Water Hibiscus (Married First, Love Later)

[Complete]

Add it to your collection to see an aloof beauty discover his true feelings, get face-slapped, and gradually become a resentful, jealous husband. (Please add my upcoming novel, After Humiliating the White Moonlight Statesman, to your collection!!!)

Character dynamic: Everyone, including him, thinks he is abstinent and aloof, but in reality he is outrageously horny x a timid person who occasionally says outrageous things and accidentally seduces people

Blurb:

Every daughter born into the Ruan family has a mother-and-offspring aphrodisiac parasite planted inside her from birth.

After reaching adulthood, she has to stay alive by taking pills every month.

Alternatively, she needs to have sex with a man every month to ease its effects.

Ruan Fu is unlucky enough to be one of them.

She does not want to become a pawn in a power struggle, so she chooses a man for herself early on. The second son of the Pei family, he and Ruan Fu are childhood friends. She only has to wait until she comes of age for him to ask for her hand in marriage.

But the day before she comes of age, she suddenly hears that her elder sister is gravely ill.

The marriage between the Ruan family and Pei Cheng, the eldest son of the Pei family, suddenly falls to Ruan Fu instead.

“When your elder sister recovers, you will fake your death and leave. You must never show your face in Chang’an again.”

Ruan Fu meekly agrees, but inwardly she plans that once her elder sister recovers, she will take her birth mother’s memorial tablet and leave this devouring household for good.

Pei Cheng is the eldest legitimate son of the Duke of Yingguo’s household. Noble and aloof, with a face like fine jade, he seems like something beyond the mortal world. He placed first in the imperial examinations at just twenty and now holds a third-rank position.

Marriage has always seemed optional to him.

He has never met Ruan Fu before, and his impression of her is that she is reticent and cautious.

Still, they treat each other with courtesy. On the fifteenth of every month, they routinely share a bed. She manages the household, while he rises steadily through the ranks at court.

Pei Cheng can give her the dignity of a proper wife, but he has little affection for her. Yet as time passes, he finds himself relying on Ruan Fu more and more.

At first, it is only in bed. He becomes addicted to the pleasure and can no longer control himself.

Later, he longs to see her emotions, the way she smiles and frowns.

But then...

A fire breaks out, and Ruan Fu vanishes.

Pei Cheng searches for half a year before finally finding his wife, only to discover that she is about to marry someone else.

That night, the red candles flicker as Ruan Fu waits impatiently for someone to lift her veil.

But the person who arrives is Pei Cheng, who should have been in the imperial capital, living in harmony with her elder sister.

Pei Cheng’s eyes are bloodshot. He grips her wedding dress and flicks his fingers, and it falls away in an instant.

“Fu, I’ve caught you.”

Mini-scene:

Ruan Fu’s aphrodisiac parasite is about to flare up again.

She left Chang’an six months ago, and has used up every antidote.

With no other choice, she has to find a young man who is acceptable in appearance, physique, and every other respect, to ease the parasite’s effects for a while.

But on her wedding night, Pei Cheng appears in her bed.

The man’s robes are half undone, his gaze openly lingering over her.

Ruan Fu has no time to think of anything else. Easing the parasite is what matters most. She climbs on top of him in just a few swift moves.

By this point, Pei Cheng would usually have taken the initiative.

But today, he is especially merciless. He takes Ruan Fu’s earlobe between his lips and murmurs,

“Wife, you were so hard to find.”

“Is it not enough for you to have me all to yourself? How many others do you want?”

“For the rest of your life, I’m the only one who can relieve your parasite.”

Reading guide:

Character dynamic: Everyone, including him, thinks he is abstinent and aloof, but in reality he is outrageously horny x a timid person who occasionally says outrageous things and accidentally seduces people

1. My own rules for the parasite: If there’s an antidote, take it. If there isn’t, find someone for a night of passion.

2. The male lead has never met or known the elder sister. The two families only made a verbal betrothal, without naming anyone, so the female lead is not a substitute bride!! The male lead has only ever loved the female lead; even every strand of his hair is pure!!

3. The male lead falls first. He does not love her at first, but later he loves her desperately.

4. The protagonists are not perfect.

After Humiliating the White Moonlight Statesman

A bold, haughty heiress who speaks her mind x a detached, tight-lipped statesman (the service-oriented, stern-faced, hand-washing-underwear type)

Marriage first, love later / past life and present life / true feelings and face-slapping

Xu Lingyi, the legitimate daughter of a military family, has been spoiled since childhood. She has more gold, silver, and jewelry than she could ever want, and she is fickle about everything. She wears seven hundred and twenty different outfits over the course of three hundred and sixty-five days.

Yet Xu Lingyi has been in love for eight whole years with Meng Zhixun, the capital’s most distinguished young gentleman, handsome and accomplished as a jade tree in the breeze.

For eight years, she has been willing to lower herself and pursue him relentlessly, all in the hope that she might marry him.

But Meng Zhixun has nothing but contempt for her, and his disgust is plain on his face.

Xu Lingyi refuses to give up. When being gentle does not work, she turns to force. One night, she gets her hands on an aphrodisiac and spends the night with Meng Zhixun. At last, the two are married.

She thinks a happy married life awaits her, but on their wedding night, Xu Lingyi dreams of her past life.

It turns out Meng Zhixun has hated her to the bone all along. Five years later, he becomes a powerful statesman, second only to the emperor, and kicks her off a cliff to avenge the humiliation she inflicted on him.

The instant she wakes, Xu Lingyi feels as if she has plunged into an icy abyss. Gasping for breath, she looks toward the aloof, noble man bound with red cord beside her.

Meng Zhixun’s brow is dark with rage. His tone is hostile. “Were you not going to consummate the marriage? What are you waiting for?”

*

Meng Zhixun has always hated Xu Lingyi most of all. She is outrageously lewd and shameless, and has even resorted to forcing his hand by making sure they consummated their marriage before the wedding, drugging him to make him comply.

He expects Xu Lingyi to cling to him every day after they marry. Instead, she changes completely. She goes out of her way to avoid him, does not speak to him during the day, and insists they sleep in separate rooms at night.

Meng Zhixun assumes she is playing hard to get and pays it no mind.

As time passes, he even thinks that since Xu Lingyi has become more restrained and no longer pursues him all day long, he might as well spend a few more days with her.

Just as he is about to lay down some ground rules with Xu Lingyi and settle into a peaceful life, Meng Zhixun hears her say to someone else with his own ears, “I plan to get a divorce right away.”

“Once we’re divorced, I’ll find myself eight or ten handsome men and have a wonderful time.”

The person opposite her asks, “What about Meng Zhixun? Don’t you like him anymore?”

Xu Lingyi says indifferently, “I’ve had him, I’ve used him, and that’s all there is to it. I don’t want him anymore.”

**

At first, Xu Lingyi is the one who relentlessly pursues him.

Later, Meng Zhixun realizes that he is the only one who is desperately trying not to let go.

Theme: Women should be self-reliant.