To Be A Virtuous Wife

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As a virtuous wife, does it include tolerating his cousin, enduring his concubines, bearing his mother?

If you will not let me live freely, why would I let you live in satisfaction?

Did fate let women time-travel so they could learn the three morals and four virtues?

Rather than act like a coward and live, it would be better to live in satisfaction and die.

Associated Names
One entry per line
He Wei Xian Qi
Thế nào là hiền thê
ชายาผู้มีคุณธรรม
何为贤妻
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Eight Treasures Trousseau (31)
Chu Wang Fei (14)
Husband, Be A Gentleman (12)
Chongfei Manual (9)
Demon Wang’s Golden Favorite Fei (8)
Mei Gongqing (7)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Best Female Protagonists
  2. 5 RATED HISTORICAL NOVEL
  3. a history
  4. Favorite B/G Historical Novels
  5. The BEST Historical Novels (BG only)

Latest Release

Date Group Release
01/05/16 Dreams of Jianghu c123 (end)
01/04/16 Dreams of Jianghu c122
01/03/16 Dreams of Jianghu c121
01/02/16 Dreams of Jianghu c120
01/01/16 Dreams of Jianghu c119
12/31/15 Dreams of Jianghu c118
12/30/15 Dreams of Jianghu c117
12/29/15 Dreams of Jianghu c116
12/28/15 Dreams of Jianghu c115
12/27/15 Dreams of Jianghu c114
12/26/15 Dreams of Jianghu c113
12/25/15 Dreams of Jianghu c112
12/24/15 Dreams of Jianghu c111
12/23/15 Dreams of Jianghu c110
12/22/15 Dreams of Jianghu c109
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352 Reviews sorted by


Devil Heart
Devil Heart rated it
January 20, 2018
Status: Completed
I don't think my comments would make any different from the others, you could say all the comments are all high praising the novel it really good though at the end I unexpectedly like a character that I wasn't supposed to like if we went back to the past... *sigh* I can understand the protagonist very much how she didn't have much faith to his husband as feelings can fade over times, I too, is the same thoughts with her, I feel a bond?with her but reading this kind of... more>> novel is really makes peoples believe in happy ever after ending it really sweet that it doesn't seem to be real hahaha of course is not real what am I saying,

Anyway enough rambling totally recommended it really easy to read and it's not as much confusing like any other chinese historical novel I feel thankful for the straightforward explanation because of this novel I feel like I can understand more easily the often used chinese term truly thankful <<less
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fireflymaoh
fireflymaoh rated it
January 19, 2018
Status: c123
I read this after Eight Treasures Trousseau and it has the same good aspects. However, it lacks in the same aspects. The romance just doesn't feel right. Our main female lead is very cynical, which is fine but it really takes away from the romance in the later part of the novel. It also gets draggy towards the end and we get a lot of unnecessary storyline with no end goal in mind.
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Drake888
Drake888 rated it
January 18, 2018
Status: c123
A wonderful novel and an excellent transmigration romance set in ancient China. No powers or fights, but lots of political maneuvering. A moderate pace, and none of that "I know everything" Mary Sue nonsense that some other novels have. The romance was believable as well.

p.s. One of the other reviews complains about incomplete translations. This is intentional on the part of the translator. Much like leaving senpai and sensei in a Japanese novel, the translator leaves several forms of address in their native language. It adds to the atmosphere but... more>> I can understand that some people might struggle to remember all the terms. Still, you can guess the words from the context cues, and you can always keep the page with the definitions of the terms open in another tab for easy reference if you are having difficulties. <<less
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Riversong411
Riversong411 rated it
November 25, 2017
Status: c123
To think I passed over this several times because of the summary. This is a great novel with a fantastic translator. I really liked the author, but the translator's skill is exceptional. I would happily pay for such a translation and if ever she decides to make an official ebook available, I'd buy it without a second thought.
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Xi-hime
Xi-hime rated it
November 11, 2017
Status: Completed
Thank you for translating this novel :)

I can't stop reading this story over and over. What a marvelous story it is!

.

If you want to know how to have a happy marriage and the heart (love) of your husband only for you, you MUST read this novel.

I strongly recommended this novel for you to read.

... more>>
Spoiler

Warning! Spoiler!

