The Bronze Sparrow Locks Away a Beauty

[My next novel will be The White Moonlight Was Me All Along. Please add it to your collection!]

A ruler steals his minister's wife / Old-school melodramatic angst / Taking by force

At first, she smiled brightly and said only:

“I wish to grow old with Sixth Prince.”

Later, her face and voice remained vividly in his memory, yet she left him not even one final word.

-

The night the Sixth Prince, who had been confined to the Cold Palace, led his troops in a coup, was the third day of Miaoniang's marriage to the Great General Dingyuan.

The Sixth Prince had only just seized power when his subordinates eagerly imprisoned General Dingyuan and sent Miaoniang into the imperial palace.

He was the new emperor. She was his subject's wife.

When they met in the palace, he showed her no pity, only wantonly breaking her down.

He thought he hated her to the bone, but as time passed, he became more and more obsessed.

Their relationship became an intractable knot.

A Bronze Sparrow Tower was built in the palace.

It housed the general's wife, who received the emperor's favor day after day, yet was also the person he despised most.

-

Everyone said that the general's wife, once the Sixth Prince's fiancée and now nothing more than a blade of grass in the emperor's eyes, could never make anyone fall for her again.

Until, unable to bear the humiliation, she risked her life to escape the palace and leapt from a ten-zhang cliff right in front of him.

Her final glance seemed to say that she hated him so much she never wanted to see him again, for all eternity.

Lu Jingzhan spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes were bloodshot and his whole body trembled. Like a madman, he ordered his men to level the cliff.

He also ignored every objection and honored Miaoniang as his deceased wife.

Only then did the world realize that it was only after she was gone that he truly went mad with love.

(Screenshots of the post were taken on Weibo on October 19.)

Content warnings:

1. The heroine has been married before. The hero is a virgin; the heroine is not. All the potential triggers are in the blurb.

2. The hero is possessive, lovesick, and unhinged, so please don't expect him to act like a normal person.

3. The author's tastes are old-fashioned, with melodrama piled on melodrama.

4. The author's personal interpretation: the male lead is the character with the most scenes and closest ties to the main plot, not necessarily the person who ends up with the heroine in the happy ending.

P.S. The quoted line “You are the king...” in the blurb is from “Song of the Pestle,” said to have been written by Qi Furen, Emperor Gaozu of Han's favored concubine, while Empress Lu imprisoned her in Yong Alley.

My next novel will be The White Moonlight Was Me All Along! Please add it to your collection!

Revenge and punishing scumbags / Wild face-slapping / A groveling road to redemption

Ming Yuan, the emperor's most beloved little princess, is so beautiful that her name is known throughout the land. More than that, she has a pure and kind heart.

The emperor fears Qi Zhao, the Northern Garrison General who guards Yumen Pass, and has long wanted him dead. The little princess volunteers to marry him to save his life.

Once the imperial marriage decree is announced, the little princess becomes the white moonlight in the hearts of every soldier beyond Yumen Pass.

But fate is cruel. Bandits attack the wedding procession, and everyone dies.

Only the little princess and her cousin, who was sent along as her attendant, are missing, with neither of them found alive nor dead.

-

Lili, a mute young cook in the army at Yumen Pass, has no memories from before she turned sixteen.

Fortunately, everyone in the army likes her.

The general's younger sister says, “Lili is so pretty. Why don't you just become my sister-in-law?”

The soldiers in the army blush and look away whenever they see her.

Even the renowned Great General Qi Zhao often looks after her. Lili's life is going pretty well.

Until the Great General's missing fiancée, Princess Ming Yuan, is found.

The princess is everyone's white moonlight, surrounded by admirers and the center of attention.

But the princess seems to dislike Lili very much. She humiliates and frames her, accusing Lili of stealing her things.

The soldiers all say, “How dare you use something that belongs to the princess?”

Even the general's sister urges Lili to hurry up and return the things to the princess.

Even Qi Zhao looks at her with suspicion.

Unwilling to endure any more humiliation, Lili leaves without hesitation. On the road, she runs into the Crown Prince, who has come looking for her.

Only then does she realize: Oh! So I'm the white moonlight! :D

-

Later, the people who misunderstood and humiliated Lili have red eyes and grovel before her.

But she never gives them a second glance.

[The real white moonlight is back! Revenge and punishing scumbags! Face-slapping! A wild groveling road to redemption is underway!]

Theme: Resist tyranny and reject Stockholm syndrome.