箭
第16章兄妹宫中言语
第17章六局显示态度
第18章韫意灌醉项琅
第19章历帝年宴中毒
第20章果酥酪的嫌疑
第21章去慈怀寺祈福
第22章烫手的汤婆子
第23章有人投湖自尽
第24章可是有些旧情
第25章那是第一个吻
第26章默契的没提起
第27章京中鬼影歌谣
第28章你我肌肤之亲
第29章她替弟弟挡灾
第30章一家三口用膳
第31章鬼兵泣血之影
第32章百姓拥堵宫门
第33章与百姓的交锋
第34章狐假虎威的她
第35章一封意外来信
第36章宫中做媒红娘
第37章生辰礼的不同
第38章烟花下三人看
第39章让他做个旁证
第40章二人意乱情迷
第41章家宴上中毒了
第42章黑袍人的计划
第43章一定能不追究
第44章户部没顶梁了
第45章意外之人来访
第46章留了一排牙印
第47章不会再有灾难
第48章家里重男轻女
第49章掌印喜欢我吗
第50章宴席上募捐银
第51章也想请太后来
第52章送一家人团聚
第53章口谕上朝听政
第54章木甲对她效命
第55章身体每况愈下
第56章太后山林失踪
第57章项琅中毒咳嗽
第58章把他衣裳扒光
第59章棉絮村的生活
第60章只剩三年活命
第61章匣子里乌梅果
第62章周老国公夫人
第63章给自己揽个活
第64章兵部尚书请罪
第65章爵位请封折子
第66章侧殿死亡蹊跷
第67章惠容夫君态度
第68章真相公开时刻
第69章良县破庙姑娘
第70章老杨的驴粪车
第71章状告湖江知府
第72章移交至大理寺
第73章春荷终于行动
第74章有人出手帮忙
第75章再次下手失败
第76章韫意女学拉拢
第77章马车上神秘人
第78章皇室秘密往事
第79章凌家所求为何
第80章正厅交锋起来
第81章朝堂参奏太后
第82章她看上项琅了
第83章项琅悄声离京
第84章认亲宴的魅力
第85章酒楼英雄救美
第86章深夜开棺取物
第87章守护的黑衣人
第88章等待证据上门
第89章杨太妃的宫女
第90章英雄才会相惜
第91章他不知有何罪
第92章婚宴待嫁之时
第93章爱慕者众多也
第94章小郡王的失意
第95章变厉鬼在身边
第96章再次酒楼重逢
第97章拐子的藏身处
第98章言语扎心襄阳
第99章互相背刺的人
第100章要钱还是要命
第101章花朝节的红娘
第102章知道他的身份
第103章制纸坊的蹊跷
第104章锲而不舍追求
第105章划龙舟赛事故
第106章洛脂邀请游湖
第107章他身上的秘密
第108章伪装成了兄妹
第109章凌家人的行动
第110章山坳真正武器
第111章真相终于昭雪
第112章女学醉酒胡闹
第113章项琅朝中助力
第114章神秘的他国人
第115章飒德有些奇怪
第116章韫意船舱分析
第117章项琅留下后手
第118章主仆俩的默契
第119章阿瓦痴情不改
第120章人生全靠演技
第121章襄阳野心显现
第122章吃醋后的求亲
第123章皇帝江山重担
第124章一纸承诺婚书
第125章宫中最后争斗
第126章反转就在刹那
第127章太后敲登闻鼓
第128章生死簿上的命
第129章权力之间较量
第130章传奇的历史上

FAQ

I haven't read the author's other works—can I start with this one?

Yes. The story stands fairly independent and doesn't rely on prior books. The opening lays out the basic situation—the heroine's family offering her up and the emperor's sudden death—so readers can enter by following her circumstances. There are many characters early on; remembering the three-way positions of Xiang Lang, Yun Yi, and Empress Dowager Zhuang will make the intrigue clearer.

Is the heroine passive and controlled, or actively scheming?

Both. At first she is a pawn manipulated by both her family and the emperor, but after the emperor's sudden death she actively chooses to approach Xiang Lang for self-protection, and the seduction and traps are designed and driven by her. Watch the real purpose behind each of her shows of favor—it determines whether the character is pitiable or admirable.

What style is the leads' romance?

It leans toward tug-of-war and gamesmanship under unequal power, not equal, lighthearted sweet romance. The heroine uses her beauty as a means; the hero knows there's a trap yet falls willingly, and the romance advances alongside court strife. Readers who enjoy seeing who falls first and who is scheming against whom will be more absorbed; those who prefer warm everyday romance may find it hard to adjust.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

美人与骨 Author

Meiren Yu Gu is a web-fiction author about whom limited public information is available. The library currently holds four of her works, including The Puppet Wife, Blessings to the Stepmother, The Sickly Beloved, and The Return of the Chess Piece: She Unleashes a Storm of Blood (three volumes). These titles suggest that the author is mainly active in the common category of time-travel and alternate-history fiction, and that she excels at building character relationships and plot twists against ancient or imagined settings. The titles carry a strong sense of narrative tension and personal fate; images such as "puppet," "stepmother," and "chess piece" imply a focus on identity displacement, family entanglements, and struggles with destiny, with plots driven by suspense and emotional conflict. Because basic details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and English name are unknown, her personal history and the full scope of her writing cannot yet be outlined; this introduction can only offer a general description based on the subjects and naming style of the works held in the library.