I usually avoid reading a chinese imperial harem story because the female protagonist rarely has her happy ending.
But this one here has her happy ending!
.
I love how the authors don't rush at making Qu Qing Ju and her wang ye, He Heng, fall in love to each other. It makes me feel like their love is very deep because they build it together with solid trust and understanding.

There're no angst or tragedy or prolong misunderstandings that could hinder their love path (and torture this reader tender heart). God bless you authors!
.
I also love how the authors make a deep character of Qu Qing Ju. She knows how to live in satisfaction. She's definitely not a doormat and could stand up for herself.
.
.
Warning! Spoiler!

The female protagonist soul transmigrates to the body of Qu Qing Ju. The new Qu Qing Ju become a very desirable wang fei to her wang ye, He Heng.

With her knowledge from her modern life as manager and the huge support from her wang ye, Qu Qing Ju managed to control their Duan Wang Fu and her wang ye's concubines.

She let the concubines and people that support her live in comfortable life.

The concubines and people who slight her are eliminated one by one either by herself or others. Karma's really a b****!
.
When He Heng become Jia You Emperor and his wang fei, Qu Qing Ju, become his Empress known as Hwa Ren Empress... He Heng only loves Qu Qing Ju (and everyone know it). He's very protective of her and really treasure her.
Fortunately, both of them doesn't need to sacrifice their love to achieve their dream.

My favorite scene is when He Heng is jealous seeing his Empress, Qu Qing Ju, taking care their baby son, Tun Tun. He's jealous with his own son! ;)

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ryiryi
ryiryi rated it
October 7, 2017
Status: Completed
Im terrible at reviewing story. But all I can say this is one heck of a love story. Very realistic in terms of emotional development. This is what I think real love should be. Not a love at first sight or crazy in love feelings. It should be something that develops and strengthen over time. Stand together through thick and thin. Action speak louder than words.

Definitely one of favourite story and will re-read it again and again.
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Dahika
Dahika rated it
August 27, 2017
Status: c123
I love it, It was an interesting story, with good characters, without all the drama and misunderstandings that are often found in romantic stories
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yuni
yuni
July 26, 2017
Status: Completed
( ((o (*゚▽゚*) o))) Please do read this novel..

The story is soooo lovable and beautiful. It have it's own pace.. But it is still not tooooo slow..

The MC use her brain and not some OP talents. I felt that she gave us more realistic thinking as a woman with a powerful man as a husband, or even just as a wife. However the villainies do give a bit of the usual feeling sometime. But the side characters are likable. I do like the fact both MC and side... more>> characters evolves their thinking to adapt with their surrounding but still not forget who they are.

Translations are spot on, and helpful.
And the bad good thing is all the chapters are completed. (Now I need to search for other novel) <<less
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Miriallia
Miriallia rated it
May 27, 2017
Status: c123
This story is a brilliant piece of work, depicting time travel in a way that is seldom experienced. Instead of the I'll take revenge for all wrongs attitudes, our main character simply goes along with the flow, ensuring to mostly let her wisedom and realist mind do the work for her. In the end, Karma tends to rear it's head and even though she doesn't intend to intentionally make things hard for those whom have slighted her, it tends to end up that way regardless. While I understand that things... more>> don't tend to go that easily in reality, there's plenty of stories that focus on just how cruel, vicious, tenacious and ugly (in conduct, not appearance) some people are before letting the main character take revenge. This story instead focuses on what could only be considered to the true virtue of the woman. There's no buildup of torture on our MC just so that the MC can take revenge, things simply happen as they do, and as such, the entire story simply seems far more natural and free flowing.

It is my earnest reccomendation for you to read and enjoy this work, whilst perhaps not quite a masterpiece, it isn't far from it, and is a love story for those whom have read a few to many of them, and one for those that might not usually enjoy how drama filled they usually are. <<less
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endspell
endspell rated it
May 25, 2017
Status: Completed
Based only on my tastes, I would give this a 4.5/5 or somewhere along those lines. I am really into the little details though so I would rate it a 4 star read but I went ahead with 5 instead because I honestly did enjoy the entire novel. Aside from some flaws, I enjoyed the pace of the story and the male lead's growing adoration is adorable.

... more>>
Spoiler

And especially the kids. Ugh. The epilogue made me cry.

