The Scent of Rouge

Complete manuscript drafted. Drafting begins May 24, 2026; publication begins June 6, 2026; completion on September 26, 2026. I’ll revise the whole story after it’s complete. I’m not responsible for any pirated copies. The next story, “Longevity Curse,” is being drafted. Its blurb is at the bottom. A scheming man who plays the pig to eat the tiger & a beautiful, calculating gold digger [Adopted heir to the title x only daughter of a merchant｜older woman and younger man｜both virgins｜1v1] Xiang Liang always believed that as long as you had enough silver and enough power, you could live well in this world. She’s a merchant’s daughter, and loving money has become second nature to her. Until her parents are murdered in a plot against them and she’s forced to marry into the Prince’s household, where she meets Jin Wujiang, a young lord raised amid piles of gold who neither loves money nor seeks power. He’s a little foolish, but that suits her just fine. Xiang Liang quickly changes her plans and sets her sights on her stepson. She moves out of the Prince’s household to the western part of the city and deliberately gets close to him. She treats the obedient young lord as a source of income and intends to use his influence to investigate the truth behind her family’s murder. Once the truth comes out and she’s saved enough money, she’ll leave for good and find a live-in husband so she can settle down. But her lovely plans don’t last long. They fall apart one rainy night. That night, bandits harass Xiang Liang in an alley. After escaping them, she returns to her shop in the storm. The man who used to quietly do odd jobs in the shop has just returned from outside, his clothes soaked in blood, but he’s still smiling. Xiang Liang looks at the bloodstains on him. “...Did something happen to you outside just now?” Jin Wujiang smiles. “Have you ever heard of the Second Watch Three-Ra Brotherhood, Madam Xiang?” “...” “Don’t worry if you haven’t. They’re just a gang of thugs, nothing to worry about. Besides, I reformed them today and got them to go straight.” The rain drums endlessly outside, and lightning flashes again and again. Xiang Liang suddenly finds his smile a little chilling. Is this man really as easy to fool as she thinks? - The first time Jin Wujiang sees Xiang Liang, he thinks she ought to be his wife. The night she’s carried into the Prince’s household in a red sedan through the side gate, there’s no wedding celebration, and the residence is quiet. An ill-timed gust of wind lifts the sedan curtain, and he happens to see a tear roll down her cheek. That very night, his father, a powerful prince, dies suddenly from an overdose of medicine. The concubine he’s always adored pretends to be ill and stays away for a long time. When she finally leaves the side residence again, the Princess Consort drives her out to a little shop in the western part of the city. The shop is one of Xiang Liang’s dowry items. The Xiang family is a well-established maker of rouge. At first, Jin Wujiang thinks Xiang Liang is a frail woman with little backbone. Only later does he realize that, like him, she’s been hiding her true strength to protect herself. He was born a son of a concubine with nothing to his name, yet he climbed all the way to this position. How could he really be a harmless, gullible little rabbit? She was born a merchant’s daughter and suffered a murderous plot, yet she managed to lie low and scheme in the marketplace. How could she really be a delicate flower who needs a man to protect her? The bowl of medicine that killed Prince Duan was the work of both Jin Wujiang and Xiang Liang. - Long ago, we killed someone together. Perhaps we were bound together from that moment on. We’ve faced life and death side by side, and we’ve always been cut from the same cloth. From now on, I’ll be a blade wielded only for you. - 1. A 1v1 romance focused on the couple, with a little angst. 2. Currency values are loosely based on the Song and Yuan dynasties. Rouge-making methods draw on several traditional techniques, so don’t take them as fact. Wishing you happiness and an enjoyable read! Blurb for the upcoming story “Longevity Curse” Qi Yusheng was born on the day of Awakening of Insects. That year, heavy snow fell without end across the Dongzhen Realm, crushing an immortal mountain. Beneath the mountain, the ancient demons sealed there took advantage of the chaos to escape and hide among humankind. From that day onward, peace was no more. That same year, the Mother Goddess of Dongzhen named a divine pill formed from the essence of heaven and earth “Jueshuang,” praying that the frost and snow would end and peace return to the world. But the Demon King discovered it and stole the divine pill. The God of Jueshuang vanished from sight. - Qi Yusheng was brought to the Hall of the Matchmaker by her master, Jinyuan, who had found her. Jinyuan had no children, so Qi Yusheng learned to tie the threads of fate at her side. After she’s invested with the title of High God, she’ll need only one trial in the mortal world before she can take her master’s place as the new presiding deity. On that journey to the mortal world, she meets Qu Guichen again. The first time Qi Yusheng sees him, she’s slacking off at work and accidentally ties the wrong thread, affecting this presiding deity in charge of life and death. Qu Guichen teases her for being blind. She asks if he dares to fight her. Qu Guichen: I do. Name the day. Qi Yusheng: Never mind. Why should I fight just because you say so? From then on, Qu Guichen remembers this idler who picks fights for no reason, and Qi Yusheng starts to resent this ruthless man. She’s the Changyin God who governs mortal matchmaking, but she’s never believed that “love” exists. To her, it’s just a matter of raising a hand and casting a spell. Until she wakes from the illusion of the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons and sees Qu Guichen standing in front of her. He takes the demonic energy that could burst his spiritual core into his own body, but with bloodshot eyes, he tells her to run. A strange ache swells in her heart. For the first time, she feels an emotion this powerful. So mortals really do feel this way. Love really exists. - She used to think love was an embellishment to life, and hatred just another seasoning. Only later did she learn that love outlasts hatred, transcends life and death, and crosses the boundaries of time and space. It isn’t a passing drizzle, but a dampness that endures for all eternity, through life and death, impossible to escape. Qu Guichen was born the Holy Slaughter God who governs life and death. Eternal life is simply a god’s ordinary lot. But Qi Yusheng was destined to die in the Dongzhen Realm from the moment she was born. If flourishing love is extinguished beneath that immortal mountain, perhaps immortality itself becomes a curse. Theme: What happens is up to us.