Pregnant with the Powerful Minister’s Child

Thank you, dear readers, for the five-star reviews, and for supporting the official release~ My new novel, The First Year After Divorce, is now available. Come check it out~ Both are inexperienced | Powerful man learns to yield | Strong male lead, weaker female lead Low-ranking maid 🐰 x Patriarchal old fox 🦊 Lu Jun, the Great General Who Guards the North, was sent to defend the frontier amid a struggle for imperial power and was forbidden to return to the capital for three years. The Old Madam feared that blades on the battlefield might injure her eldest grandson. She wanted the marriage with their in-laws to go ahead as soon as possible, so the new bride could accompany him to the border and bear an heir for the main branch. But the prospective in-laws knew how to read the situation. Afraid Lu Jun might meet with disaster while away on campaign, they deliberately delayed the wedding, claiming their daughter would not come of age until the end of the year. The Old Madam was furious. If her in-laws had no sense of honor, she would show them none either. She had her plans all laid out: if the legitimate son could not provide an heir, then one of the sons born to a concubine would have to do. She patiently began selecting a bedchamber maid for her eldest grandson. Lu Jun was peerlessly handsome, with the bearing of a phoenix. Even for a bedchamber maid, she needed to find a pretty, good-natured girl who would not cause trouble. Once the maid bore him a son, the Old Madam would give her a handsome sum and send her away, so the bride who joined the family would not be put in an awkward position. After considering one girl after another, the Old Madam set her sights on Yun Fu, a maid who worked in the outer courtyard. Yun Fu was beautiful and gentle. She had also signed a work contract rather than a lifelong bond, which made her especially appealing to the Old Madam. Knowing Yun Fu's family was gravely ill, the Old Madam gave her a large sum for medicine. If Yun Fu bore Lu Jun a son, she would no longer have to work in the household, and her family would have money to rely on, too. With nowhere else to turn, Yun Fu could only agree. - A month later, on the Old Madam's orders, Yun Fu went to the border to serve General Lu. Behind the bed curtains, she looked at the tall, imposing figure and, for the first time, felt her legs go weak and the urge to run. - To Lu Jun, Yun Fu was merely a bedchamber maid whose job was to relieve his pent-up desires. She was only a servant, and he had no need to show her the slightest consideration. That changed one day, when Yun Fu became pregnant and Lu Jun ordered someone to take her back to the family estate. Looking at the timid girl, as skittish as a rabbit, Lu Jun rarely spoke gently as he coaxed her: “Go back and take good care of the baby. If you bear a boy, I’ll raise your status to concubine.” - At first, Lu Jun thought: She’s just a lowly servant. Giving her a son born outside the main line and a little dignity is enough to repay the intimacy we shared. But when Lu Jun returned victorious, he found only his young son at the estate. He searched the whole place and could not find the bedchamber maid anywhere... Only then did he understand that Yun Fu had no heart at all. Her meek dependence had all been a ploy to deceive men. - Several months later, Yun Fu left the Lu household and began a new life, going out to work as usual. Before she could even enter, a force of armored soldiers came charging toward her. Hundreds upon hundreds of troops surrounded her. Yun Fu trembled, her eyes filling with tears. In the distance, a man in black with a fox-fur cloak approached, one hand on his sword. It was Lu Jun. His phoenix eyes narrowed, his expression stern, as he said coldly, “Abandoning your husband and child? You’ve got some nerve.” (The blurb may differ from the story. The story itself takes precedence.) Reading Guide ① An honest bedchamber maid x a ruthless, ambitious young master. Both are inexperienced. The male lead is 27, the female lead is 18, a nine-year age gap. ② The blurb means they marry first, then he takes his bride to the border. They won’t consummate the marriage right away, since the male lead can’t return for three years!! I really don’t want to spoil anything, but I’ll give a little away: the male lead is chaste, and barely knows his fiancée. He even sent her family a letter breaking off the engagement, but they suppressed it because they wanted to curry favor with him. In short, anything that seems strange will be explained in the story. Things unfold gradually, so please be patient. ③ A powerful man learns to yield; possessive pursuit; the male lead is a ruthless, ambitious man. Neither of them is perfect, and both can be selfish. If