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Some words really hit me in the gut honestly (the last few chapters ugggh) and the humor made me laugh a lot. I have very conflicting feelings towards the female lead. On one hand, there are some parts of her where I deeply relate and I really admire her but I also feel that sometimes she is a bit too flat character-wise (Or maybe romantically speaking it gets a bit too subtle or I am just that unsatiable that I need more fluffs). TBAVW isn't a bad read though as I did read the whole thing in two days. The ending is satisfying, just like the revenge scheme. And right, I admit that near the end, the romance on the female lead side came through for me which made me so happy I continuously reread that particular scene.

Spoiler

When she scolded the male lead out of worry and everyone was watching with fear, the male lead was happy instead. Then she actually acts like a tsundere. My heart healed.

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Aside from having to take heavy mental notes on the pinyin used, there's not much I find really wrong either. Kind of wish it would be made into a drama. <<less
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cahmil
cahmil rated it
February 14, 2017
Status: Completed
Rated 5 as this was the first imperial love story that I've read. While reading I did find that some details were lacking/missing as if it's been wrongfully omitted due to translation. Only later on upon reading somewhere that even the translator (another translator) felt that way but THAT WAS HOW IT WAS WRITTEN and it can't be helped. Despite having said that it gave off such vibe, I still nonetheless enjoyed the story very much.

I liked that male lead fell in love first and that the female lead fell... more>> in love almost at the end of the story. Lol. I also liked that it wasn't that brutal as compared to others that I've read. And it was nice that you get to know the fate of most if not all of the major characters in the story. <<less
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Lexandrine
Lexandrine rated it
February 12, 2017
Status: Completed
I tried to avoid as much "slice-of-life tags" as much as possible. Too much of it really make me cringe most of the time and causes me to stop reading the story. But I overlooked the "slice-of-life tag" in this and I'm really happy that I did. I will never regret reading this story, the drama is very subtle, the MC is an independent woman and also an intelligent one (I somehow see myself but maybe I over react) that can stay calm even when in chaos.

... more>>
Spoiler

But can I just scream?! Like literally?!!!! I just-- He Yuan really changed and I fell inlove with him in his lonely death. I even needed to remind myself that He Heng and the MC is the real OTP but I can't stop cursing.

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I strongly recommend this novel for this is a gem. I can say that this is one hell of a kind, most will enjoy it and somehow you'll never feel that you're not contented with the ending.

EDIT:

Actually, now that I am re-reading it and after reading quite a few harsh comments on the first chapter, I must say:
1. Thank you for the translator for keeping it true to its meaning by not translating each word I guess? Because this is one of my first "ancient" novels and making it stay like that actually helped me in the long run.
2. It greatly helped me understand the power hierarchy since the nouns stayed as it is. As an example would be the different rank between concubines.
3. The rude remarks as well as criticisms might be a little ignorant in some aspects but I guess we would all find out what works for us. Except I want to pummel the person who said this is a tr*shy novel, f*ck you.
4. This is the only novel I want to re-read and I will re-read. Thank you for translating! <<less
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meiberry
meiberry rated it
January 16, 2017
Status: Completed
Tl;dr
This story is absolutely wonderful; it is a cut above most ancient setting C-novels and definitely worth giving a shot even if (especially if!) you are put off by the "enduring concubines" description. I loved it.

-

This is my hands down favorite imperial genre love story. It's not a typical love story in that it is also a story that makes you feel truly happy for the main female lead. You really feel proud of her and she never disappoints you. At least, that's how it was for me. This... more>> entire story was about the main female lead's time to shine and all of her victories over the evils of ancient Chinese households and the palace. All of her victories belong to herself and were for herself, only.

I actually HATE the imperial genre - I have never, ever relished or enjoyed "clever" plots and tricks of the "back palace" and all the evil doings on the parts of petty women or petty princes. I reeeeally hate it. I stopped watching Lan Ling Wang despite my adoration of the main couple because the story became increasingly "imperial" with the horrible concubines and princes... BBJX spoiler? Not sure:
Spoiler

I also have to admit that the first time I saw BuBuJingXin, when I had watched up to the episode where we discovered the Fourth Prince already had a wife just like all the other princes, I actually stopped watching!!

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I detest the harem. I binge on all these romance stories but it's not for the sake of the male lead's happiness!! Sorry!not sorry~!

