Scheming for Pleasure

There was a cabinet in the study of the Grand Tutor's residence. It remained locked year after year, its copper clasp rusted, and the lotus blossoms embroidered on it so worn that their petals could no longer be made out...

Inside lay an imperial decree that read: "After the Fourth Prince takes the throne, none of his siblings may be executed unless they commit treason. Their lives must be spared."

Aside from the late Emperor Chengwu and Grand Tutor Sheng, who was posthumously named Duke Jiacheng, one other person knew of this decree.

That person was Sheng Heng, the current Crown Prince's Grand Tutor.

For years, he had followed his father's dying instructions, pretending to have a leg ailment and feigning frailty to put the suspicious emperor at ease.

Yet Heaven took pity on him. In a life spent protecting himself, he met the person he had longed for. She lay by his side, calling him "husband" again and again, and suddenly everything had meaning...

Before the Grand Tutor Sheng married...

"My lord, it's time to rest."

"My lord, you can continue reading tomorrow."

"My lord, please take care of your health."

After the Grand Tutor Sheng married...

"My lord, aren't you going to court today?"

"My lord, are you still not going to court today?"

Sheng Heng: "I caught a chill last night. I'll take leave to recover."

Sheng Heng: "My bride is young and can't bear to be apart from me. I'll take leave to recover."

Sheng Heng: "I'll take leave to recover..."

A powerful minister's long-planned devotion, love surfacing amid scheming and deception...

Frailty-masquerading Grand Tutor VS concubine-born daughter

New novel now available: He's a Gloomy Ghost

Brooding, unhinged general × clear-headed heroine who longs to die

Blurb:

Shen Su was sent by the Xi tribe to Jing to negotiate a marriage. She was to wed Xie Chenzhi, the Marquis of Zhenbei, who had won great military honors for the Jing dynasty.

According to rumors, the Marquis was sensitive to light and noise, cruel-tempered, and mercurial.

But Shen Su didn't understand Jing customs or have the poise of the noble young ladies in the capital. She had no interest in a marquis she'd never even met, so she was bent on dying. After all, she had no parents...

And she had no feelings for her husband...

And there was nothing she wanted to hold on to...

But Xie Chenzhi was determined that if she was going to die, it wouldn't be by his hand. He kept a close eye on her, while worrying that her reckless nature would embarrass him, and spent his days shutting the doors to teach her etiquette.

Later, Shen Su realized that trying to die wouldn't work. So she could only follow the plot, act weak and pitiful, and try to make him hate her as soon as possible, before throwing herself against a pillar and vanishing into dust...

Until she accidentally let a jade pendant slip out. Shen Su felt that Xie Chenzhi had become a different person...

Keeping an eye on her during the day was one thing, but now he wouldn't leave her alone at night, either, and had started getting handsy...

Shen Su wondered, Is this a new way to die?

Only Xie Chenzhi, facing the long, lonely night, promised her, "I will clear your name, and your father's too."

Before they married: "What kind of reckless mountain monkey is this?"

After they married: "Besides your face, do you have any redeeming qualities?"

Shen Su didn't understand what he meant, so she could only stare at him with wide eyes, protesting...

Xie Chenzhi: "Come here. Give me a kiss, and I won't scold you."

Later, at a flower-viewing banquet, someone praised her. "The Marquis's wife is so graceful and well-mannered. Truly a beauty..."

Xie Chenzhi's lips curled up slightly when he heard that...

Hmph. As if they knew who taught her...

Give it a look if it sounds like your thing...

Theme: In a hypocritical world, only a sincere heart cannot be faked