A Maxed-Out Secret Identity, Forced to Go Straight in Ancient Times

[You mean... being tied up and having all 99 secret identities exposed at once? Oh, yeah, that's definitely a major identity-reveal scene!]

Su Tang was given a secret identity as compensation. Not a vest to keep her warm, but the kind from novels that lets you change identities whenever you put one on. They're meant to be kept under wraps, but somehow they always get exposed.

Su Tang had 99 of them.

A poor person suddenly striking it rich!

So she kept her little secret identities hidden and began living however she pleased: making a fortune, indulging handsome male entertainers, beating up villains, then running off as soon as she was done. What a thrill!

They'd never catch her anyway!

Wait.

Why was this man's gaze getting stranger every time he looked at one of her "selves"?

Tomorrow was the day Su Tang was supposed to have a pretend wedding. Xie Jue invited her to a banquet at a restaurant to celebrate her getting her wish.

Grateful for the wonderful idea Xie Jue had given her, Su Tang happily clinked glasses with him.

When she woke up again, she was tied to a carved wooden bed.

Nobody told me these secret identities came with a physical bug!

Don't take them off! Don't strip them away one by one!

She wasn't being undressed, so why was this making her blush?

Why was this bastard's gaze getting stranger and his eyes redder by the second?

Hey! I didn't cry when all my secret identities were exposed, so why are you crying, a grown man!

Prince Xie Jue was as gentle as jade and deeply calculating. After testing her for ages, he still couldn't find a way to get through to her.

One day, someone took an arrow for him. He knew it had to be her!

He searched everywhere without success, then finally met her again. He swore to himself that he would never let her leave his side again!

He gently coaxed her, approaching her as a friend and suggesting that Su Tang, who kept hitting dead ends, pretend to marry a noble of the imperial family for protection so she could keep living freely.

It worked perfectly. Su Tang agreed.

The "person" Xie Jue meant was himself.

Who could have expected that after he left the capital on official business, Su Tang would greet him on his return with the happy news that she was getting married? She'd found someone suitable based on his suggestion and even thanked him sincerely.

She said he was her best friend, a wonderful person.

Good. Very good.

Su Tang turned back while untying the silk cord, only to see the beauty leaning against the wall with tears in his eyes. She couldn't bear to leave, so she went back inside and failed to notice the layers of elite soldiers guarding the door.

Then Su Tang discovered that her wonderful days of keeping company with flower-growing ladies and doting on handsome male entertainers were gone for good.

It seemed she'd been... forced to go straight!

Later, Su Tang had only two words to describe Xie Jue: jealous wreck.

The male lead is calm at first, then turns into a walking charcoal briquette. He's both black-hearted and full of schemes. At first he doesn't care about the heroine at all, and later... he still doesn't care much.

The male lead gives so much more. The author's personal preference is watching the male lead cry, haha.

[The next book will tell Qing Sui's story, Bound by Spring Vines. If you're interested, please add it to your collection on the next page. Thank you!]

Jiang Qingsui first heard the name Gu Yan'an while eavesdropping on her mother's conversation with a distant aunt.

Her aunt said she wanted to propose a match for her son.

Qingsui didn't understand what a marriage proposal meant, but the name Gu Yan'an stayed in her heart.

The second time she heard of him was when news of their engagement spread throughout the capital.

Before her mother, who had clearly refused, could march over and confront the other family, an imperial decree ordering the Jiang family to be seized arrived first.

As a married-out daughter would not be implicated in her birth family's affairs, her mother gritted her teeth and sent her to the Gu family. In front of everyone, her aunt welcomed her with a smiling face.

As the years passed, Qingsui finally understood what it meant to put on an act.

Whether she married or not didn't matter. She only wanted to grow up a little more and go find her parents and younger brother, who were far away at the frontier.

Unexpectedly, Gu Yan'an, who had been studying away from home and whom she had never met, returned.

The first time they met, he rebuked his aunt for her behavior and blamed her for mistreating Qingsui. In front of everyone, he declared that Qingsui was his wife.

She thought that marrying him, a proper gentleman who knew the rules and honored propriety, to fulfill her mother's wishes wasn't something she couldn't accept.

Later, she discovered that the marriage had come about because he had been impeached for abandoning a woman of the Jiang family.

His aunt came to her and said that the princess wanted Gu Yan'an for her husband. She asked Qingsui to let the Gu family off the hook.

The travel bundle she'd been preparing since childhood finally came in handy.

Gu Yan'an was a modest gentleman, as refined as an orchid and as handsome as jade. After returning from his studies, he discovered that he might have an additional fiancée.

After investigating, he couldn't accept his mother's sudden change of heart and had no choice but to deal with the aftermath.

He had assumed his fiancée was a delicate flower that needed support, but little by little, her resilience and intelligence won him over.

Who knew that after a few rumors of impeachment, she would leave behind a flimsy note and run away?

During the years he spent searching for her, he finally discovered that there was a beast inside him after all.

Later, his wife finally returned, but only to save another man.

It doesn't matter. No matter what, you won't escape me.

On their wedding night, he looked at the bottle of potent warming pills he'd prepared, downed it in one go, and finally got what he wanted.

After being forced into marriage, Qingsui found that he seemed like a different person, a madman beneath the facade of a modest gentleman.

When the princess came calling, she sat quietly in her room and asked herself: Do I love him, or do I love myself?

So she picked up her bundle and set off in search of freedom.

Gu Yan'an realized that the wife he'd worked so hard to get back had gone missing again!

Theme: Be self-reliant and never stop striving