BUT after reading the reviews that highly praised this story while also admitting that they were wary of the description about "enduring his concubines, " I gave this a chance, and I'm so glad I did!!

I actually absolutely love that this story didn't have any super dramatic large plots. I don't know what people are complaing about the "slice of life" and "boring" feel to this. I don't think it was boring at all!!! In other stories, all that drama was just ridiculous and I usually couldn't successfully suspend my disbelief (e.g. BBJX lmao). Basically every major plot movement is pretty predictable, but the joy and pleasure is getting to know how the main female lead wades through this life. It's a transmigration story, though I feel like it might not have needed to be transmigration. This story could have been that the original QQJ had resolved to change a lot at the point of the story when the girl from the modern times transmigrated into her body. But the fact that it was transmigration does explain the extremely drastic change as well as QQJ's modern views on women in the ancient Chinese society.

This is a great quote about the female lead towards the ending chapters - I put it in a spoiler thing but I don't think it's a spoiler at all, because she's carried this attitude since the very beginning of story:

Spoiler

"But she always was mind over heart. To lose her mind when interacting with a man, that wasn’t her style. What she could do was when the other treated her well, she would treat the other well; if the other had no feelings, then she wouldn’t offer herself. If a person disappeared from the world, the sun would still rise." - Chapter 110

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This is my favorite imperial love story because this along with the way her relationship with the main male lead blossomed, I just felt like this love story did justice to ALL GIRLS! Or any individual in love! Before you think about other people, you need to take care of yourself, and love yourself the most. She set an amazing example of that. Can we get a "respectable female lead" category for these types? They're great. Also, the romance is best towards the end of the story.

I have to say, that the second male lead was very unexpected. This is probably one of the most interesting relationships that never happened. The first epilogue WAS SO SAD. OMG. For the first time throughout the whole story I teared up. Throughtout the whole story, there was never anything actually so sad as this chapter.
Spoiler

It was actually immensely touching that between the lines of the main story, the third prince He Yuan never forgot each time he saw Qu Qing Ju. I felt so sad for him. But at the same time, I definitely didn't want her to end up with him, and I'm so glad they had nothing together.

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Well, in the end, it's not a very realistic story. Everything worked out so happily. (for me!) Everybody got what they deserved. That is the unrealistic part... But that's the thing about works of art - is that they give us a taste of paradise.

I do have some problems with certain aspects of the story. I am disappointed that the majority of the villains were women. There were so many evil ambitious women... it was ehhh. But luckily there were also a good handful of good, smart, kind, strong women. Though they weren't highly developed... Oh well, at least there was a big women cast that was arguably sort of diverse.
I also had a huge problem with a comment about skin color
Spoiler

by the main male lead about the people of Jing. the way he said they would be less beautiful than the light skinned people of Da Long

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. It was basically racist and super wrong. @ All my friends with darker skin colors, you are beautiful and perfect and don't listen to ancient or modern Chinese prejudice!!!

The translation was one of the better ones. The quality is very high, especially with the more delicate poetic parts such as in the epilogues. Also, luckily it is totally finished. It was an absolute joy to read. <<less
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LadyDumpling
LadyDumpling rated it
January 13, 2017
Status: Completed
To Be A Virtuous Wife is a great novel I spent over 2 days straight reading. The translator is very good therefore not much feeling is last from translation, though it was a bit difficult to get used to the number of Chinese terms. The protagonist is very realistic... even though her husband was very attentive and dotes on her she knows that it may not be like that forever; he might say he loves her today but tomorrow he do the same to another (very common for men in... more>> that era). She's very simple, all she wants is to be carefree and live a good life, a characteristic I adore. I love how the author portrayed her intelligence and beauty without making other characters completely dumb in comparison. My favorite parts of this novel was how He Heng (the male MC) fell in love with Qing Ju (female MC) and their interactions together, it was absolutely adorable. Their moments were the star of this novel.

