Ruan Taoyao is the owner of Tiancheng Pavilion, a matchmaking shop in the Great Jin dynasty.
Her specialty is background checks for lovesick fools. She digs up everything, then runs, and she's never failed.
Until Liang Yan slid a box of gold across the table.
"Boss Ruan, could you find out whether Young Master Mu of Jicheng is... capable in that department?"
Taoyao looked at that familiar face and curved her lips into a smile. "He is."
*
A month later, Taoyao propped up her sore waist and rested one hand against her forehead as she gazed at Mu Qing's profile on the bed.
He was gorgeous and very capable... so it wasn't a bad deal.
She got up and picked up her brush, then wrote four words.
Mu Qing: Not capable.
*
Once the matter was settled, Taoyao happily took a thousand gold pieces and went to find Mu Qing.
Who knew that she would run into the carriage convoy of Tan, the Commander of the Imperial Guard in Bianjing, heading straight into Mu Qing's private residence?
Taoyao's face darkened.
Rumor had it that the Commander of the Imperial Guard in Bianjing preferred men. So was Mu Qing actually the commander's kept lover?
The thought sent a chill down her spine. She hurriedly forged a new identity and fled.
*
That very night, Mu Qing appeared at the Ruan residence and backed her into a corner.
"Didn't you say you'd keep me?"
With nowhere left to retreat, Taoyao lightly kissed his lips. "A Qing, it's not that your older sister doesn't want you. Your background is just too complicated. Be good and stay with the commander."
Mu Qing stepped closer again, his thin lips landing on her forehead.
"Boss Ruan, using someone and then throwing him away isn't a good habit."
Taoyao's face turned red all the way to her neck. "I... I wouldn't say you were that good."
Mu Qing's face turned black as the bottom of a pot. "Ruan Taoyao, do you know what crime it is to sully this commander's reputation?!"
Taoyao was stunned!
*
It turned out Mu Qing was only an alias. He was the Commander of the Red Guards of Great Jin, Tan Mu, head of the Tan family.
Taoyao hurriedly begged for mercy. "Please spare me, Commander!"
He looked at her, his throat tightening. "Spare you... I thought that was something Boss Ruan only said in bed."
The memory of their first night together flashed through Taoyao's mind, and her face turned scarlet.
With trembling lips, she said, "I... I can find Liang..."
"You'll take Liang Yan's place at the wedding." Tan Mu cut her off.
*
A year later, Taoyao, two months pregnant, was eating pastries in the back courtyard of the Tan residence when an underling suddenly brought news of Liang Yan.
After some hesitation, she took the letter and went to find Tan Mu.
Tan Mu didn't even look at it. "Burn it."
Taoyao tucked the letter into her clothes. "The information is reliable. It took me a long time to find it."
Tan Mu reached out with one long arm and pulled Taoyao into his embrace. "You're about to become a mother, yet you still act so recklessly and love to run around. Go back and lie down."
*
Everyone in the capital thought Ruan Taoyao had attached herself to Tan Mu.
Only Tan Mu knew that ever since the day she said she was leaving, he had been the one afraid of being abandoned.
[Reader's Note]
1. Happy ending, both pure, both strong
2. Daily updates
3. Fictional historical setting, no need to fact-check
4. The heroine can make money, a lot of it, but she has a minor problem
(Blurb written 2026.10.11; revised and screenshotted. Plagiarism will be pursued.)
Theme: First, get yourself a handsome husband
