After My Cover Was Blown

Coming soon: "The Unknown of Nicheng," a modern romance, and "She Wants to Be a Substitute," a historical romance. Visit my author page to add them to your favorites!

Blurb:

The Prince of Jinnan is a powerful figure in Beiqi. Xiao Changyun, the Prince of Jinnan's legitimate son, is nevertheless saddled with a female bodyguard sent by his father's political enemy.

She isn't exactly plain-looking. The striking red birthmark between her brows makes her ugly in a way that stands out. But she's quick and precise in a fight, cold and taciturn, and can sever dozens of people's tendons with a single swing of her sword.

Is she a bodyguard... an assassin... or a spy?

No matter how coldly Xiaoyue treats him, Xiao Changyun always responds with a gracious smile, displaying impeccable manners and patience as he gradually works his way toward her.

Only later does Xiaoyue discover that this refined, elegant young master Xiao has a fox's cunning heart with countless twists and turns. No, a scorpion's heart.

**

They say Xiao Changyun, the Prince of Jinnan's eldest son, left home to study under the Medicine King for over a decade. He is refined and elegant, charming and debonair, and especially devoted to the beautiful junior sister he keeps by his side, cherishing her like his own life. The beautiful junior sister picked the ugliest female bodyguard for him, making her intentions plain: she clearly didn't want Xiao Changyun getting close to a beauty.

But she discovers that Xiao Changyun is extremely interested in the plain-looking, cold female bodyguard. The beautiful junior sister is constantly wary of the bodyguard, who may be a spy, but she never expected that once Xiao Changyun uncovered the woman's identity, he would leave her behind and take the female spy with him…

**

Moonlight flows like water, and the long night is cold. Beneath an octagonal pavilion, a man and a woman are alone.

The refined, composed young master draws her into his arms, his voice low and intoxicating: "Tell me, why are you so loyal to him?"

Xiaoyue looks up into those deep eyes. At last, Xiao Changyun's moonlike beauty makes her swoon and fall into his tender embrace.

Reading Guide:

1. The male lead is refined, experienced, and cunning. The female lead is cool-headed, resilient, and highly skilled in martial arts.

2. She's ugly. She just pretends to be.

3. The characters aren't perfect in every way. Please be understanding.

Here are three upcoming novels. Feel free to check them out and add them to your favorites. Thanks!

"The Unknown of Nicheng," modern romance, age gap: an elegant, gentle guardian and a prickly, sensitive girl

In Nicheng, twenty-eight-year-old Jiang Shiming meets sixteen-year-old Lan Lan and becomes her guardian.

Lan Lan is told her guardian is a gentle, well-read uncle who rarely leaves home. Jiang Shiming is told Lan Lan is an easy child who needs no special attention: an excellent student, well-behaved and agreeable.

When he takes on his duties as her guardian, he discovers that Lan Lan is prickly, ill-tempered, and sharp-tongued. When she moves into her guardian's home, she discovers that this elegant, unflappable uncle is a cunning oddball who can counter her temper with his own.

Jiang Shiming remembers sixteen-year-old Lan Lan as a little hedgehog who kept everyone at arm's length. Now, after shaping her with his own hands, she has become a precious gem everyone wants. When she was young, she was so sharp and aloof, but later, even when a tree grew one extra blossom, she had to tell him about it.

Lan Lan remembers twenty-eight-year-old Jiang Shiming as an elegant, mature man. He was always calm and composed, never smiling, and surrounded by admirers. Yet he shelled walnuts for her, took her to the doctor, attended parent-teacher meetings, helped her review for exams, and even chased away her suitors. But he just wouldn't let her call him Uncle.

--

When she first went to live under someone else's guardianship, Lan Lan said indifferently, "I don't want a physical. It'll waste my study time."

Jiang Shiming: "I'm your guardian. I need to know about your physical and mental health."

Lan Lan: "That's right, you're only my guardian, not my adoptive parent."

Later, Lan Lan goes to university, and Jiang Shiming's home is once again left without warmth.

When Lan Lan comes home for the holidays, she sees a beautiful, sophisticated older woman. After the woman leaves, Lan Lan glares at Jiang Shiming, her voice fierce despite her small stature: "Mr. Jiang, if there's going to be a lady of the house, why didn't you tell me?"

Jiang Shiming: "Miss Lan, our guardianship ended when you came of age. I never adopted you, so it seems you have no reason to know about this."

Lan Lan: "…"

Nicheng doesn't know that I'm in love with you. We keep missing each other at every turn, just as we're about to fall.

Read before starting:

1. The leads have a twelve-year age gap.

2. No romance before she turns eighteen.

"She Wants to Be a Substitute," historical romance: a resilient, clever ray of sunshine and a composed, aloof prince

After her father is executed for treason and her family is forced into exile, Su Muxin falls from being a pampered daughter of a high-ranking official to a beggar wandering the world.

Unwilling to accept her fate, she learns that Prince Huai, who presided over her family's case, had a fiancee who looked exactly like her. The woman died of a chill, and Prince Huai, Zhao Jingchuan, thinks of her day and night. Su Muxin gets an idea: she will become Prince Huai's substitute and keep him company, while using his power to investigate her family's tragedy.

Her plan goes smoothly. Seeing a face so like his former fiancee's, Prince Huai discreetly tells his attendants to look after Su Muxin and lets her stay in his manor.

Su Muxin throws herself into imitating his late fiancee's gentle, graceful manner. Seeing Zhao Jingchuan look at her as if he has something to say, she thinks he is slowly coming to cherish her as he did his late fiancee.

**

Since his prospective princess, Li Jiaoyue, died, Prince Huai has devoted himself to religion and ignored politics. Everyone says the prince is a man of deep feeling and loyalty, heartbroken by his loss.

Later, a beggar "accidentally" wanders into Prince Huai's carriage, but he brings her back to the manor and takes good care of her. When the maids see the beggar washed and properly dressed, they nod in agreement. "Mm, she looks about seventy or eighty percent like her."

Zhao Jingchuan often sees Su Muxin secretly practicing Li Jiaoyue's way of walking. Watching her act so gentle and respectful toward him, he wants to explain something. But Su Muxin always looks as if to say, "I understand, Your Highness. You needn't say more," and Zhao Jingchuan swallows his words.

**

One day, while tidying Prince Huai's study, Su Muxin accidentally discovers a painting tucked inside a drawer. It depicts a beautiful, elegant woman sitting on horseback, swinging a mallet as she plays polo with carefree abandon.

Su Muxin tilts her head. "This... looks like me at the polo match three years ago."

Standing behind her, Zhao Jingchuan can no longer keep quiet.

**

Reading Guide:

1. A resilient, clever ray of sunshine and a composed, aloof prince.

2. The female lead is burdened by her family's criminal case. Becoming a substitute is only a means to an end.

3. Includes political intrigue. The setting is an alternate version of the Ming Dynasty, with some original worldbuilding.

Theme: What we give up and gain in life