Hoping for Widowhood

荔好多汁Sep 2025

3.0

Word count: 124K words
Chapters: 58

Summary

Prince Jing Xie Huaijin is peerless in looks—and peerless in frailty—and with his crippled legs besides, at twenty-three he is still unwed.

After all, no one wants to spend their blooming years as a living widow, or worse, a real one.

Jiang Lingzhu, a modern soul inside, lit up at the news and set her eyes on the man everyone else shunned: "My heart has belonged to Your Highness for so long. If you do not mind, I am willing to marry you!"

A husband in poor health = an early death + a huge inheritance! Nobody is stealing this from her!!!

Xie Huaijin studied the girl before him, cheeks flushed red, her bright eyes full of ten-tenths affection, her eager hope plainly genuine. And they said the Jiang girl had always been timid and afraid of people—yet now she had declared her love in public just to marry him. Clearly she loved him to the bone.

Love a walking wreck of a man with one foot in the grave?

Xie Huaijin was contemptuous and meant to refuse—but faced with those eyes, he held out the betrothal bouquet: "Since it is so, I shall marry her."

Only Jiang Lingzhu never expected that the frail body, the sickly constitution, the crippled legs—were all bullshit!

...

One day a painting turned up in Prince Jing's mansion: a gravestone inscribed "Tomb of the Deceased Husband Xie Huaijin," and beside it a little figure with hands on hips, head thrown back in laughter, three big words drifting from her mouth—Ha ha ha.

Xie Huaijin studied the painting expressionlessly while the servants knelt across the floor, trembling.

After a long while, a sigh: "She designed my gravestone with her own hands, and even forced a smile so I would not worry. Her feelings run truly deep."

The servants: ...Huh???

Editor's review

This is a historical romance sweet-pet story that puts its heroine's widow-minded scheming right out in the open. Jiang Lingzhu, a modern soul dropped into an ancient body, hears that Prince Jing Xie Huaijin is frail, lame, and unwanted in marriage—and her first thought isn't pity but calculation: die early, leave an inheritance, perfect. Her public declarations of love are written with blunt, comic directness, while the hero misreads her fervor as deep devotion and solemnly moves himself to tears. The book's central joke rests on this cognitive mismatch—she's hoping for widowhood, he believes it's love. Author Li Haoduozhi excels at mining humor from contrast: the hero seems cold and sickly but harbors hidden truths, the heroine seems infatuated but is quietly keeping accounts. When the tombstone painting surfaces, the misunderstanding hits its peak, delivering both laughs and emotional tension. The pacing is brisk and the dialogue playful—ideal for readers who enjoy marriage-first-love-later and misunderstanding-driven sweet romance. One caveat: this is light comedy, so don't expect deep political intrigue or rigorous historical research; it's best read as a stress-relief sweet treat.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Historical romance readers who enjoy marriage-first-love-later and misunderstanding-driven sweet stories
Light-comedy readers who prefer a modern-soul heroine with a calculating streak
Readers looking for easy, stress-relief sweet fiction for fragmented reading time
Romance readers drawn to the contrast between a secretly complex hero and a blunt heroine

Not a good fit for

Historical romance readers expecting rigorous historical accuracy and deep political plotting
Readers who dislike misunderstanding-driven plots and find the coincidences excessive
Readers who prefer serious drama and reject comedic tone

Reading tips

Treat the hero's frequent inner monologues of self-moved devotion as comedic cues—it helps you sync with the comic rhythm faster.
Read the heroine's inheritance-calculating passages alongside the hero's devoted misreadings; the contrast is where the book's charm lives.
The tombstone painting reveal is the climax of the misunderstanding—at that point, look back at earlier foreshadowing to appreciate the joke's construction.
Best for light bedtime or commute reading; no need to finish in one sitting.

版权信息
第1章怎会如此
第2章心灵手巧
第3章梨花带雨
第4章灵竹葬花
第5章情根深种
第6章心仪之人
第7章我愿意嫁
第8章以命起誓
第9章娶了便是
第10章维持人设
第11章也太巧了
第12章教习嬷嬷
第13章谈笔生意
第14章还个人情
第15章亲自验身
第16章闺房密事
第17章赶个早八
第18章叫她夫人
第19章一份大礼
第20章洞房花烛
第21章趁热打铁
第22章索要轮椅
第23章翻盖棺材
第24章迫不及待
第25章不合规矩
第26章长个记性
第27章隐秘甜蜜
第28章王妃失踪
第29章偶遇前任
第30章委屈破防
第31章阿竹别怕
第32章震惊全家
第33章何等虚伪
第34章生动许多
第35章给她上药
第36章张牙舞爪
第37章和他并肩
第38章只想搞钱
第39章她在躲他
第40章长命百岁
第41章不会认错
第42章我很想你
第43章皇家秘辛
第44章放着我来
第45章勇敢一点
第46章被囚禁了
第47章妄图谋反
第48章危机四伏
第49章解开密码
第50章八方支援
第51章昭告天下
第52章日日祈福
第53章我想亲你
第54章吾命休矣
第55章一场骗局
第56章哄人诚意
第57章梦境番外

FAQ

Is the hero's frail condition real, or is there a hidden truth?

From the synopsis, the heroine's calculations ultimately fall through—the book explicitly states that "the fragile health and crippled legs were all nonsense," indicating the hero's sickly image isn't the whole truth. How the hidden truth unfolds requires reading the main text, but it's clear this isn't a simple frail-hero story.

Is the heroine a transmigrator or a native with a modern soul?

The synopsis describes "Jiang Lingzhu, who possesses a modern soul," bringing modern thinking and self-interested calculations into the story—for instance, directly converting marriage into early death and inheritance. This modern perspective is the source of her verbal and behavioral contrasts and the book's comedic effect, and it's a key设定 that distinguishes this heroine from traditional historical romance leads.

Where does the story's humor mainly come from?

The core humor comes from the cognitive mismatch between hero and heroine: her public declarations of love are meant to hasten widowhood and inheritance, while the hero interprets her fervor as deep devotion and keeps moving himself to tears. The tombstone painting being uncovered is a signature set piece—the deeper the misunderstanding, the more convinced the hero becomes, and the stronger the comedy.

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About the author

荔好多汁 Author

Li Haoduozhi is a web-fiction author about whom limited public information is currently available; only one work by this author is included in the database, namely Pan Gua ("Waiting for Widowhood"). According to the existing classification, this work belongs to the time-travel alternate-history genre, suggesting that the author works within this framework. Since details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and writing career cannot be confirmed, this note makes no speculation and offers only a brief account based on the available clues. Time-travel alternate history typically involves shifts across time and space and invented historical settings, placing certain demands on an author's plotting and character development. As the only representative work by Li Haoduozhi currently verifiable, Pan Gua is the main basis for understanding this author's approach to writing. Readers who wish to learn more about the author may begin with this work and observe how the time-travel narrative is handled and what stylistic features it displays.