Anyways, I could go on and on about how much I like this novel but that was because its to my preferences. Like the other reviews said it's a slow paced and slice of life genre, the protagonist is portrayed as OP in my opinion. She doesn't go through any dramatic struggle or any type of struggle for that matter, if she wanted to crush her opponents she could do so without even lifting a finger. She's adored by her husband from beginning to end. There are many people who prefer drama, action, and a fast-pace romance, don't read this novel if that's what you're looking for. <<less
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Tusker
Tusker
December 20, 2016
Status: Completed
This is a very awesome novel. The story has a good flow with great characters. I really enjoyed reading it. Each chapter feels like a complete story in itself rather than like a narrative that was cut into parts. It a unique novel or anything but it struck a good balance with all the elements i.e plot, characters, etc. This is one of those "Goldilocks" stories - It was just right
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slay_mithos
slay_mithos
December 8, 2016
Status: c123
I was pleasantly surprised to see less venomous plotting and tongue twisting than what you usually see in those novels.

It's obviously not perfect, but most important character seem to have actual reasoning (aside from the male lead, that guy has nearly no personality). Even the characters that are the "bad" people show growth (not all becoming "good" thankfully), rather than just pulling new ones and killing the old ones at every turn.

It has a lot of "plot armour", in that nothing bad ever actually happens to the female protagonist, and... more>> everything is always resolved smoothly, not causing the slightest bit of harm to her.

That said though, it is supposed to be a love story about a working female from our time being sent into the body of a recently deceased wife of a prince. She shortly decides that she will prioritize living well rather than force herself to fit the image of the perfect female that those times forced on most of them, even if it meant her death in a short time. With the husband actually getting attached to the fact that she actually is a living woman rather than an actress, this is the basis for the novel.

The translation is a bit rough at the start, but gets better as it progresses (especially after someone becomes an editor). The main "problem" is that there are a lot of Chinese terms for all the ranks and what people call themselves and the others when talking, which can be confusing for those not used to those. That said, those terms don't have good translations in English, so translating those mean that some of the meaning is lost, so there is no perfect solution and it's mostly up to the translator to decide which to use.

All in all, a fairly decent love story in medieval Chinese setting, with a female that has some aspects from a more contemporary period, where females are not as tightly bound by the need to maintain a specific image. <<less
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Narutolvr
Narutolvr
November 22, 2016
Status: c123
This was a fantastic story! The MC wasn't OP; she was a regular woman who had her limits (and knew them). Even better, the MC was pretty realistic when it came to her relationship with the make lead and the emotions of herself and the other characters. A breath of fresh air. I guess my only complaint would have been that the female villains started as idiots and died as idiots whereas the make villains had some level of character development. But the author redeemed it by showing a female... more>> character who did learn her mistakes and was able to learn from them. But it's a seriously great story. If you're having trouble with the dictionary of Chinese words needed to understand the first few chapters, stick with it. The story is completely worth it. <<less
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TestA
TestA
June 4, 2016
Status: c120
Love story of Qu Qing Ju and He Heng is very touching. Female main character is new soul Possession allows to capture the male main character heart as the story continues. Satisfying ending for protagonists.
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Cien
Cien rated it
June 4, 2016
Status: c123
Although this novel is not my type of novel, there are some interesting aspects to it. In short, it is a romance novel that deals with the politics of nobles and royalty in ancient china (?) As a romance novel, I think it is done pretty meh. But this "meh" is not necessarily a bad thing. It depicts realistic love, instead of falling head over heels with them from the get go, there is always some tinge of doubt in the back of their minds, which I find amusing. Certain... more>> insecurities made it feel interesting, but the guy falls in love with the girl initially and was only explained thoroughly later on, which rubbed me the wrong way.

The interactions of each characters are interesting. Jealousy, hate, insecurities and other ugly emotion that humans have is a little exaggerated but I can buy it on how it is written. Translations, pretty good. I love this type of translation better. Learning a few chinese words like gege, didi, etc. Is always fun. Although the translations have some typos, it is passable. Overall rating, 8/10 or 7.5/10 <<less
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199sweetheart
199sweetheart rated it
May 24, 2016
Status: c123
Just finish reading it after binge reading for 2 days even though I should be studying for my examination, can't say I regret any of it.. This is a very enjoyable read and I really love the ending it was very touching and heartwarming..I start reading this story after reading Chu Wang Fei because it have the same transmigration concept. The beginning is quite the same as expected but the flow of the story is different nevertheless it is still quite a good read. In my opinion, between Qu Qing... more>> Jun and Yun Qian Meng I prefer YQM as she seems to be more cunning but QQJ attitude in this story is very interesting and I have was good read because of it. <<less
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