A Lin Daiyu Fell from the Sky

[Full text revised]

[Headstrong, haughty young lady x handsome scholar whose life hangs in the balance]

[Just writing some light, sweet romances to indulge my love of writing multiple couples, hehe]

1.

At the Lin family estate in Yangzhou, where they made their living in the fabric trade, the second daughter, Lin Qingju, was so beautiful she could put fish to shame and geese to flight. She was also exceedingly proud, and lately she felt she must have fallen under a spell of romantic misfortune.

The romance was romance, and the misfortune was misfortune.

The romance was Pei Yuanzhi, the prefect's son, whom she'd fallen for at first sight during a spring banquet. The misfortune was the new bookkeeper in her household.

They said Xu Ming was handsome and skilled with accounts, and treated people with warmth and courtesy. Not only did her father praise him to the skies, but the maids in the household, including her personal maid, had all fallen for him too. None of that concerned her, except that her father was thinking of taking him as a son-in-law...

Outrageous! Lin Qingju was furious. Only a fool would marry a bookkeeper with no money and no power. What was more, Xu Ming had openly defied, provoked, and contradicted her time and time again. She resolved to set out on the road to getting rid of him!

2.

Recently, her dear friend Zhu Yunzhu had been so overcome with lust that she wouldn't leave Xu Ming alone.

Lin Qingju smirked. If Zhu Yunzhu won him over, wouldn't that be a perfect way to send him packing?

So she thumped her chest and promised, "Don't worry, sister. On the day of the embroidered-ball toss, I'll make sure Xu Ming ends up in your arms!"

Who could have guessed that after a cloud of smoke and several mishaps, the ball would indeed land in Xu Ming's hands, but it would be Lin Qingju's ball!

That wretched Xu Ming got what he wanted and still acted smug. He publicly put Pei Yuanzhi on the spot, forcing him to confess his feelings for Lin Qingju. The misunderstanding over the ball was cleared up, but she was left utterly humiliated.

Lin Qingju was seething. When she went to teach him a lesson, Xu Ming went completely out of line, saying that he was trying to match her with Pei Yuanzhi so she could hurry up and get married, rather than keep seeing him under the same roof every day and making things awkward?!

Who was the master here, anyway?

Who was the one who should leave?

The young lady cursed, "Even if I get married, you'll have to come with me as part of my dowry, Xu Ming!"

3.

The servants gossiped, and rumors swept through the city.

Someone claimed Xu Ming had a leg injury and had been secretly involved with the concubine of his previous master's son.

Lin Qingju was even angrier. She looked at Xu Ming's upright, pine-like figure. How could her father find someone like this to match her with?

Who dared speak ill of the Lin family? Who dared question her father's judgment?

After all, this was the man her father had chosen as her future husband. Even if she didn't want him and didn't like him, she was the only one allowed to criticize him!

She threw herself into investigating the truth, then secretly eavesdropped outside the door.

Facing the koi pond, with the shade of green trees behind her, the young lady slumped in a chaise longue, looking as miserable as if she'd swallowed a hundred flies.

As the vulgar saying went, a treasure has a jade scepter, a man has a pillar that reaches the heavens. So Xu Ming's problem wasn't with his left leg or his right leg, but with his third leg????

Theme: A coward who loses everything fights and claws his way back, then marries the beauty he loves