[A little airheaded · Slow to catch on · Adorable beauty vs. Unhinged · Doesn't know he's in love · Heir apparent]
Qiu Ying was a low-ranking maid in the princess's residence, but the princess took notice of her because of her lovely, lotus-like face.
One day, Qiu Ying was brought before the princess.
The beautiful woman in front of her sipped her tea, not even sparing her a glance.
The elderly matron beside her said sternly, "Qiu Ying, I have a good position for you. The consort needs a bedchamber maid. You'll go and serve him."
Qiu Ying wanted to refuse, but the matron didn't give her a chance to speak. "I hear your mother's gravely ill. The princess's residence happens to have a hundred-year-old ginseng root."
Qiu Ying couldn't bring herself to refuse.
Only then did the beautiful woman set down her teacup and beckon Qiu Ying over. "Good girl, don't worry. I won't treat you unfairly. Once you've borne a child for the Xiao family, I'll give you a generous settlement and send you out of the residence."
With her mother's illness weighing on her, Qiu Ying reluctantly agreed.
*
Xiao Muye was the heir to the Marquis of Anyuan. The Xiao family had been a great house for centuries, stationed along the border for generations and feared by the royal family.
To weaken the Xiao family's military power, Emperor Jiahe married his princess to Xiao Muye, intending to keep him trapped in the capital.
When Qiu Ying was sent to him, he immediately understood what the princess wanted.
The royal family wanted to use a child to threaten him?
Xiao Muye sneered. That child could just as easily become the death knell of the Li imperial family.
At first, Xiao Muye regarded Qiu Ying as a pleasing bedchamber maid. He was in the prime of his youth, and saw no need to hold back in bed.
But whenever Qiu Ying moaned because she couldn't take any more, Xiao Muye still coaxed her patiently. "Be good. Once everything is settled, I'll give you a higher status."
*
Qiu Ying could only think that the man had endless strength.
Couldn't he read some erotic illustrations or something?
Serving Xiao Muye was a truly difficult job.
This only strengthened her resolve to finish the job, take the money, and leave.
She didn't want to spend half her life feeling like her waist didn't belong to her.
That was what she thought, but whenever Xiao Muye asked, she still said, "My lord, you're amazing."
She felt that Xiao Muye seemed to enjoy hearing it.
Not long afterward, Qiu Ying became pregnant. Just then, unrest broke out in the northwest, and the newly appointed general suffered a defeat. The court had no choice but to call Xiao Muye back into service.
Before setting off for war, Xiao Muye still couldn't stop worrying about his somewhat foolish bedchamber maid. In the gentlest voice he could manage, he said, "Stay home and wait for me to come back."
The fighting at the border continued for a year. When Xiao Muye returned, he expected to see Qiu Ying waiting with their child.
Instead, he searched the entire marquis's residence and couldn't find her. The child had vanished, too.
It turned out he was the only one who had taken their affair seriously.
All the bright smiles he'd believed in had been nothing but perfunctory falsehoods.
*
After receiving her settlement, Qiu Ying took her elderly mother south.
She bought a small house in Jiangnan and settled into a leisurely life. She thought she'd fulfilled her part of the bargain. Those nobles had treated her as little more than a diversion, and Xiao Muye probably wouldn't come looking for her.
So when the handsome schoolteacher next door came to propose, she readily accepted.
But on her wedding day, the whole street fell silent, as if a storm were about to break.
In the darkness, Xiao Muye rode up bearing a torch and dragged the schoolteacher before her, bound and thrown to the ground.
Qiu Ying was so terrified she collapsed onto the ground.
Xiao Muye dismounted, bent over, and walked slowly toward Qiu Ying. He helped her up, then removed her bright red wedding robe with casual ease. "Come back with me, or else..."
"The lives of everyone in this town are in your hands, A Ying."
Blurb written on 2026.3.22, screenshot saved
Content warnings:
1. Both leads are virgins. The male lead is chaste in both body and heart, and has never actually been with the princess.
2. The female lead falls for him very late. At first, she's only interested in the physical side. Later, the male lead takes her by force.
3. The princess is not a wicked rival, and has a beloved of her own. The story will explain why she found a bedchamber maid for her consort.
4. The female lead is a silly beauty. The blurb makes clear that she is not a strong female lead, nor does she undergo a journey of growth.
5. The schoolteacher is not a good person.
Theme: Life is beautiful
