The Peony and the Court Gentleman

This novel is complete. My next novel will be The Little Sweetheart of Manbeng Village. The blurb is at the very end, and I'm preparing the chapters now. If you're passing by, please add it to your collection.

Two heroines: a scheming innocent-looking girl x a noble young lord, and a hot-tempered general's daughter who says what she means x a rakish man with alluring eyes. One couple will have the man chasing after the woman, and the other will have the woman chasing after the man. Complete.

Miss Tu is a special presence in Rong Yan's life, because she is extraordinarily good at treating people according to their status.

Before she knew who he was, she stole his prey and then rudely gave him a piece of her mind. After learning his identity, she became a dignified, well-mannered young lady from a noble family, with not a single fault to be found in her etiquette.

She could bend and stretch, and had two completely different faces. You couldn't help but look at her in a new light.

He saw how clever she was. At first, he only wanted a wife from a respectable family, someone who had never been caught up in factional struggles. He admired her intelligence, but to his surprise, he gradually found himself drawn to her, until his heart was completely lost.

Tu Luan and the third young master of the Duke's mansion weren't even close to becoming a couple, yet rumors that she was trying to marry up had already spread everywhere. Not long after, a new rumor claimed that Miss Tu had connections everywhere and had married into the even more prestigious Northern Victory Prince's household.

Tu Luan rolled her eyes. "The Northern Victory Prince's household is so powerful that it threatens the throne, and the emperor is already wary of them. Why would I be so foolish?"

She spoke too soon and too confidently. Sooner or later, she'd have to eat her words.

At the Lantern Festival, Rong Yan offered his mother's half of a jade ring as a betrothal token, hoping to secure their engagement.

Tu Luan looked at the handsome man before her, knowing she ought to refuse, but her heart wouldn't obey her. She accepted his jade ring.

Fate had other plans. When unrest erupted in the capital, Tu Luan abandoned Rong Yan's betrothal token and fled alone.

She weathered the bloodshed and chaos of the times by herself. At last, one day, hardened by all she had endured, she crashed into Rong Yan's horse wearing a bright red wedding dress.

By then, the swallows beneath the hall were no longer the same as before, and Rong Yan had changed, too. The man who once held her in his heart now had another woman by his side.

Tu Luan's selfishness and pride wore down Rong Yan's resolve. When they met again, he shut his heart away and treated her with the same courtesy as when they first met. Whether she offered him sincerity or deception, he believed none of it.

Tu Luan refused to accept her fate. Ignoring Rong Yan's coldness, she pressed him at every turn, trying to win him over, all for the chance to make him turn back to her once.

The general's daughter, Sheng Shu, had always lived freely and happily, until she met a flirtatious young man with alluring eyes at fourteen.

Yan Juan warned Sheng Shu that they belonged to different countries. She shouldn't sacrifice her family's honor as a general's household for a one-sided love.

But Sheng Shu wouldn't listen. She charged straight into a brick wall, battered and bleeding, and still refused to turn back.

At sixteen, disaster struck her family, and Sheng Shu fell from being a high-born general's daughter to a hunted stray.

Sheng Shu grew up overnight. When she met the young man she loved again in another country, she was glad she'd learned to turn back before crashing into that wall.

But this time, Yan Juan refused to let go. He schemed every way he could to keep her by his side.

My next novel will be The Little Sweetheart of Manbeng Village. Here's the blurb. Please add it to your collection.

A sweet young lady from a family of unorthodox martial artists x a sharp-tongued bodyguard who isn't interested in beauty. Men and women playing push and pull.

*

The first time Mu Yao saw Han Lie, she thought he was handsome and defiant, and wanted to keep him like a canary, train him well, and make him obey her every whim.

But this bird wouldn't behave.

Han Lie apparently had never heard the saying, "A gentleman would rather die than suffer humiliation." He could bend with the circumstances and use every advantage, making sure she never got the better of him.

He often smiled at her, with a smile that could steal anyone's heart.

Yet Mu Yao could sense the rebellion and disgust hidden beneath that smiling mask.

The more rebellious he became,

the more she wanted to see him behave.

Mu Yao began to consider using special means to control him.

She tucked a bright red Duanchang Hong flower behind her ear and asked if it looked good.

He didn't look at her, only at the poisonous flower that had ruined countless lives.

He gazed at her with a half-smile.

"You wouldn't dare!"

*

Everyone in Manbeng Village knew that the chieftain's niece was more doted on than her own daughter.

The first time they met, Mu Yao told him plainly:

She wanted to sleep with him.

Han Lie couldn't openly offend her or show his displeasure. He could only force himself to flatter and humor her.

Mu Yao loved to smile. Her smile felt as sweet as malt sugar.

But she was also very much like the Duanchang Hong flower: stunning on the outside, poisonous all over.

The chieftain doted on her even more than on his own daughter, and every man in the village wanted to become her lover.

Except him.

He hated this sweet little menace more than anyone.

*

Han Lie: "There's an old saying in my hometown: A melon forced off the vine won't be sweet. Why insist on it, Miss?"

Mu Yao smiled with innocent, harmless sweetness and replied with utmost sincerity:

"I never force men. One day, you'll willingly climb into my bed."

*

Reader's notes:

1. Little Sweet Menace is short for Sweet Little Menace.

2. The heroine is no saint. She kills people from the start. She seems to treat human life as worthless, but it's only a disguise. She only kills those who deserve it.

3. There are no lapdogs in this story, only men and women playing push and pull. Everyone has their own agenda, and none of them are good people.

4. The setting is the Three No-Boundaries Lands, a lawless place where filth gathers. This is a fictional setting, so please don't overanalyze it.

I'm preparing the chapters now, so please add it to your future reading list. It will start in a month.

Theme: Women can be independent, radiant, and beautiful.