Plucking Lotus

(Forced pursuit and conquest)

In her previous life, Li Xianhe was the daughter of a noble family in the capital. When her family was suddenly convicted of a crime, they were all arrested and their property confiscated.

Her father died with his name unjustly stained, her mother took her own life, and her elder sister became a prostitute. Unable to bear the humiliation, she ended her own life with a white silk sash.

When she opens her eyes again, Li Xianhe discovers she has become He Nü, a hereditary servant of the prominent Lu family in Jiangnan.

He Nü doesn’t want to be a slave for generations. She only wants to save enough money to buy her freedom and leave the estate, then educate her little brother so he can study for the civil service exams and become an official. She hopes that one day she can clear the Li family’s name and reopen a medical clinic, then live a free and happy life of her own.

But through a twist of fate, she catches the eye of Lu Jue, the Lu family’s eldest legitimate son.

Lu Jue smiles as he tries to tempt her: “What’s so good about leaving? I’ll make you my concubine, and you’ll enjoy a lifetime of wealth and luxury.”

He Nü straightens her back, her expression proud and resolute. “I won’t be a concubine.”

Lu Jue sneers. If she refuses a toast, she’ll have to drink a forfeit. Then he’ll simply take her by force…

*

At first, Lu Jue treats the little maid as nothing more than a plaything.

Later, he thinks the girl is beautiful and has an extraordinary air about her. It’s truly a pleasure to have her by his side. After he marries a proper wife, there’s no harm in raising her to the status of concubine.

In the end, Lu Jue willingly curbs his temper for this little maid, dismisses every woman in his household, and eagerly offers her the position of principal wife. But she doesn’t even want it…

Reader’s Guide:

1. Domineering, powerful young nobleman x beautiful, stubborn maid

2. Readers who require chaste leads or dislike forced pursuit and conquest should proceed with caution.

3. All medical practices, prescriptions, and treatments in this story are fictional. Please do not imitate or try them.

Advance Notice

Upcoming novel: The Village Woman and the Heir to the Prince’s Title. Please add it to your favorites! (Regret and pursuit, forced pursuit and conquest)

Lu Wanzhen is the only daughter in her family. She lives in a small village with her father, who has a lame leg, and her mute mother.

Her uncles in the clan and the village bully know her family is easy to push around, so they come by every few days to make trouble for them.

To protect herself and her parents, she has no choice but to set her sights on the man she just brought home.

When the man opens his eyes, she’s sitting by the bed with a bowl of herbal medicine. Head bowed, she asks him, extremely embarrassed, “I saved you. Would you marry into my family to repay me?”

The man has an arrow wound in his chest. He just fell off a cliff, breaking bones all over his body, and can’t move. He watches her, his expression shifting several times, then finally nods.

*

Xiao Chengyu, heir to the Prince of Yan, is pursued by assassins and falls off a cliff. A village woman saves him, and to stay alive, he is forced to endure the humiliation of becoming her live-in son-in-law.

Once his injuries heal, he leaves her immediately. The next day, he has a subordinate send her a large chest of silver. He believes he has now done all he can, and that they are even.

He never expects to see her again, but that woman travels a great distance to find him at the prince’s residence.

At a banquet, in front of everyone in the capital, the plain, unassuming woman carries a ragged cloth bundle on her back. The moment she sees him, her eyes turn red, and she cries out pitifully:

“Husband, I finally found you!”

Under the strange looks of everyone around him, he replies coldly, “I don’t know you.” Then he orders the guards to throw her out.

The next time he sees her, she’s at the side of his half-brother. The two often appear together in front of him.

He thinks he doesn’t care, until one day he returns to the residence and happens to see his half-brother holding her hand beneath a flowering tree. Her voice drifts to him on the breeze:

“I stopped loving Xiao Chengyu a long time ago…”

That night, unable to endure the jealousy that has been building in his chest, he climbs in through the window and corners her against the wall, his eyes dark, forcing her to say it word for word:

“Zhen-niang, say you love Xiao Chengyu, and only Xiao Chengyu…”

Theme: Respect, equality, and freedom.