The Beauty's Rise to Power

When the imperial decree arrived, Dai Yueshu thought she was to become the Fifth Prince's secondary consort. Instead, she was bundled off to the Eastern Palace.

The youngest daughter of the Dai family was as beautiful as her name, with peerless loveliness and breathtaking elegance.

With a beauty at his side attending to his writing, Crown Prince Wei Qingheng remained unmoved, devoted only to affairs of state. He was a paragon of chastity.

Dai Yueshu believed it and felt completely at ease, finding all sorts of ways to pass the time.

Yesterday she picked flowers from the Crown Prince's courtyard to make incense. Today she took his fabric to make a new dress. The day after, she ordered a feast in his name to sample new dishes. She was having the time of her life.

Wei Qingheng watched it all with a faint smile.

That night, the moon hung high in the sky.

Dai Yueshu's eyes brimmed with tears. Before she could even call him a liar, he silenced her again.

Wei Qingheng gripped her slender waist and curled his lips. "I still have to collect the interest, my Ashu."

*

Later, everyone discovered that this favored consort, often dismissed as a beauty who could not keep a man's love for long, wore a cloud-and-rain gauze dress made from one of only five bolts of tribute silk. In her hair was a gold-inlaid kingfisher-feather phoenix hairpin designed by the emperor himself. She drank from the only luminous cup in the world, while the chief eunuch, usually so haughty he seemed to look down on everyone from the top of his head, knelt to arrange her skirts.

A few notes:

* The leads are natives of this world. Both are sexually inexperienced. They love only each other and grow together.

* There is a reborn supporting character, a strong protagonist aura, and a fictional setting. Happy ending.

* Personal attacks and attempts to stir up conflict are prohibited. Please discuss rationally.

* Coming soon: His Heart Alone (originally titled Close to the Emperor's Heart)

Synopsis:

Ji Fuwei, the legitimate daughter of a marquis, was born with exquisite, delicate beauty, like a tender willow branch, yet her life was full of hardships.

She was sent early to the Duke of Wu's estate to bring good fortune, and nearly buried with the dead. Fortunately, the current emperor was wise, and she escaped that fate.

After three years of mourning, her beauty grew ever more dazzling, but she lived in constant fear.

Then her husband's family still refused to give up, intent on taking her life.

Fortunately, she had a prophetic dream.

Bitter with resentment, Ji Fuwei waited for her chance and managed to escape.

With pursuers on her heels, she ran blindly into a neighbor's home and, in her panic, threw herself into the arms of a stranger who smelled of incense.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. Her grief-stricken expression made her seem like a flower in the rain, waiting to be plucked. All she could do was beg the stranger again and again, sobbing as she spoke.

He soothed her, telling her not to be afraid, and gently patted her back. His tender embrace made her tremble with sobs.

The pursuers drew near. The heir barged in with his men, searching the place by force.

She tried to flee, but the stranger held her fast.

Her heart sank. All hope was lost.

Then the men abruptly stopped, and with terror on their faces, knelt before her.

Only then did she notice the five-clawed golden dragon embroidered on his robe.

"Don't be afraid," he told her. "I'm here."

*

Xiao Shengyu was born with the bearing of an emperor, his imperial majesty innate. He repeatedly tried to enter a Buddhist monastery, only to be turned away because his worldly ties remained unresolved.

He ascended the throne at eighteen, devoted to helping and saving the people, without ever abandoning his desire to follow the Buddha's path.

Until the year he turned thirty-one, when a young woman fleeing for her life unexpectedly ran into his arms.

She distracted him, and he could no longer focus on reciting Buddhist scriptures.

He wanted to guide her toward merit and help her escape her suffering.

But in the end, he could not let her go. He became entangled in the mortal world and fell in love.

Much later, he finally understood:

The moment she threw herself into his arms was the beginning of his breaking his vows.

* All of the above is true.

Theme: Love can heal people and fill them with infinite possibilities.