Guanyin's Disciple

A fallen noblewoman with the grace of a pine tree and crane × a profit-hungry, calculating young vassal king

Prince Hui, Zhu Shaoyuan, was stripped of his title and attacked. By a twist of fate, he went into hiding in a wealthy merchant's home, eagerly hoping to recover from his injuries, return to his residence, and reclaim his position.

In the eyes of others, he had always been a model nobleman: respectful without fawning, gentle without being weak. But deep down, he pursued power and wealth with relentless ambition.

He was a master schemer, faithless and fickle, yet she was the one exception.

In a secluded garden of carefully arranged hills and winding waterways, a woman kicked the lecher who had harassed her straight into the lake. Her skirt brushed past the scattered stepping stones, and the lake water soaked her crimson embroidered shoes.

Zhu Shaoyuan watched her back, his expression growing more inscrutable. She was such a fiery woman. He wanted to make a careful plan, claim her as his own, and keep her in a gilded cage, giving her fine clothes and sumptuous food, even the title of princess consort. That was the greatest honor he could offer her.

But he never imagined that gold and jade ornaments, silks, and brocades, the treasures he meant to use to break her proud spirit, would be things she treated as worthless.

*

Shen Guanyin was the daughter of the Left Vice Minister of Justice. After her parents died, she lived with wealthy relatives. She had neither husband nor children, and possessed a beauty that was understated yet captivating.

After she married, her husband was considerate in every way. When she was in a temper, he indulged her. When he was nervous, he would quietly take her hand. He treated her with respect and protected her from harm. He expected nothing in return for helping secure her future.

Yet she had a firm, incorruptible character, as pure as pine and jade. She would rather live in poverty than grow rich through corruption.

Shen Guanyin pretended not to notice anything he did for her. She obeyed him, humored him, and pleased him, while secretly doing the opposite of what he wanted. She knew he would never change his nature, and would rather give up the noble title of princess consort than stop looking for a chance to leave him.

*

At last, he was caught up in a vassal king's rebellion and conspiracy to endanger the state, and she finally escaped. When Zhu Shaoyuan went through countless hardships to stand before her again, their positions had completely reversed. They were worlds apart from where they had been.

Now he was the one who had to bow his head.

Content warnings:

1. The male lead takes the female lead by force. He is sly and underhanded. In the first part, he schemes to win her over, followed by marriage before love. In the later part, he takes her by force and suffers through a desperate pursuit to win her back. Happy ending, one couple, both leads have only ever been with each other.

2. An imaginary Ming-inspired setting with original worldbuilding.

3. The male lead is three years younger than the female lead. An older-woman-younger-man romance.

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