Smell the Pearls

Upcoming story: She Really Wants Me Dead

Wei Cen died suddenly and transmigrated into the body of a little maid in the Prince of Qin's household.

Though she was a servant, she lived much more comfortably than ordinary people in terms of food, clothing, housing, and transport.

But Wei Cen had known freedom. How could she willingly spend her whole life as a servant?

Luckily, the original owner was still just a girl of around ten in the Prince of Qin's household. She had plenty of time to plan her escape.

*

Pei Xingyan had been made heir to the Prince of Qin's household at birth. Unfortunately, he was frail and had to take his meals with a bowl of medicine.

Looking at the foolish girl in front of him, her mouth covered in pastry crumbs, he couldn't help thinking of the Xuesong he had raised years ago.

"Cough, cough... A-Cheng." Pei Xingyan covered his mouth and coughed twice. "If you keep eating like this, you might not fit into the summer dress we had made for you a few days ago."

Wei Cen froze with a pastry halfway to her mouth, but then thought, Forget it. Why argue with a sickly man?

Once he died, she could ask for permission to leave the household.

As for how she'd make a living afterward, naturally, she'd go back to her old trade.

Having made up her mind, Wei Cen picked up another lotus pastry and brought it to her lips. Her words came out muffled. "It's all right, Heir. I'll stay by your side for the rest of my life anyway, as long as you don't mind me getting fat. I don't care about new clothes and things like that."

Pei Xingyan stopped coughing and took a shallow breath, his gaze still fixed on her smooth, fair face.

Good. She had promised to stay with him for the rest of her life.

*

Wei Cen never dreamed that Pei Xingyan's illness was fake.

Even his promise to let her leave the household was a lie.

Luckily, after his "recovery from a serious illness," Pei Xingyan was kept busy with duties assigned by the new emperor and was away from the capital for several months.

Using her biological mother's serious illness and bedridden state as an excuse, she begged the old princess consort for permission to leave and got her contract of servitude back.

But after she had arranged travel papers to go to Jiangnan and boarded a passenger boat bound for Yangzhou under cover of night, she saw a group of soldiers surrounding the vessel, their official boats packed tightly around it and torches in hand.

Wei Cen had smudged her face with makeup and let her messy hair hang loose. She knelt with her head bowed among the trembling passengers, thinking that if she hid well enough, she could escape trouble.

But in the next instant, she saw the crane-patterned brocade boots she'd made with her own hands stop in front of her.

"You served me, after all. How could you leave for Jiangnan without even saying goodbye? Or have you gotten tired of the Prince of Qin's pastries, little Orange, and want to try the local delicacies somewhere else?"

Pei Xingyan spoke casually, as though making small talk.

But the dim yellow firelight on his face did nothing to dispel the menace in his eyes. It sent a chill down her spine.

"I'll count to three. If you still won't get up, no one on this boat is leaving."

"...Three!"

"No!"

Wei Cen cried out in alarm and abruptly raised her head, meeting his chilling, deep-pool eyes.

"...Pei Xingyan, what do you want from me?"

Pei Xingyan looked at the woman before him, chin raised as she questioned him in defiance. His heart clenched with pain.

What did he want?

All he wanted was to keep her.

If he couldn't keep her willingly, then he would use every means at his disposal.

After all, he had never promised to let her go. That was just something she'd made up.

Contains coercive romance and a super melodramatic, old-school, dog-blood story where she runs and he chases. Please read with caution if this isn't your thing.

Blurb:

In the seventeenth year of the Shijing era, Wen Jing, heir to the Duke of Zheng, was ordered to lead a campaign against the Northern Rong. He drove the once-arrogant Northern Rong forces into a constant retreat.

After the victory banquet, Wen Jing returned to his private quarters. Seeing the shape beneath the covers, he slowly loosened his collar. A night of passion followed.

The next morning, Wen Jing looked at Ye Hanzhen, lying in bed and sobbing into the covers, and laughed. "What do you think? Didn't I tell you that you wouldn't be able to marry Wen Xingsong? You didn't believe me!"

"...You beast!"

Wen Jing's grin only widened. "I am a beast! So what does that make the sanctimonious hypocrite who sent you to my bed? He arranged a marriage for you with someone else, yet to curry favor with me, he didn't hesitate to send his own daughter to my bed. Hmm... I understand what he meant!"

"Ye Hanzhen, don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Besides, now that the deed is done, even if you still want to marry Wen Xingsong, I'm afraid he won't marry you."

As he spoke, Wen Jing glanced at the slender figure on the bed, her black hair falling down her back. His eyes were full of satisfaction.

At first, Wen Jing only wanted to take her.

Later, he didn't know when it happened, but he grew greedy enough to want her heart as well.

He just didn't know when she caught the Crown Prince Shen Yujing's eye.

A match made in heaven? A perfect couple?

He, Wen Jing, was the one who could grow old with her.

A bestowed marriage wouldn't stop him. He'd just take her away again. It wasn't the first time she'd been engaged to someone else.

He was the only one she could marry!

Chaste hero x chaste heroine

Content warning: The hero is a terrible person (not joking)

Theme: Love yourself well