that’s not your thing, read with caution. ④ Piracy is not welcome. Please support the official release. Thanks to all the lovely readers supporting the official edition and keeping me company =3= ⑤ The whole story is plotted out in advance. Please don’t offer unsolicited writing advice. This work is copyrighted. Plagiarism and idea theft will be pursued. Here’s a story coming soon. Save it if you like, dear readers~ Becoming the Crown Prince’s Secondary Consort, by Cao Deng Daren Jiang Xiaoman was just a country girl, but thanks to an old debt of gratitude between their fathers, she was assigned as a secondary consort to the current Crown Prince, Xie Yantan. When she first arrived in the capital, Jiang Xiaoman was anxious, afraid the Crown Prince would look down on her because she could not read a single character. Fortunately, Xie Yantan was warm and approachable, and treated her kindly and gently, never mistreating her in the slightest. Life in the Eastern Palace was simple. She was his only secondary consort. Jiang Xiaoman rarely left the inner quarters. She kept the Crown Prince company as he read and drank tea, and found it rather pleasant. There was just one thing she didn’t like... Xie Yantan took his marital duties very seriously. Every month around the middle of the month, he insisted they sleep together for several days. And though Xie Yantan was frail, coughing at the slightest breeze, he was surprisingly vigorous in bed. ...Every time, he left deep red marks on her and kept her from getting out of bed for half a day. - Crown Prince Xie Yantan was disciplined, courteous, and possessed of great virtue. The entire court praised this upright heir to the throne. If the late Empress had not hanged herself after being accused of a crime, and Consort Shen had not grown so powerful through imperial favor, would the Crown Prince have fallen out of the Emperor’s favor and remained unmarried at twenty-five? Xie Yantan seemed gentle, but he was actually a man of profound cunning. His apparent ill health was merely a tactic to deceive his political enemies. One day, with the throne nearly within his grasp, an advisor asked what he planned to do about Jiang Xiaoman, the secondary consort in his household. Xie Yantan’s warm smile faded. His phoenix eyes turned cold as he replied without a shred of feeling: “She’s just a countrywoman. This marriage was a humiliation Consort Shen inflicted on me. Once I rise to power, I’ll have her killed without a second thought.” Tap. The faint sound of footsteps came from behind him. When Xie Yantan turned around, all he saw on the ground was a fallen wintersweet blossom. It was the flower Jiang Xiaoman had murmured in her sleep the night before that she wanted to pick for him... - Jiang Xiaoman knew she was insignificant and slow-witted, and was sure Xie Yantan would never care for her. She had also thought that, once Xie Yantan married a principal consort, she could leave the palace and return to her hometown, back to the carefree life she used to have. But she never imagined Xie Yantan could be so cold, regarding her as a disgrace and wanting nothing more than to kill her. Jiang Xiaoman didn’t want to die... The day chaos broke out in the palace, she fled in the confusion and disappeared without a trace. - The Crown Prince’s secondary consort perished in a sea of flames, her life cut short. The advisors at the residence all sighed, “Perhaps it’s for the best. She shared his bed, after all, and they had some affection for one another. If Xie Yantan had killed her himself, it would have tarnished his reputation.” At first, Xie Yantan also thought that she was just a country girl. Why should he keep her in mind? But now there was no woman chattering beside him in bed. The flowers came into bloom, but there was no one to pick them for him or remind him to take his medicine and dress warmly... Once or twice, Xie Yantan found himself remembering Jiang Xiaoman’s kindness. - Years later, Jiang Xiaoman went into the mountains to hunt as usual. As soon as she stepped outside, she found her home surrounded by a mass of heavily armored soldiers. Sweating and panic-stricken, Jiang Xiaoman saw her former husband, the Crown Prince, stride toward her in a white robe stained with blood. Xie Yantan raised his lovely eyes slightly and looked at the little secondary consort he had not seen in so long. “Xiaoman... I’ve come to take you back to the palace.” Reading Guide 1. A sickly, obsessive Crown Prince x an easygoing, honest secondary consort. Both are inexperienced. Dramatic, possessive pursuit, powerful man learns to yield, marriage before love. If this isn’t your thing, read with caution. 2. The blurb may differ a little from the story. The story itself takes precedence. Theme: Be self-reliant and independent