Bedroom Attendant

[A cautious palace bedchamber maid × a young emperor who endured hardship to bide his time]

Both leads are virgins + three-year age gap + older woman/younger man romance + he falls for her first + a touch of possessive coercion

[Blurb]

The new emperor ascends the throne and names his era Zhengshi. The whole realm celebrates.

The palace is renewed from top to bottom.

At twenty, Lu Yinzhu becomes the youngest female supervisor in the palace, serving as a bedchamber attendant at the Hall of Supreme Polarity.

Though young, Lu Yinzhu has earned the emperor’s deep trust.

That is because she and the emperor depended on each other in the Cold Palace for years. During the perilous struggle for the throne, she armed herself and stood in front of him. They share a bond forged through hardship, unlike any ordinary relationship.

Whenever the young emperor is consumed by rage, no one dares approach him. Only Aunt Yinzhu can calm him down and bring him back to himself.

Over time, everyone in court learns that you can offend anyone in the palace except Aunt Yinzhu. Her surname is Lu, the imperial surname bestowed on her by the emperor himself. She is the only person in the palace permitted to meet with officials and consorts without performing the palace bow.

Everyone thinks Aunt Yinzhu will spend the rest of her life in the palace, relying on the emperor’s affection for her.

Only Lu Yinzhu knows how volatile the young emperor is, and how ruthless he can be. Too many cautionary tales keep her constantly on her guard, never daring to take his favor for granted.

All Lu Yinzhu wants is to save money, so she can leave the palace at twenty-five, buy a house and land, and run a small business to make ends meet. If she gets the chance, she would find someone who understands her and have two or three chubby babies. With a warm little home where she can live out her days, she’d have no regrets.

As her savings grow and the day she can leave the palace draws closer, Lu Yinzhu’s spirits lift.

Lu Yinzhu has always been beautiful, and before long she catches the eyes of many guards. They start giving her gifts, hoping to win her attention. Several officials who know her even rush to say they want their sons to marry her and make a perfect match.

All Lu Yinzhu’s beautiful hopes and dreams for the future come to an end that day, in the Hall of Supreme Polarity after the palace banquet. As she makes the bed as usual, Lu Yicheng, dead drunk, suddenly forces her down onto the imperial bed.

The scorching smell of liquor fills the air. The young emperor grips Lu Yinzhu’s slender wrist, his hoarse voice close to her ear as he asks, each word filled with pain: “Are you really so unwilling to stay by my side?”

“Lu Yinzhu, you promised you’d stay with me for the rest of my life!”

Note:

1. Both leads are virgins. Fictional setting.

2. The male lead is moody, secretly in love with the heroine, and chaste.

3. A touch of possessive coercion. The heroine is weaker than the male lead, and neither lead is perfect.

[A passionate, bold shopkeeper] X [A cold, beautiful minister]

Both leads are chaste + rekindled romance + the male lead is wildly jealous

[Blurb]

The Chi family is a prominent merchant clan in the capital. Their only daughter, Chi Lingchun, has been bold and exceptionally clever since childhood.

At seventeen, Chi Lingchun takes a liking to a refined but impoverished scholar named He Guiwan and sets her heart on bringing him home as her live-in husband.

Though He Guiwan comes from a poor family, he has a proud spirit. He refuses to accept Chi Lingchun’s passionate pursuit or generous financial support, and is utterly unmoved by her attentions and kindness.

Chi Lingchun perseveres and goes to great lengths before finally persuading He Guiwan to marry into her family.

She thinks she can spend her days peacefully with her handsome, talented husband, have an heir, and grow the Chi family business. But He Guiwan is ambitious and remarkably learned. He places first in the highest imperial exam and becomes the capital’s most sought-after new official.

Her husband, once content to stay at home, transforms into an important court official, busy with work all day and never around. There are even rumors that the daughter of a powerful minister has set her sights on He Guiwan and openly declared her love for him. The two of them come and go at different hours, and even the handsome husband and adorable child Chi Lingchun has dreamed of become a distant fantasy.

Exhausted, Chi Lingchun grows further and further apart from her husband. Their three-year marriage finally ends in divorce.

Three years later, Chi Lingchun has finally recovered from her heartbreak and gathered her strength. She asks her parents to find a suitable, well-matched man for her so she can try her luck at love again.

But her former husband, He Guiwan, who has long since risen to great heights, begins showing up in her life again and again.

Intimidated by his power and their history, one man after another flees, ruining every promising match she finds.

He Guiwan has once again secretly scared off a matchmaker. Chi Lingchun catches him in the act, furious and humiliated. Her eyes reddening, she demands, “Lord He, what exactly are you trying to do?”

The aloof minister feared by everyone at court has ears burning red as he gathers his courage to confess: “Lingchun, why not choose me? We know each other inside out, and we were married for three years. I’m better-looking than they are, and my prospects are brighter. Surely I’m a hundred times better than them?”

“Why are all of them acceptable, but I’m not?”

Theme: Standing together through hardship and growing old in love