Concubine

Taking Her by Force | The Long Road to Winning Her Back

Unyielding, tough heroine vs. unhinged power-wielding minister

Qiao Yingying was breathtakingly beautiful, yet her fate was as precarious as a duckweed on the water. She was Lu Sui's bedchamber concubine, and after finally enduring his death, she managed to find another patron.

Her fiance came from a noble house and treated her with great tenderness. But on the day she went with him to pay respects to his elders, Qiao Yingying learned that the man she had once served was the Regent of the current dynasty, and her fiance's uncle.

Looking up at the man in white, cold and aloof on the dais, resurrected from the dead, she went deathly pale. Her hands trembled as she offered him tea. "P-please have some tea, Uncle..."

That night, before Qiao Yingying could escape, the man pinned her against the door and caught her by the chin, his tone teasing.

"Does he know you're his uncle's woman?"

"Stay with me. Once I've had my fill, I'll let you marry him."

Qiao Yingying had no choice but to endure the humiliation and go along with him, hoping that after her wedding Lu Sui would leave her alone and they could each go their own way.

*

Lu Sui held power over the entire court. Noble and elegant, he was like a flower on a high mountain, impossible to reach. But during a discreet trip south, a scheming maid climbed into his bed, and he fell from his lofty perch.

Afterward, he treated her like a plaything and humiliated her at every turn. The little maid took it all without complaint, showed no shame, and even clung to him every night, saying she loved him. Little by little, he found himself enjoying it. He thought that when he returned to the capital, he would grant Qiao Yingying the title of a concubine in his prince's manor.

Until the little maid schemed to fake his death, then fled with his money without even looking back.

When they met again, Lu Sui saw her using the same honeyed words to deceive another man. Hidden in the shadows, he watched her every move with a cold smile.

He watched her become a noblewoman. He watched her and another man exchange tender affection.

He repeatedly offered her a way back, but she rejected him every time.

Later, he watched her kiss another man in a garden with his own eyes.

To avoid him, she even eloped with some other man and secretly married without telling him...

That night, Lu Sui carried out an imperial order to raid a home, storming into the bridal chamber. The groom lay on the ground, his life uncertain, while Qiao Yingying was bound to the bedpost, her red wedding dress stripped away, cursing him for breaking his word.

The man's elegant, handsome face was twisted with fury. He gave a scornful smile. "Let you go, only to watch you pleasure him and live happily as husband and wife?"

He would rather crush her and leave her to rot in the mud.

She would never escape him in this lifetime.

Notes:

1. Both leads are virgins from the start, but later the heroine is not a virgin while the hero remains one. Eight-year age gap.

2. A push-and-pull romance, with her being taken by force from the start.

3. The uncle relationship is because of the second male lead. The leads aren't related by blood.

4. A forced-romance story with serious coercion and old-school melodrama.

5. The male lead is a wolf in sheep's clothing, then a wolf in wolf's clothing, and very much a bastard. At first he pretends to be a gentleman, then turns into a violent, unhinged madman after losing his cool, followed by a twisted yandere, and finally a groveling simp.

● Please add my other similar forced-romance novel, Don't Be a Bedchamber Maid, to your collection!

(A rebellious woman who transmigrates vs. a patriarchal feudal minister)

On the second day after high school student Lin Tiaotiao transmigrated to ancient times, she was inexplicably sold into the Pei household as a servant. Fortunately, she was clever and quick-witted, and in two years she became the most favored senior maid serving the second young madam.

People advised her to compete for a place as a bedchamber maid to the young master.

But Lin Tiaotiao might have seemed clever, yet she had no ambition.

She never competed or fought for favor, and even went out of her way to look ugly. She devoted herself to serving the second young madam, hoping to save enough money to buy her freedom and leave the household as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, one night the drunken second young master mistook her for his unattainable first love and nearly dragged her into bed. Lin Tiaotiao fled in a panic, only to collide at the moon gate with the eldest young master, Pei Yun, who had just returned home.

That night, the drizzle dampened the young woman's clothes and washed away her makeup, revealing skin as smooth as porcelain.

Pei Yun stood beneath an umbrella, looking down at the little maid who had fallen at his feet. She tried desperately to keep her head bowed, yet held her back straight. He ordered her to lift her face.

At last, Pei Yun saw that the little maid bore an uncanny resemblance to his late wife.

*

Pei Yun was strikingly handsome, and at a young age had already risen to the highest ranks of the court. Unfortunately, he had been a widower for three years, with neither wife nor children. Until now, he had never agreed when people urged him to take several beautiful concubines and bedchamber maids to continue his line. But this time, against all precedent, Pei Yun wanted a little maid.

However, she was the second young master's wife's maid. By rights, she was also the second young master's woman.

Pei Yun considered it briefly.

It might be tricky, but... not impossible.

*

Pei Yun used a few tricks to take her from his second brother. At the time, Lin Tiaotiao cried and told him she already had someone she loved, and would never become anyone's concubine in this life.

Pei Yun had always had everything go his way. Countless noble young ladies had pursued him, yet now, when he had finally taken an interest in a servant despite the difference in their status, she dared to refuse his favor.

Didn't want to be a concubine?

Then she could be a bedchamber maid and remain at his service.

She might be a bedchamber maid, but she would still be the only woman in his household.

Pei Yun thought she was alone and helpless, with a fate as precarious as duckweed. He was giving her a place to live and wealth and status, and he would pamper her. Lin Tiaotiao should be grateful.

Until the little bedchamber maid took advantage of his absence on campaign and ran away, betraying him.

And she ran off with another man.

At last, Pei Yun remembered that Lin Tiaotiao had told him she loved someone. He also remembered how she had cried out the name of a stranger in her sleep beside his bed...

Furious, Pei Yun laughed coldly. For the first time, he tasted the agony of love, burning through his bones and searing his heart.

Later, Pei Yun caught her and promised her the position of wife and all the honor that came with it, all to force her to give him her heart. In return, she leaped off a cliff without hesitation, leaving him with nothing but the sight of her resolute back...

Theme: Striving to survive and rise.