After My Secret Identity Was Exposed, the Brooding Powerful Official Wouldn't Leave Me Alone

A quick note for readers: 60% of the novel is behind anti-piracy protection Wen Shiyu figured she was having a pretty bad run of luck. On her first day in the capital, she was kidnapped, lost her keepsake, and had all her travel money stolen. Luckily, when she escaped, she ran into a ready-made human shield. Pei Heng, Vice Minister of Justice, wore a red official robe and black gauze hat. With his sharp brows and bright eyes, he looked like an upright gentleman, and he also seemed to have taken a bit of an interest in her. But it was one thing to protect and rescue her. Why insist on marrying her? Wen Shiyu pretended to push him away with tears in her eyes. “My lord, I’m of humble status. I’d be happy to be your mistress. It would be enough just to stay by your side.” Pei Heng sternly refused, then disappeared for several days. Wen Shiyu ground her teeth and cursed him eight hundred times. The next day, a roomful of handsome men showed up. One poured her tea, another massaged her legs. What a delightful life. And right then, Pei Heng came back. Looking at the roomful of pretty men and Wen Shiyu, who was licking her lips, Pei Heng laughed in anger. “Wen Shiyu, when you said you’d be a mistress, did you mean you wanted me to be yours?” * Wen Shiyu spent ages wavering between confessing everything and running away. In the end, she decided she’d better ransack Pei Heng’s study first. She didn’t find many valuables, but at the bottom of a drawer she uncovered a copy of The Carnal Pleasures of the Bedchamber, which he’d long said he was going to burn, along with a stack of portraits of women. The pages were yellowed and curled, as if someone had pored over them and handled them countless times. Every expression and smile in the portraits was lifelike. They all had her face. Pei Heng silently appeared behind her, turning over the jade pendant she’d lost in his hand. His voice was ghostly. “Your Highness, what are you looking at?” Wen Shiyu swallowed, sensing that she was in serious trouble. He dropped to one knee and kissed her fingertips, lowering himself as far as he could. His words, however, told a different story. “I’m merely a fourth-rank vice minister and don’t dare presume to marry Your Highness. I’m willing to be your kept man. I only ask for a place in your household.” Wen Shiyu: “…” Revenge! This was definitely revenge! Reading guide: 1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other’s first and only. 2. Fictional setting, not historically rigorous. The heroine is not a strong female lead. ---The following is a preview of an upcoming novel--- The night the Imperial Brocade Guards surrounded the Jiang residence, cries of grief shook the heavens. Only Jiang Yao knelt at the very back. Before she had even wiped away her tears, she was already sneaking glances at the man leading the guards. Lu Chi, the West Depot’s chief eunuch, had climbed over piles of bones to reach the top. He wielded power over the court and was ruthless and cruel. She was terrified, but his face was so handsome that she couldn’t help sneaking a few more looks. It wasn’t until his blood-soaked python robe stopped in front of her that Jiang Yao belatedly lowered her head. A jade pendant slipped from his belt and fell to the ground. Jiang Yao thought for a moment, picked it up, and held it out to him with trembling hands. “Eunuch, you dropped this.” Everyone present turned pale. What do you mean, he dropped something? Eunuchs hated hearing those words more than anything! Lu Chi alone wasn’t angry. He even smiled at her. “Second Miss Jiang, don’t worry. Even without that thing, I’ll make sure to serve you well.” He wasn’t lying. Later, Jiang Yao would beg him for mercy night after night, her eyes rimmed red and her voice hoarse. Every time, he would grant her plea. Every time, he would refuse to stop. The hands that killed without hesitation caressed her cheek. His thin lips kissed away the tears at the corner of her eye, his voice both bewitching and spell-like. “Yao Yao, you called me the wrong thing again. You should call me husband.” * The day Lu Chi walked out of the castration chamber alive, he had never expected anyone to treat him like a human being. Eunuch, lackey, rootless freak: he’d heard it all so many times that his ears had grown callused, and his heart had turned to stone. But he never imagined that after six years in control of the West Depot, anyone would dare rub salt in his wounds to his face. The Jiang family’s youngest daughter was said to have been slow-witted since childhood. Now that he saw her, she really did seem like a fool. She was certainly beautiful, the sort of woman who inspired pity at a glance. He ought to be angry. He ought to cut out her tongue so she could never again say such reckless things. But seeing her kneeling there, looking utterly innocent, as if she had no idea what nonsense she’d just said, stirred a trace of tenderness even in a heartless man like him. It would be a shame if she couldn’t speak. Taking her home to keep as a pet might even be fun. Only later did Lu Chi realize that he must have been trained too well by Jiang Yao. He’d started to think that being her lackey wasn’t so bad after all. Reading guide: 1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other’s first and only. The hero is a real eunuch; the heroine is a silly beauty, not actually foolish. 2. Eight-year age gap: he is 24, she is 16. 3. Pure indulgence for the author’s tastes!!! Theme: Love yourself well.