The Beauty Is Hard to Marry

As the only daughter of the chief minister, Tan Zhirong grew up watching every word and step, treading carefully on thin ice. At last, her trials were rewarded, and she married the Crown Prince, her childhood sweetheart.

Yet on her wedding day, a regent from a neighboring kingdom, with no apparent connection to her whatsoever, appeared out of nowhere, carrying a little girl. He pointed at her and accused her, voice full of wounded reproach, of abandoning her husband and daughter and seducing him before casting him aside.

The little girl even looked exactly like her, as if they had been carved from the same mold!

Was the neighboring kingdom really willing to make such a huge sacrifice just to meddle in their court's affairs?

Tan Zhirong reviewed the uneventful first half of her life and was certain her memories were intact. She had never met this inexplicable father and daughter.

But how could she explain the little girl who looked exactly like her? Could she be the illegitimate daughter her chief-minister father had left behind somewhere?

*

Feng Rucen looked aggrieved. "Zhizhi, you... you seduced me and then abandoned me!"

Tan Zhirong retorted, "No, I didn't, I haven't! I'm an aloof, high-born young lady from a distinguished family. I grew up in the imperial capital and barely ever left home!"

Feng Rucen: "You abandoned your husband and daughter!"

Tan Zhirong: "No, I didn't, I haven't! Don't make things up! I'm still an unmarried maiden!"

Feng Rucen put on a serious face. "No, you're not." Otherwise, could a child really come from just holding hands?

Tan Zhirong: "Shut up! I wish I were! Ahhh..."

[Preorder: The Minister's Third Marriage]

The capital was abuzz with wonder. For some inexplicable reason, Song Wanzhi, the only daughter of Prince Guang'an, had fallen head over heels at first sight for Xiao Ling, the commander of the Imperial Guard, known as the Bloodstorm Yama. From then on, there was no stopping her. She tried every possible way to pursue him, boldly throwing herself at him.

One was a radiant, high-born royal lady; the other, a blood-soaked hound of the imperial court. The pairing seemed downright absurd.

After they had endured life-and-death situations together time and again, Xiao Ling gripped Song Wanzhi's slender throat, his face dark as he said, "I am not someone the princess can toy with at will. Even if you grow tired of me one day, your servant will never let you go. Do you still want to continue?"

"Of course." Without the slightest hesitation, she threw herself into his arms, smiling brightly as she rescued him from the endless depths of hell.

But once Xiao Ling had resolved the wrongful case in his hands, he took the marriage contract to Prince Guang'an's residence, only to be thrown out. All she said from on high was, "A lowly ant dares to attach himself to Prince Guang'an's household? Utterly laughable."

Only then did he finally understand that her so-called love at first sight had been a scheme to get close to him from the very beginning.

From then on, the Bloodstorm Yama became a madman who killed without batting an eye, rising to power over countless corpses. To repay the humiliation a hundredfold, he publicly forced the princess who had once shamed him to marry him as his concubine.

Fortunately, after enduring torment in marriage, the princess managed to fake her death and escape.

All that remained in the capital was the rumor: "Though the princess became his concubine, the Yama took no other wife."

Only when the two, now changed beyond recognition, met again over a case did they learn that some regrets come too late.

Content warning: The author is a shameless romantic and just wants to write an old-school story overflowing with melodrama to fulfill a dream.

Theme: Even if I become unrecognizable, please don't give up on me.