Wei Cen dies and wakes up as a little maid in the Prince of Qin’s household.
Though she is a servant, her food, clothes, and living conditions are far more comfortable than those of ordinary people outside.
But Wei Cen has known freedom. How could she willingly spend the rest of her life as a servant?
Luckily, her new body belongs to a girl of about ten, and she has plenty of time to plan her escape.
*
Pei Xingyan was named heir to the Prince of Qin’s household at birth. Unfortunately, he has always been frail, and has spent his whole life taking his meals with a bowl of medicinal broth.
Looking at the silly girl in front of him, with pastry crumbs all over her mouth, he can’t help thinking of the snow pine he kept many years ago.
“Cough, cough… A Cheng,” Pei Xingyan covers his mouth and coughs twice. “If you keep eating like this, you might not fit into the summer dress you just had made.”
Wei Cen’s hand freezes on its way to her mouth. But then she thinks, Never mind. Why bother arguing with a sickly man?
Once he dies, she can ask for a favor and leave the household.
As for making a living afterward, she’ll just go back to her old line of work.
Having settled this in her mind, Wei Cen picks up another piece of hibiscus cake and brings it to her lips. Speaking around a mouthful, she says, “It’s fine, Your Highness. I’ll be by your side for the rest of your life, anyway. You just have to put up with me getting fat. I don’t care about new clothes.”
Pei Xingyan’s coughing stops. He breathes unevenly, but his gaze remains fixed on her clear, luminous face.
Good. She’s promised to stay with him for the rest of her life.
*
Wei Cen never dreamed that Pei Xingyan’s illness was fake.
Even his promise to let her leave the household was a lie.
Fortunately, after his “recovery,” Pei Xingyan is kept busy with the new emperor’s assignments and stays away from the capital for months.
Using her birth mother’s serious illness and confinement to bed as an excuse, Wei Cen asks the old princess for a favor and obtains her servant contract.
But after securing travel papers for Jiangnan, she boards a passenger boat bound for Yangzhou under cover of night, only to see a group of soldiers surround the boat, blocking it off completely. They are aboard an official vessel, holding torches aloft.
With her face smeared and her tangled hair hanging loose, Wei Cen kneels among the trembling passengers, head bowed. She thinks that if she hides well enough, she can escape trouble.
Then a pair of brocade boots embroidered with cranes, which she had made by hand, stops right in front of her.
“After serving me all this time, you couldn’t even say goodbye before heading to Jiangnan? Or have you grown tired of the Prince of Qin’s pastries, little Orange, and want to sample the local delicacies elsewhere?”
Pei Xingyan speaks lightly, as if making idle conversation.
But the yellow torchlight on his face can’t dispel the menace in his eyes. The sight sends a chill down her spine.
“I’ll count to three. If you still refuse to get up, no one on this boat will be leaving.”
“…Three!”
“Don’t!”
Wei Cen pales and jerks her head up, meeting the chilling, captivating gaze of his deep-set eyes.
“…Pei Xingyan, what exactly do you want?”
Pei Xingyan looks at the woman before him, chin raised as she questions him defiantly, and pain tightens around his heart.
What does he want?
He only wants to keep her by his side.
If he can’t keep her willingly, then he’ll use every means at his disposal.
After all, he never promised he would let her go.
Contains forced possession and an extremely melodramatic old-school pursuit story where she runs and he chases. Read with caution if that bothers you.
Theme: Treat others with sincerity
